I'm wondering, how warm should the engine be before I go WOT? I know the stock double throttle opens at 180 degrees, but does it need to be at 180 before going WOT, or could it be at like 150 and still be safe?

 

I think some even wait until 190F. I don't see it making a huge world of difference between 10 degrees. But my uneducated opinion says no go on 150F for safety's sake.
Edit: What harness bar do you have?

 

I ask about 150, because my friend runs the same rad as I'll be running and his car won't go over 150 unless he holds it at WOT for a long long time.

 

What rad? I have a Koyo and it still gets to 180-190. My fans kick on at 180 due to my FC thermoswitch. Maybe he isn't running a thermostat. The only time my car won't get up to temp is in the winter, and I don't drive it November-Feb.

 

Fluidyne. He has a stock IC, though. I have a large fmic, so my coolant temps will likely be higher than his with the rad getting second hand air. His is always the same though, whether it's 30 degrees out or 80(this winter has been weird ), it always sits at 150. I was thinking of tying his double throttle open, but if you guys think 150 is too cold(even after the car has been running for a while), then I won't.

 

Ideally you would probably want to run it 180 for a few minutes just to make sure all the parts are up to temp before going WOT.

 

He must not be running the stock thermostat or else he drilled it out.

 

he hasn't modded the car since he bought it. The seller didn't mention anything of that nature though. Are you implying that he is running hotter than his water temp gague shows?

 

Your friend has a sensor problem then. The t-stat doesn't even start opening until WAY over that temp.

A better determination of when it's safe to go WOT would be oil temp....but I would not WOT the car unless it had been running at normal operating temp for several minutes.

 

well, another thing, now that you mention it, is that the fans won't kick in while the car is idling. His water temp gague has gotten upwards of around 210-220, just while idling. He switches on his AC to get the fans working, then it'll sit at 180 till he starts moving then it drops back off to around 150.

What's normal operating temp for oil?

 

LOL, the car is not really running 150F.....he has the sensor downstream of the t-stat and is simply seeing the t-stat close....if he relocated the sensor to the TB coolant line (not that I'm recommending this), he would not see this behaviour.

I believe the stock oil cooler t-stat opens at 170F, if that gives you any indication.

 

I let mine get to 79-80C on the PFC before I get on it.

 

Just for reference, I don't boost over 0lbs under 100F (coolant), 5lbs under 140-150F, and i don't go to WOT until the temp levels out ~180+

I've noticed that once the car starts warming up it doesn't take long. It's just the cold starts w/ the cold ambient temps that seems to take forever.

 

alrighty then! where should the sensor be relocated to?

 

I didn't say I would relocate it....mine is in the t-stat housing and shows a temp drop like that (not that extreme though) when the t-stat closes in cold weather. However, IMO, under normal conditions, that sensor location is the fastest to respond to changes and also shows the coolant at its highest temps.

 

I do those half *** wot's at lower temps sometimes, prob like 140-150F. Maybe like 5500-6000rpm.

I never redline the car until the car's been driven for a while.

And especially now, you'll have to drive your car for like half hour to see 180F. Its brick outside. lol

 

'

Same here

 

What I don't get is this: When these cars were new and people went to the dealer for a test drive, realizing that a good percentage of those buying this car are not "car people", don't you think the fact that you couldn't accelerate hard for about five minutes was a pretty bad attribute of this car? I mean, you go test drive a Corvette, porsche, etc. and granted, it's not good to accelerate on a cold engine but with those cars you could. This car won't allow you even if you wanted to!

I know it's a good thing for the car, but man it must've looked bad to those potential customers who knew nothing about engines, turbos, etc. And we all know that there are plenty of those guys around that just want the nicest looking, latest cool car on the road, which is and always will be our beautiful FD.