Wanna see a home-drilled stat?
 

Here's an old pic I forgot I uploaded:

http://home.comcast.net/~bonnevilleclub/drillstat.JPG

I believe this was the first one I did. These holes are too big. The current stat either has 4 smaller holes or only 2 this size. Can't remember :oops:

The black round thingy is the rubber flange seal. You also need a fiber gasket for the housing. Make sure you de-burr the holes, and rinse thoroghly after drilling.

what if i didnt wnat to see that?...lol...just playin...no doesnt that gasket just cover the holes or not?

Nope. It doesn't cover that much of the stat flange. Put the gasket on the stat first, then mark where you want the holes ;)

ah...will do boss!

How big are those holes then? I'm thinking on drilling two 1/18 inch holes in mine come spring. That should work, right? Or wait...shoudl I do 1/16? :?

I just dropped a 180 stat in my bonnie and my MPG just went to shit, is that normal?

1/18?!? Is that standard? 1/18 of what?? An inch?




:lol:

My recommendation for drilling holes in a 180 stat is to drill 2 - 3/32" holes if you operate the vehicle for trips of 15 minute duration or more. 1 - 3/32" hole if you operate the vehicle for short trips of 10 minutes or less. 4 - 3/32" holes if you want a very long warm up cycle like for drag racing in warm weather.

1/16 of an inch is a little smaller and 1/8 of an inch is a little bigger of a hole. You could probably use any of these sizes and the difference will be a small increase or decrease in warm up time.
The operating temperature will drop a few degrees with the larger hole(s) opening but it will be very dependant on the ambient air temp conditions like summer to winter variations.

Your mileage will drop a little because you will be in warm up cycle longer.
As an example of hole size sensitivity, when I ran with 4 - 3/32" holes I would average 15 mpg in town driving. When I changed to 1 - 3/32" hole my mileage increased to 16 mpg, but more importantly, in cooler 40* F weather my engine will reach operating temperature within a preset duration and not set off the SES light.

No, that's not normal, and it's not your thermostat, either. Put a 195 in, and I bet it will still be getting shitty mileage.

Here's the "stats" on my new 'stat' :

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ght=thermostat