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I just bought a cooling kit. It was $32 and is from pantera performance in co. It has a 160 degree thermostat from a chevy 350 and the part that goes under the thermostat. You pull the old part out and install the new one. The whole is very small and im concerned the water flow will be cut down. Anyone used this kit before with any success.??? I have been running a 190 thermostat .
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I've never seen this kit. A non-351-C thermostat WILL NOT WORK unless there is also a 3/8" freeze plug that is pounded into the hole in the big brass washer under the thermostat. The hole leads to a quick warm-up radiator bypass; plugging it will drop the water temp but will make the engine warm-up take a little longer. I've had mine completely plugged for 10 yrs. with no problems. If theres a small hole drilled in the kit freeze plug, this is only the warm-up circuit which you don't need after the engine is warm. Don't worry about water flow thru it; you can plug the small hole for even better results. Regardless of the 160 thermostat, you'll likely find that the engine temp will be still be around 190 'cause thats where the typical Pantera system always runs.
Azwhiz - I have got that same kit from PPC in my 71. I actually think it runs too cool. I plan on running a test with a thermocouple attached to the engine where the temperature sending unit is installed (near the thermostat). When I run the test I will let you know the results but Jack says they run at 190 even with a 160 thermo.
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