anth115

Hi everyone

I need some help from those familiar with ECU tunes and 160 thermostats.

I have a 2006 Z06. Shortly after I bought the car in 2013, I had a local corvette shop install long tube headers and do a dyno tune. As part of this, they installed a 160 thermostat, colder plugs (NGK TR6), and made the fans come on earlier.



That shop has since closed down. The car runs well but I would like to go back to the original thermostat to help the engine get up to temp easier around town (I’m in Canada), and I don’t think it does anything for HPDE use either - correct me if I’m wrong though. I also don’t know the details of the tune, nor do I have my stock ecu file.



My questions are:

1. Is there any benefit to going back to the oem thermostat?
2. If I did, should I have the car retuned?
3. Can I simply download a stock ecu tune online and flash it on myself? If so, where do I find that/how can I do it? I’ve done a mail-order tune on my BMW but I’m not familiar with the tools or process for the C6Z.
4. If I went ahead with the above, should I go back to the oem plugs?

Thanks

Anthony

jonjoy

I highly recommend the stock iridium plugs they are a superior plug. You added headers so going back to a stock tune is not and option. But I would find another tuner that has been around for years and still is around, a lot of people say that they can tune BUT there are only a few that are good at it. I'm running a 180 T-stat it works fine. You can read for days on why or why not to go 160 and still not get a definitive answer all it's doing is opening sooner you don't get any better cooling. I got my biggest increase in cooling when I went to a DeWitts Rad. With EOC. 100 degree day 80 mph on the highway 174 degrees, if your any where near Atlanta Ga. like 500 miles near. Go to Vengeance Racing in Cummings Ga for your tuning, there is no better LS tuner then mike C.

wjnjr

The OP said he's in Canada.

anth115

Thanks guys.

what software do you suggest I use to view the tune and ensure the parameters are reasonable/safe? I’m sure it’s nothing drastic as my car is nearly stock but I just want to check to help keep my LS7 healthy.

I also wonder, since the engine spends more time warming up with the colder thermostat and plugs, if that contributes to higher engine wear during that warmup time.