180 degree thermostat question
 

hey all,
i've been trolling a bit and noticed that most of you guys have swapped down to a 180 degree thermostat, some are using a 160. i have a mostly stock (intake and ignition mods) '95 L27. i figured the 180 would be my best bet.

i noticed some people mentioned drilling the t-stat before installation, but i haven't seen any details beyond that. does anyone have a picture of a drilled T-stat or a least a good explanation of what exactly to do?

thanks
-Marik

The 180 will be best for you since you are practically stock. 160 is for more heavily modified cars. Drilling the 180 keeps a small but constant flow of coolant all the time, good for hot climates. It consists of drilling 1/16" holes on the inside of the rim of the t-stat. The holes should generally be equal distance away from each other, probably not vital, but I'd do it that way. 2 holes should also be sufficient for most people.

That's all I can tell you. I don't have any pics. :)

Actually anything less than a 180 T stat should set a check engine light. And drilling holes is normally done on supercharged to increase the flow ability during boost periods where temps can spike quickly.

You are sure you have a 95 L27 and not a 95 L36? I'm unsure if the vans got the new motor a year after the Bonne or not.

yeah the vans kept the L-27 another year, you know, to get rid of all the crap...

thanks guys

No Bonnies for 1995 got the L27, If they were Natrually Aspirated they got the L36 NA 3800 Series II motor... The Buick Lesabre and I think Buick Reagal still got the L27 Series I engine... I think the Olds 98 and Buick Park Avenue also got the series II if they were NA'd..

Yes on stock programming go no lower than a 180F T Stat, 160 will be too low..

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Ahh Ok that makes sense..

The TPI 3800 was a good motor and was more than up to the task of moving the transport around...

I guess we should say that some of the H,W and U Body( Minivan ) retained the L27 TPI 3800 for the 1995 Model year where the others went to the new L36...

But with that L27, some TR55's, An intake, 180 T Stat, may make it feel a bit better...

Also can you look at the RPO list? I think its located behind pannel in the rear of the van... I'm wondering what gear ratio you have with that 3800... I'm thinking 3.06, I know in 96 they were using a 3.29 ratio with the 3400...

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IIRC from another thread, there weren't any Pontiac vans that got the Series 2. I think somebody said that in '96 they switched to a 3.4 or something like that.

You live in Florida (Welcome to BC, BTW! :D ), so it won't hurt you to drill your T'stat. Here's a pic for you, but this is two 1/8" holes. You might want to go smaller, like 1/16"-3/32". ;) Also, like said, stick with the 180*.

Edit: the pic, courtesy of harofreak00:
Attachment 66386


Hey, I live in Deltona. I'm like 30 minutes away.

lash forgot the pic, then added it later, but here is another angle

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...2/DSC01251.jpg

Note the 2 holes opposite each other...

lets see, right now i've got the gutted stock box with a drop in K&N, TR55's, 8mm accel wires, a moroso spiralflow exhaust, all the vacume lines are upgraded to silicone, and the hood is gutted. (just the outer fiberglass skin held on with pins)

it makes a bit of difference, sounds mean but still stock... you know what i mean? gets up and goes quite a bit.

the weekend projects are find 1/8 inch wheel spacers so i can run my 235's up front. lower the van (ghetto style, 1.5 in drop) and probably the thermostat.

the ongoing project at this point is the ram air hood. do to the extreame angle of my hood, i don't need scoops, i can just cut a hole! i grabbed a pair of '94 grand am honeycomb grills and i'm laying them into the hood, then i'll build a cool air box that seals to the hood with a K&N cone filter inside that, finally cut up some rice pipe and direct it into the TB. ought to be worth something. and i figure by using the grand am grills it'll look "stock" like some kind of special edition option or something. make people wonder a little bit.

and Lash, c'mon down some time, we can have a beer and work on the cars. it'll be akward!

did anyone else find this thing to be the hardest damn hole you've ever drilled in your life.

i've got the thing clamped in a vice, i've got my 120 volt drill and a brand new titanium high speed metal drill bit.

took me 15 minutes to get through one side. (i checked four times to make sure the drill was going the right way) before actually punching through the other side deformed into a bump, the shape of my drill bit... is this normal when drilling T-stats or do i need to go back on my medication?

it took me all of 1 minute holding it with my hand on the deck? :?

I had no problem drilling mine. That's unusual. Was your thermostat made from Kryptonite or something? :P

No problem here either.

<taps Marik on shoulder and whispers> your drill is on reverse...put it on forward...

seriously... thats what i thought, but i kept checking it.

on a side note. Enfeild huh? hometown of legos. i used to live there... a long time ago.
61 varno lane. used to walk to school every morning. you know uphill boths ways in the wintyer throught the snow, in the summer through the snow, little brother on my back. the whole nine...

Sigh... i don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but i'm about halfway through installing my T-stat and i made a remarkable discovery. i already had one.

Sigh...

im confused... :? :?

I believe he's saying he already had a 180.

ding ding you broke the code!
on the one hand it's cool that i already had one, but it kinda took the wind outta my sails. i was hoping the thing would run cooler, as it stands now it hovers around 210, even with a 180 T-stat.

in a PM Billboost37 mentioned the fan override mod. is there a thread on this somewhere?

Yes, there's a few topics. I've done both of my cars and Matt's and John's as well.