I installed a nice set of AUTOMETER gauges and found that the motor runs about 210-220 without the A/C and almost 230 with the A/C on on a HOT day. That seems a little too HOT for me and sure doesn't give you very much room for error if your running hard on a HOT day with the A/C on. I'm considering installing a 180 thermostat. has anyone done this and what did it do for them? Did the engine still have the power? What about smog and warranty issues? I just can't see running the motor that hot. All my other high horsepower motors all ran 180-190 and the outside air temp or A/C made NO difference in the overall operating temp. It sure seems like these SVT Cobras come with a marginal cooling system. I'm reading where a lot of the Racing teams have been plagued with cooling problems. Has anyone changed to a bigger and better radiator? I need some comments and tech information. Do the California emisions motors run hotter for smog? Thanks GLWBEAR
That's a lot of questions there, but i may be able to asnwer a fwe of them for you, or at least I'll try my best. The reason to install a 180 thermostat is so coolant will begin to flow through the engine sooner than the stock one which is around 195. Ford did this so the engine would get a little hotter and would be better for emissions. I have an aftermarket radiator which keeps my temps between the O and the R in the stock guage. Another good mod to do to help cooling of the 4.6 Cobra motors is the apten head cooling mod. Go to http://www.apten-us.com/performance/03cobra/coolant.asp. This mod is supposed to help cool the engine and while I don't have it on my car a lot of guys are and have no complaints. Another thing to consider would be a manual fan switch so you can control when you want to turn the fan on and off. Hope I was helpful. Good luck with the issue.
all else being equal, the engine will still reach the same temps with just a thermostat change. yes it will open earlier than a 195, but at the rate the engine builds heat, you are only buying a few seconds of lower temp.
actually pvt, if you're sitting in stop and go traffic, this is true. but if you're on the highway, or at least driving at 45mph or faster for a while, you're car will run cooler because of the air going through the radiator becoming cooler than with your stock 195* thermo. Or, like on my car, get a manual fan switch so you can control it and turn it on during stop and go to keep you're engine cool.
