TRACKMAN2

was doing more reserch on lt1 water pump today to improve the system
found out how the lt1 wp mixes hot and cold water via a special thermostat to avoid thermal shock...probibly another reason my colling system sucked....al the race/performance guys here said remove the thermostat an use a restrictor..its ok dont listen to anyone i know what im talking about!!! well using a restrictor eliminated the lower part of the 2 way thermostat!!! and hot engine water was gushing into the wp and getting pushed throught the engine again ans again crippleing the rads efect!!! well granted standard race v8s rarely use thermostats..i was thinking this..... if i disable the large hole in the wp where the lower seal should be hot water couldnt mix or get into the cold water port...so in effect i could have only cool crisp rad water in the motor...improve flow by eliminating turbulence of the mix and then control flow using restrictors to fine tune the system

93Rubie

Dumb question are you experiencing overheating at the track? If so, have you made sure your rad is clean externally from leaves and such? Is the coolant system in good condition no leaks, corrosion build up, gunk in the system, all air bleed out, proper fan operation, is the pump in good shape=impeller not corroded away to nothing, good air flow to rad aka good front splitter, etc...

Just covering the basics here...

Timz06

I have never heard that before, in any case the thermostat would be fully open, so doesn't make sense to me. Just run a standard thermostat, no reason to remove.

LT1 has reverse flow cooling-(cools the heads before the engine) the biggest problem is getting air trapped in the system. If you have air, it will overheat every time. Make sure you properly bleed the system any time you mess with it there are two bleed valves, one near the thermostat and one on the heater core hose.

Does it overheat idling or with normal street driving-if so I would look at air in the system, blown head gasket, water pump. If it only overheats on the track, it may be more of a system capacity problem.

Tim

TRACKMAN2

if you look a the enternals of a lt1 water pump and blouw air through it you can see that hot water does come out of the block through the lower holes into the main feed area of tghe pump through a 1 1/4" hove in the pump directly under the thermostat housung ...if u look at a thermostat for an lt1 its has a lower disk that seals the hole when the main thermostat opens...im going to try to seal it and see if it works any better....wost that could hapen i blow another motor

rmackintosh

I ran the lower thermostat....I **think** it was a 160....and just cut a bigger hole in the front of the Camaro and ducted it very well....dual plane actually. Aluminum boxed. Car NEVER ran hot....had to tape up lots of the opening.

BrianCunningham

Did you install an oil cooler?

rmackintosh

Yes, I had an Afco radiator with internal oil cooler.

0Vector Vette

I blocked off the lower port with a plug and gutted out a thermostat. Ran that way for years.

TRACKMAN2

cool