You 160 guys just lack commitment. Let me tell you what folks do out here in the blowing sands of Arabia. The first thing any genius roadside mechanic does to any car that so much as slows down in front of their shop is to fill the radiator with plain water and throw the thermostat in the trash.
I have a Chrysler minivan 2002. This thing has been through the blazing centre of Oman down to Salalah and back with my whole family and pratically everything that could possibly be stuffed into it. AC cranked, foot to the floor, 120 degrees plus outside temps all day. That car never budges even slightly off the centre of the gauge once warmed up and it never has. Earlier this year I let a friend borrow it for a week. She had an issue with it not starting and took it to "her" mechanic. The guy replaces my top radiator hose with some Chinese garbage piece and, sure enough, removes the thermostat. Yeah, thanks buddy! At least he had the decency to leave the removed thermostat in the car to save me having to source one myself.
My GMC Suburban with the big 454 is my desert rig. I drive it hard in the worst worst heat and humidity. Factory radiator, factory fan clutch. I never could get it running smoothly. Then, one day, it hit me. I took off the thermostat housing and sure enough, good old Doha missing thermostat. Ordered a new one and stuck it in. It's like a new engine. Purrs like a kitten. Still never overheats.
My 1971 Trans Am has the factory 197 iron heads, factory intake with the factory exhaust crossover. Clutch fan, factory shroud, BeCooler radiator. I run a 195 thermostat because that's what it's meant to have. Does it ping, even when it heats up a little? No.
As others have said, there are really only two possible outcomes for running a cooler thermostat:
1. The cooling system is sufficient to the engine's needs and so the cooler thermostat will successfully run your engine too cool. Combustion will be less efficient, wear will happen faster and the oil will probably not get hot enough to cook the contaminents out of it like it should
2. The cooling system is insufficient to the engine's needs and so the cooler thermostat will fail to maintain temperature and the car will overheat. Incidentally, exactly the same thing that would happen with the correct temperature thermostat or no thermostat
Sam
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Sam Agnew
Where you come from is gone; where you thought you were going to, weren't never there; and where you are ain't no good unless you can get away from it.
Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod
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