THE358BANSH Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 I have been running my stuff in colder weather here lately with a temperature gauge from TrailTech. When the ambient temperature is in the 15-20 degree range the engine will only go over 110 when really beating on it. During cruise conditions I am lucky to see triple digit coolant temps. I am contemplating doing an inline thermostat, which generally will hold the engine around 130 degrees. Anyone else have any ideas? It's funny that we spend all this money on good water pumps and radiators for the summer only to have it bite us in the ass for winter... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coupelx Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 it would probably help extend ring and cylinder life if you spend alot of time riding in the cold. the RZ had a thermostat didnt it? On the ford 2.3 with higher mileage cylinder #1 sees the most wear as it is directly behind the water pump and gets hit with the cool water first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE358BANSH Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 it would probably help extend ring and cylinder life if you spend alot of time riding in the cold. the RZ had a thermostat didnt it? On the ford 2.3 with higher mileage cylinder #1 sees the most wear as it is directly behind the water pump and gets hit with the cool water first. The RZ had a thermostat in the head, I think they open at 185 and close at 150. I was thinking of something like the unit from Guhl Motors. They do a bunch of alcohol micro sprint fuel injection conversions where temperature consistency is huge. They don't list a price on the site so I will give them a ring tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zwiser Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 mine runs around 140* in like 30*- 40* weather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooker82 Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Or you could just get a raptor 660 thermostat and splice it in the top hose close to the head. It would even have a place where you could install your current electric temp gauge probe. It wouldnt be a bypass thermostat but it would be cheap and easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE358BANSH Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Or you could just get a raptor 660 thermostat and splice it in the top hose close to the head. It would even have a place where you could install your current electric temp gauge probe. It wouldnt be a bypass thermostat but it would be cheap and easy. Awesome! I just looked at those and it would work great. I wasn't tied to using a bypass style, that is only what I could find for universal deals. After doing some research on the Raptor thermostat, it opens at 160 degrees and uses 19mm hoses just like the Banshee. I will have to do some adapting for the temp sender, bu that is no big deal. I bought a housing with thermostat complete with hoses just now for $14 off FleaBay. It should be here mid next week. mine runs around 140* in like 30*- 40* weather 30-40 degrees around here is sweatshirt and jeans weather. Most of our winter riding is from 0-20 degrees, testicles up in the stomach type stuff. Next weeks highs are in the teens which will work great to test out the new thermostat... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HIDEF Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 just a quick question about this t-stat. would this benefit the engine in the summer time too by holding the hot coolant in the radiator and cooling it off Or would this be something that should be removed in the summer. Thank You Sorry for HiJacking Your thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamahaman244 Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 just a quick question about this t-stat. would this benefit the engine in the summer time too by holding the hot coolant in the radiator and cooling it off Or would this be something that should be removed in the summer. Thank You Sorry for HiJacking Your thread. Same here man my bike usually runs 175 180 in summer ripping unless in pits but now here in Wisconsin that it's cold doesn't get higher then 130-140 unless just sitting in one spit just wot Is that good that it's running cooler? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE358BANSH Posted January 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 just a quick question about this t-stat. would this benefit the engine in the summer time too by holding the hot coolant in the radiator and cooling it off Or would this be something that should be removed in the summer. Thank You Sorry for HiJacking Your thread. It would not really benefit the engine in summer. Once the thermostat is open, the system acts just like stock except for the small amount of restriction from the housing itself. You could remove it in summer, but I doubt it would make a difference. Same here man my bike usually runs 175 180 in summer ripping unless in pits but now here in Wisconsin that it's cold doesn't get higher then 130-140 unless just sitting in one spit just wot Is that good that it's running cooler? I personally can tell a difference in the way my stuff runs at 130-150 versus 100 degrees. Two strokes need consistent temperature to function. Unfortunately in winter it is a bitch to build the temp, and even harder to hold it at one temperature. The thermostat should help the engine warm up quicker before riding, and also maintain temperature when cold air is flowing over the radiator by closing ever so slightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooker82 Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) You would benifit from having a constant running temp. Engine temp does slightly affect your jetting, so the more stable you can make the engine temp the better. Just make sure you keep an eye on the temps. I dont know how the banshee would or is going to react to having a t stat. Edited January 1, 2012 by jbooker82 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj7den Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 I was running in the same cold ass temps outside -5 to-25 C and it was not running cold as far as I could tell. I had to let it sit and rest I was working it to hard and it was boiling over on me. I was also going in 1 to 1.5ft of snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRed350x Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 Restricting or stopping the flow through the coolant system is going to cause cavitation @ the water pump. I would watch your pump for damge and keep an eye on the plastic gear inside the clutch cover. Both will wear quite a bit faster with cavitation. Another solution is to try and find a radiator from a dirt-bike. Quite a bit smaller. You could just swap radiators in the winter time to the smaller unit, which wouldn't dissipate as much heat as the stock radiator. - Jared Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ticktock Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 When driving an 18 wheeler in the winter we have to put the canvas over the radiator to get heat in the truck. If you want to build temp you could cover the radiator with something semi-permeable. This will restrict air-flow through the radiator. In turn this will reduce the cooling efficiency of te radiator heating the motor up more. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE358BANSH Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 Restricting or stopping the flow through the coolant system is going to cause cavitation @ the water pump. I would watch your pump for damge and keep an eye on the plastic gear inside the clutch cover. Both will wear quite a bit faster with cavitation. Another solution is to try and find a radiator from a dirt-bike. Quite a bit smaller. You could just swap radiators in the winter time to the smaller unit, which wouldn't dissipate as much heat as the stock radiator. - Jared I had contemplated the dirt bike radiator, but I was feeling lazy and didn't feel like scouting something out and then having to make it fit only to not know for sure if it would work well. As for the cavitation, I have the big chariot extended pump with an aluminum gear and I figured since the RZ350 came stock with a thermostat, the setup couldn't be too bad for it? I got the thermostat in earlier this week and had a chance to install it. It is off a 660 Raptor and comes with a 160* thermostat stock. When the thermostat is closed while the engine is warming up, the coolant is restricted by the bypass hole in the thermostat itself and the bleed vent in the head. This allows the coolant to circulate slowly to build temperature, but not completely stopping flow and causing hot spots. I drilled and tapped the housing itself for the TTO temp sensor, and eventually I would like to use the other port for the EFI water temp sensor. I put the housing in the upper radiator hose where the TTO was originally spliced. After filling up with coolant and warming it up, man does it help the engine get temp quicker. I would say it cut the warm up time down 30-50%. After taking it for a spin in 13* degree weather it would barely make enough temp to open the thermostat. I ended up blocking off the entire radiator and going for a ride with a utility knife. With the cardboard covering 100% of the surface it went to 210*. I trimmed it back an inch and went for a other ride which resulted in 200*. Off came another inch which dropped the temp another 10*. Currently the top four inches of the radiator is open and the motor runs at 170-180* beating the crap out of it. While cruising around it drops down to 160-165* and the thermostat regulates it there at the lowest. Not too bad for a $15 modification. This should help out tons for all the guys riding in winter... Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulvafan537240 Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 i see a custom winter grill from jd in your future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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