Hi Scott,
Sorry, I just pressumed u had a turbo version.
My water temps are excellent, well I think they are. In traffic, regardless of summer or winter the highest I've seen is 86d, then if I turn my thermo fans on I can drop it 10d in about 5 minutes. I was told that a thermo fan on both sides of my radiator , one pushing air, one sucking air wouldn't work as the fans would work negatively against each other. Not true.
Fast driving on the Freeway which is everytime I drive to the track as I have to leave before the sun comes up it just sits on 80d without the fans on, in summer it sits on about 84d sitting on about 80mph.
On the track, which was one of my biggest concerns about the conversion my water tamp won't go over 90d with the fans on & my oil temp has only got as far as 85d with no external oil cooler & thats in 35d Aussie summer heat, 5 x 2 minute laps at a time on boost the whole time. Oil pressure is 80psi plus all year round. I also have 2 radiators for the intercooler, one 300 x 300mm one next to the gearbox, the other a 600 x 300mm alloy one sitting in front of the radiator with it's own 9 inch thermo fan & water spray for the track to lower inlet temps.
I was given the advice not to use a thermostate by someone who does conversions for a living but I also checked with my engine builder as well before doing so. My 2 mates that did their conversions at the same time are also not running thermostates either with no ill effects. It seems to make sense to me, but then alot of weird stuff does
I'm just about to crack 30,000klms with my conversion & i've driven it through snow, flogged it on the track in summer & winter & also driven it though 30cm of flood water, whilst still taking the kids to school in the morning & getting close to 38mpg. It's working a treat.
On another note, I also use 15/40 weight oil on the street & 20/50 on the track, contrary to popular beleif suby engines don't like thin oil, especially for the track, thats how they do big end bearings which is quite common.
Have u had your car on the dyno yet Scott, would be interesting to see what the twin cam 2.5 puts out at the wheels.
regards
Jak