Ok, just replaced my stocker with a 180*. Its not an intense, so sue me! har har I did drill it, two smaller sized holes opposite from eachother. Put it in with new gasket, and filled 50/50 mix. Ran up to operating temp, noticed bleeder, bled for 5 sec, did not noticed any air bubbles, all coolant. The temp gauge still reads at 200*, sometimes a tick below.

My question is where on the gauge should the needle be? Like maybe 5 or 6 notches lower? I drove it for like 20min across town and it stayed where it was. its 67* outside so its not like its just hot. also, I have also noticed I dont think my fans ever kick on... what temp do they spin? Maybe the mysterious trapped air bubble is paying me a visit?

You should be fine.

There is very little variation on the 00+ gauges where you would be able to notice the difference.

As for the fans..in your year they come on somewhere around 220 and 230.

Sweet as long as its normal. Would it be feesable to wire in a switch so I could flip em on before that? Im kinda thinking it would be nice to run em to help cool then engine inbetween runs.

If you turn on the a/c it kicks the fans on.

A switch if turned on and off twice will trigger an SES light. However I got a pcm and ensured the fans were programmed to come on at 180 to coincide with my T stat.

I absolutely love having the fans come on..you never again see crazy fluctuations over 200.

I've never had it go ABOVE 200, just sits at, but I want it cooler. I'll have to look into a PCM then, cause im kinda old school and like my fan attached to my water pump, obviously thats not gonna work here, plus electrics are capable of moving more air than a pump driven one. Does the intense PCM do that or someone else need to program it that way?

so do you drill the holes to have a constant flow of coolant regardless of temp
correct me if i am wrong

sort of, it gets rid of any bubbles and allows the engine to warn up slower, Im thinking thats gonna help at the strip. Willwren posted on someones question what it all really does. Ill link it when I find it again.

its in here, this is a pretty good thread..

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...180+thermostat