Still driveable, the tune just gets more out thru timing; see what 03sierraslt said.

black chev. my bad, I thought u already had turbo on. That's why I asked what mods u had back then. True, while there may be more worthy mods, a cooler stat is cheap. And can allow to go after more in tune.

 

I took a stock Tstat, drilled some holes in it and removed the check valve along with putting a BB in it..

Lets just say it sucked some kinda bad during the winter.. if it was 30* and goin down the interstate it would only be 130-140ish.
So id use my stock one during winter and my modified one during the summer.

 

04 and newer motors its just a t-stat swap. No more bb's needed.

I run one myself but I don't turn the fans on hella early. In cool weather my fans hardly ever come on. My cruise temp is normally 175. The tune isn't hard to figure out. There are not many tables that need adjusted. It will drive just fine to your tuner. I didn't even drain my rad when I did mine. I unbolted it and pressed in hard to keep coolant. Then I popped it off and threw I the new and pressed it on again while installing new bolts. I might have lost half gallon to a gallon tops. Newer trucks don't have a pet **** so it's a mess either way you do it.

 

I haven't adjusted my tune yet for the 160 t-stat, no issues so far. I can't foresee running a little cooler to cause any issues without a tune. My low fans are set to come on at around 185.

 

I have the 160 stat and it warm up fine. Just more info.

 

I ran a 160* thermostat , engine runs constant 175-180f , spark timing was 28*with my cammed 5.3 on 91 some tuners said it was dangerous , but I didnt have any problems with XP5245 Iridium spark plugs or NGK tr55 ix

 

I think it is also worthy to mention block material plays a factor in the effects of a 160 t-stat. High HP iron blocks would benefit more from a cooler stat than a stockish aluminum block would due to the heat dissipation and expansion property differences between the two materials. I had oil consumption problems and low mpg in a h/c LS1 with a 160 stat. Switched back to the stock stat and dramatically reduced the oil consumption and gained a couple mpg. I currently run a 160 stat in my iron block 370 with no issues, mainly to remove as much heat as I can to stave off heatsoak from the blower.