Whats a good brand of thermostat?
What I see is a few brands out there, some called "failsafe" type (which cost twice as much) and I have heard good and bad things about. Bad is they fail earily, good is they fail open.
Also some brands i've never heard of:

Murray - $7.99 - $25.99 -Oreillys
Duralast- $8.99 - $13.99 -Autozone
Hypertech- $19.99 -Autozone
Napa brand - $10.29 - $14.69
Stant - $12.00 -Rodney Dickman's website


Also I was thinking 180 degree stat for a 2.8. Any detriment to running that instead of a 195 degree?

I always use Stant on any engine I'm working on. I use a 195 in the winter and a 180 in the summer on my Duke.

Where can I find stant, any particular auto parts store?
Thats the brand I HAD heard of

As a mechanic i prefer stant. Its what we put in all of our customers cars.

Most parts stores will carry stant. It's a very common brand.

Anywhere like a carquest, bumper to bumper or really most any parts store

I either have a Stand, or Duralast brand thermostat. Works fine for several years now.

I wouldn't recommend running a lower than stock temp thermostat. (see a bunch of threads about that) If you do however, a bunch of other things need to be changed as well IIRC. (fan switch, thermostat caps, etc..)

Advance Auto carries Stant

likely none of above...

Get Stant SuperStat Thermostat. Not in stock at most stored. Go online. (Most store have normal Stat. SuperStat is better by far.)

They solve several things... I use 195 and it stopped hunting temp gauge for one.

See cave, tstat in cooling section for #.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top and bottom of every forum page...)

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 04-19-2011).]

Thermostat info (including best brand and part number) in This thread.

Here sounds like the Stant Superstat PN 45819 is best.
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...050818-2-059114.html

I understand about the super low temp stats being an issue (such as 160 degree). I wasn't looking for radical like that.

Stock is 195, I was thinking 180, actually 185 if they had one. I was under the impression running a 180 stat the computer would be fine. Also, I already have Rodney Dickman's 200-210 fan switch.

Stant SuperStat and good coolant system should not need lower fan switch, especially 200^o and below turn on. Switches are one of the band-aide solutions for screwed up coolant system.

210-220 operation temp is a normal temp for most vehicles.

210 on, 200 off, like RD sells, is ok. (Better 220-225 on, 210 off.) That switch should keep fan off most of the time when car is moving, especially with 195 SuperStat. The SuperStat is very good at its job.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top and bottom of every forum page...)

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 04-19-2011).]

Thanks all!

I did more looking, seems only Advance Autoparts around here has the Superstat.
Neither
Napa,
Oreillys ( formerly bumper to bumper)
or Autozone even carry Stant products anymore.

The failsafe ones are made by MotoRad (as are the Autozone Duralast), and are absolute garbage. MIne (in a good runnin 3800) failed open during the winter, after about 2 months after install. If you google them you see the same problem for many folks. Stant seem te best to go. I never had a stant fail. I also never heard of the ones Ogre is talking about, so I will look into them.

Some of the house brands, Carquest and NAPA for example, are *usually* stant. Just ask to see it and you'll find the Stant logo on them. NEVER use a duralast. I bought one and found the basket handle to be so flimsy that it would crush and allow the thermostat to **** sideways.

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Red 86GT 4 Speed "MrDrift"