Hi all in your street/drift car what thermostat do you run? Does it heat up to much when you drift? Or have you drilled small holes in it so it cant heat up too much?

In my car i had a 82oc Themostat that had 12 small holes drilled in it and the car ran very cool as it has a PWR radiator. Now i have replaced it with a 77oc themostat with no holes drilled in it.

Which will be better for street/drift?

Thanks all

1. What car?
2. What engine?
3. na/turbo/sc?
4. What radiator?
5. What fan setup - clutch or thermos? If thermo's, how many CFM?
6. Have you got an oil cooler?


I used to have SOOOOO many overheating dramas with the RB20 & RB25 in the 180, fixed it with a HUGE oil cooler + relo kit so you can run more oil, and also now use AU Falcon Thermo fans (4,000CFM). Normal water temp is 70 degrees, after thrashing for a while 80-85 degrees. Btw I use a china 38mm quad core radiator ($280 from ebay ).

I have a PWR alloy radiator. In a s13 sr20det the motor is pretty worked i also run an oil cooler too to keep the oil cooler. I have 2 thermo fans on the back of the radiator

You need a shrowd - it will drastically improve the efficiency of your cooling system with the thermos.



Also if it still gets hot put a small thermo on your oil cooler.



Also Also what front bar have you got? I used to have a stock 180 front bar which allow SFA air flow, then when I got the body kit it helped heaps having decent amount of space for air to go in.


Lastly, pressure test your cooling system make sure it's not leaking anywhere. For AGES I had a slight leak from heater hoses that ran behind the engine, couldn't see them you see, and yeah they reaked havoc, was tearning my hair out.



Oh yeah you mentioned thermostat, if you're sus on it just get a new one. I went through 3, 2 brand new ones in a row were faulty! What a fuck around that was!

I have a full kit. I have no prob of over heating at all its just that i replaced the thermostat as i didnt like how it had holes it it but it made it run so cool. Now it runs a bit hotter as i put a 77oc in with no holes will this still be ok to drift with? Also what temp should i set my thermo fans to come on at?

Oh ok, yeah it will be fine. Depending on your thermo switches most people have them set to turn on at 85 degrees turn off at 80 degrees etc.





Haha sorry I misread your first post and thought you had overheating issues lol

Lol thats ok mate thanks for your help. So will this be fine to drift now i have done this? It just ran way to cool with the old thermostat in it that it just wants staying at a normal operating temp at all.

Yea my thermos come on at 74 at the moment and go off after it falls below that but ill change them to about 83 or so?

Love it how people worry about their car running too cool lol


That's what the thermostat is there for, it shuts off the cooling circuit until the engine is up to temp.

Lol yea i no but its bad when you drill holes in it cos than the water can get past it and the car cant stay at a good operating temp thats y i changed it so it could that way the thermostat can do its job properly

but some people said if the the engine temp is too low, the car will not run well. so wt is the best engine temp for a skyline??

NOt sure but my car runs alot better now no so fuely and idels better. Around 80oc is the best temp i think.

Exactly, thats what i have heard too. But i think this refers to the lower temp thermostats than anything else.


I run stock cooling system.
winter= 85C max temp after a run or 2
summer= up to 92C, my fault tho, I was having too much fun

What you can do to aid your system is turn on the heater. This takes the heat out of the system, after 3min I will lose about 6 degrees.

your fine with OEM spec thermostat