Merc63

Is the 180F thermostat and thermal intake gasket worth the upgrade??

What temp is the stock thermostat?

propain

Headers yes, otherwise no.

Merc63

What's the reasoning behind this?

jacob502

Yes they are worth it especially when you install Longtubes. When your car is tuned with Headers, you will have a minor problem, that most of us are not aware of, called heat soak. Installing a thermostat that opens up at a reduced temperature and a thermal intake gasket or heat spacers ,will reduce that problem. Your ECU will pull better timing. You will propabley not notice much diffrence in performance or on the track, but it is defenitley a smart upgrade if you are runing with headers. You make more power when your engine is cooler, Plus you increase the life of your engine as well. If your living in a hot climate, get the 160 F themostat, Call Andy from MHP, he will set you up with one. I am currently runing them on my SL63

SonnyakaPig

Cooler engines don't necessarily make more power... to a point, obviously. If your engine oil temp is 245 *F -- for example -- your engine won't make less power than when the oil temp is at 177*F.

IAT's and the placement of the IAT sensor has more to do with when the engine pulls timing (which means reduced spark advance, not increased).

But, yes, heat soak is the enemy you are up against when pushing the car hard for extended periods. And it's more a symptom of high IAT's. Like you said LT's do increase the engine's power output and they do tend to increase under hood temps, which will effect IAT's as well.

The manifold gaskets are meant to combat rising IAT's as a result of heatsoak.

63c

jacob502

please check your PM !

jacob502

replied

propain

Agree with both. Its very dependent on your tune. I'm not an expert on this at all but from what I know you must program the car for the fans to kick on earlier or its pretty much worthless.

Also a cool running engine will run rich, so your A/F mix would have to be tweaked to run at the lower temps. For the C63 the 180 plus tweaking the fan seems like it would be the way to go if you are running headers. Stock or tune only the stock thermostat works just fine.

I actaully GAIN power the more runs I do as the engine warms up and leans out.

Merc63

You definitely notice heat soak in these cars. When I leave home in the morning with the oil temp at 80C the car is just wild. But by the time I get home in the afternoon with a day of driving, you can sure feel the heat getting to it.

bhamg

For normal street driving including desert conditions I would think it would be a detriment. Even on 105˚F days my coolant and oil temps vary only by a maximum of a few degrees from say, 70˚F. Running richer is not good for your cats, plugs, or producing more HP. Furthermore, it will lower oil temperatures, increasing the likelihood of moisture accumulation (depending upon your driving habits).

_AMG_

I have phenolic intake spacers from Evosport and haven't really noticed any gains from them but the intake manifold is definitely cooler when compared to before.

BerBer63

no it's not "worth" it, but what really is...to get on track tho you won't notice a difference with or without those mods and i could argue your car won't either

akmatic63

Just had MBH long tube headers installed, and with the HOT florida summer quickly approaching, I was thinking about the thermostat... is MHP the only one on the market? Ive read a lot of posts from people saying they didn't really make a difference... Haven't had any issues with the car going into limp mode, don't track the car etc

thanks!

abcut973

So I guess you don't need them.
I think only MHP offers them.

BLKROKT

Was thinking about this as well, but heard mixed results with the 180T.

How about something like Swain Tech White Lightning? I have my MBH headers and mids just sitting here, and wonder if I should throw them in the mail. Is it worth it, and does anyone have real-life experience?

zcct04

I have no experience with them, but was pretty impressed by what they have posted. These guys sound very professional.
http://swaintech.com/race-coatings/r...aust-coatings/

I am Jeff

Aren't you going to run your car with the headers at the mid Ohio event? Or are you just running it as tune only?

BLKROKT

I'm not going to Mid-Ohio. I signed up for a trackday at Limerock instead. Will hopefully have them on by then.

BUT, I think I'll be too loud. db limit is under 100 if I'm reading correctly. And I'll be over that. We will see...

I am Jeff

Can u pm me the details for limerock?

BLKROKT

Here you go: https://www.nasaproracing.com/events/1970

Think the Mid-Ohio event will be a lot of fun, but I wasn't interested in driving all that way just to receive instruction. This event has everything from HPDE 1-4.

I am Jeff

The event looks awesome, but there is a slight problem. Stock, our cars register in at around 80db. I have LT headers. Can you get more details about how they plan to read the db levels?

http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/t...s-v-coupe.html

akmatic63

But i did feel the heat soak effect after some hard driving in warm+humid weather and some highway runs..

RNS-11Z

I did this and haven't noticed anything at all!

ENVē

I wonder if I have a 180F thermostat. My car seems to always sit around 197F in the summer but once it cools down it will go up and down between 189 and 195 and the gauge moves along with digital readout. Is that telling of diff thermostat?

BLKROKT

No. Thermostats are supposed to do that. Mine has gone as low as 170-something. You have a 87C (188F) like everyone else.