Well,
I thought I would report the results of a little experiment I ran
today. I have a 77B with stock twin electric fans. I was running a
180° thermostat. My thought was that I was running a little hot, and my
temp gauge seemed to support this, although I was uncertain about the
accuracy of my gauge.
I swapped in a 160° stat. Installed a Type k thermocouple into the top
radiator hose. Here are the results: Thermostat opened at 158°. Gauge
was 1/4 of the way between C and H. Fans turned on at 190° Gauge
slightly past 1/2 (towards H). Fans turned off at 165° Second fan
cycle was nearly identical to the first (± 2°). Gauge needle in center
of C & H = 182°. Disconnected the fan, and allowed the needle to reach
the red (H), coolant temp. 223°.
General observations:
The car runs noticably cooler with 160° stat. I was not expecting this,
as once up to temperature, the stat never closed, but nonetheless it did
run cooler.
Performance of the fans was much better than expected. A twenty degree
drop in temps at idle happens in less than 2 minutes.
The gauge is very slow responding.
So I guess you could say I have too much time on my hands.
Regards,
Chris Delling
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