GrimmSpeed 160 Degree Thermostat - Product Release!
 

http://www.grimmspeed.com/images/pro...baru_350_1.jpg

Link to Product: http://www.grimmspeed.com/catalog/pr...roducts_id=162

Price: 52.99

First rule of thumb, excess heat kills engines and kills power. GrimmSpeed is on your side with our new 160 Degree Thermostat. Our thermostat will make an immediate and direct impact on your engine running temps. The 160 Degree T-Stat will bring your engine coolant temps down 20-30 Degrees.

Many OEM style T-Stats can have a very negative effect on your vehicle, if they fail, they fail closed and your car will overheat. But not ours! If there is a failure with our T-Stat, it will fail in the OPEN position allowing coolant to flow and keep your engine temps under control.

Given the fact most Subarus are turbo'd, this gives you even more of a reason to want to keep those coolant temps down. In turbo'd applications, the engine coolant must also cool the turbo and the engine oil. This places a greater strain on your oem thermostat...all the more reason to install the GrimmSpeed 160 Degree Thermostat!

During testing, we have also found that our 160 Degree Thermostat keeps the engine coolant at a more stable temperature.


Quick Facts:
20-30 Degree cooler engine coolant temps
Horsepower gains due to the ability to tune more agressively
Less chance of the engine killing detonation
Fails in an OPEN position compared to competitors products



http://www.grimmspeed.com/images/pro...temp_graph.jpg

It sounds good, but $53 good??

$53? Yikes!

We feel that $52.99 puts us right in the average price range for aftermarket thermostats. THe peace of mind having a 'fail open' thermostat is alone worth it to me. Not to mention the more agressive tuning you can do.

Nevermind.

Group buy price is much better... As low as $45 shipped.

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f14/t1125...hermostat.html

What's an OEM t-stat go for? $53 bucks doesn't sound all that bad IMO. It's not like you're replacing t-stats three times a year or something.

Sperry: OEM goes for $12 and change at subarugenuineparts.com

I wonder if it's different than the SVX's thermostat... I don't remember it being that cheap when I did the SVX.

Still, when people are spending $10,000 on mods, dropping $50 on the thermostat seems cheap. Kinda like running expensive oil... sure it's expensive compared to the alternatives, but how much is it going to cost for repairs if it fails and takes the motor with it?

Does it take longer for the coolant to warm up in the Winter with one of these? Any "downside"?

Yeah in extreme cold weather you may not have very warm heat. As long as you are not in one of the extreme temperature states you should be fine.

What constitutes extreme?

Mt. Dew flash floods.

I could understand that, but what about someone with <$2000 into an RS? I just feel like it's something that would be nice to have (like a shortshifter/bushings), but not necessary. And at that price, I think I'd stick with oem on my car. Unless someone wants to try to talk me out of it, I don't claim to always know what's best for my car :D

Rob, go big or go home.

That's all I needed to hear cory. Haha.

Grimmspeed, if I buy it on that group buy on rs25, will it get to my house by August 1st? If it will, I'll sign up for it. It should, unless you ship from Lithuania or something. You're shipping them on the 28th for that group buy, right?

Rob.

:picard:

We are located in Minnesota so we can usually get to anywhere in the country via USPS in a few days. The last day is the 28th(until midnight) so we will be shipping 29th. We could probably make arrangements for you to get it shipped earlier if you are in dire need.

Justin

I'll be installing cams that weekend, and also replacing my thermostat and coolant. I wouldn't want to waste coolant the next weekend to install a new thermostat, so that would be appreciated. We can take this to pm if you don't wanna keep littering your thread with this :) otherwise, I should be posting in the group buy thread soon under the same sn

Juice: why facepalm? Is it that bad that I can't make my own decisions related to my car? Haha

yeah we can work something out...post up in the GB thread. they only need one more person to hit the lowest price tier anyways then we can start shipping..you would be that person so we could ship monday.

It says you only have 9 people in there. The lowest price tier needs 21+. Right?

oh yes...my bad. nasioc is at 21.

Justin

I might have changed my mind, actually. According to someone in that rs25 thread, the stock one is rated at 172, so yours only offers a 12 degree drop over stock for quadruple the price. It'd probably be good if I were turbo'd, but NA I don't see it making much of a difference

That graph in the OP is very compelling though. It shows an average temp drop of "20-30 Degree cooler engine coolant temps" under, what I'm assuming, is aggressive use. However, you're right that it's probably less of an issue in a non-turbo car since the coolant is only cooling the motor, not the motor and the turbo.

But I wouldn't buy one until I saw the needle rise above where it normally is. Once that needle starts to climb from where it normally is under harsh conditions, it tells me that it's time to improve the efficiency of the cooling system. Yes, I know the stock coolant temp. gauge is "a joke" but I believe that it would show any significant rise in coolant temps.

172 is not the operationg temp of the OEM, the operating temp is up near 190 or so. Please the testing graph above. Also ours maintains a more staple temperature and also fails in the open position(oem fails closed).

Justin

I topped out the NASIOC GB - have a motor coming back together for my wagon and will grab one for the STi as my 60k is coming up.

Just remember that if you want your coolant temperature to be lower in stop-and-go traffic and/or low speed you need to reprogram the ECU (or add a relay) to turn the fans on at a lower temperature or they will control your coolant to about 190deg. no matter what you do thermostat-wise. This is particularly true here today when it is 100 deg, 20% humidity, and with the low-density air at 5000' or so.

Another effect to consider is that if the thermostat does manage to keep your coolant temps down,t he ECU will never bring the car out of coldstart mode, which means lost power and worse fuel economy, especially in city driving. I'd pass on it for a street car. Heck, I had a Crucial Racing one sitting around when I built the RS, and left it out in favor of a new OEM one, and that car sees a much higher percentage of race use than any car not also a dedicated autocross/track car. The open-fail feature is nice, but probably not worth the tradeoff unless your car spends tons of time at the track where the extra enriching on a boosted engine could be a good thing.

Kevin, cold start mode ends at around 150 degrees so that is not an issue.

Ah, okay. I saw it brought up elsewhere and it made sense- should have checked into exactly what that temp was first.

Haha no big deal! it never hurts to ask and bring it up in a new thread!

Mike

And anyway... this temp. is also programmable in the ECU too.

Nice for you jokers that can tune your ECUs. :p

I should have jumped on this. I suspect my STI thermostate is sticking...

needle stays in the wavy lines most of the day. then out of no where, even under cruise control it goes way up. way above the normal range. if i turn on the heat full blast it stops going up and comes down very slowly, eventually (i suspect) the thermostat opens up and the temps drop very quickly back to normal. usually a few minutes after that the temps go below normal (just a touch) (even climbing spooner+ AC blasting)


day late & a dollar short :P

That's also a symptom of low coolant- did you check?