KCBrown – Agree 100% - I’m keeping this short as possible - Work
Thermostat – For street car - Only to help in shortening the warm up time unless - in extremely low temps. The open surface area also works as a restrictor / limiting flow - Most operating systems are designed around orifice size & flow capacity
Stock thermostat opened around 200F+ Degrees. Higher running temp = Better fuel atomization (But Plastic Intake manifold) Better Gas mileage - Not necessarily for optimum HP
I have an accurate lazar pyrometer and have checked the outside surface temps of the entire engine and cooling system under stress and idling – Good
The water Temp at the combustion chamber (Aluminum) is quite a bit higher than thermostat setting – could boil / vaporize and cause hot spots possibly causing pre-detonation. I’ve had had this happen in a different engine configuration even with twice the surface area cooling capacity I now have. Poor design.
I did all of my cooling upgrades at one time so I wouldn’t have to mess with it again. If they didn’t work, I would have made ducting or blocked flow. I also drilled holes in the thermostat to let air pass helping to burp the system.
The system gets up to temp in suitable timely fashion, it runs fine under stress at 107F exterior temp 2000 Ft elevation 145+F track surface temp running the air-conditioning. I had it on while sitting in pit lane and ran almost ½ a session before I was smart enough to turn it off. The car also gets up to sufficient temp in 30F+/- and the heater works great.
I am 90% sure the high spring pressure of the aftermarket thermostat was the main contributing factor of the thermostat housing failure. I was only able to fine one other pic on the internet of a failed housing. The pic showed the rupture in the same location as mine. I ordered and aftermarket thermostat housing which should elevate all further problems.
I will try to keep further posts on the drivetrain harmonic topic so as to not deviate from the original post. This should keep all relevant data manageable.
Pentalab - 195RWHP 3500LBs
Agreed - CV fixes almost everything - CV at trans flange