NAPA thermostats 180 degrees

[philipswanson]

I think the JB may be a better method.

[B-O-B]

I cut 2 pcs. about 1 1/2" in length each of white PVC pipe & stuck them in the hose that attachs to the heads. This on my 1947 59AB truck motor that I just rebuilt. Works fine so far.

[aussie merc]

had the same problems so went to stainless pipes fitted joiner hose to head inserted thermostats then pushed pipes all the way home trapping thermostats works added bonus dosnt look that bad

[philipswanson]

I think all that's needed is clean the surfaces and use some JB Weld. Makers claim its good to over 500 degrees. No other hardware to impede water flow.

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by philipswanson

No other hardware to impede water flow.

Little hard to have much more impediment to water flow than a thermostat!

[Bored&Stroked]

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Hey Guys - if you don't mind a few extra hose clamps, 'fixing the flipping issue' is quite easy. What I do is use 1" short pieces of PVC or stainless tubing - to go above/below the thermostat (you don't need it below - unless you have issues with the thermostat fitting into your heads and don't want to grind the tops for clearance).

I put the short piece of tubing above the thermostat and add an extra hose-clamp. The tubing ID is smaller than the thermostat OD - so it won't 'flip' anymore.


Notice the hose-clamp in the middle below - holds a single piece of stainless tubing above the thermostat:

Thermostats-2019-01-06_12-23-06.jpg

[GB SISSON]

On mine it seems that the factory steel tubes hold the stat down. I do like all the ingenuity displayed here for hold downs. I found four 195 degree thermostats in a box of V8 junk. 2 looked like new, but decided I didn't want to run that close to boiling so for now I still have the 170 subaru stats in place. Heater is installed and it wasn't a walk in the park. There is a 3/8 street ell after my valve that I thought was very restrictive at 5/16 ID so I drilled it out. Well on the final twist the thin wall sheared off. At least I found another in a bucket of plumbing stuff. The arvin has huge tubing and I decided it was 3/4" so I bought some 3/4 hose and made adapters down to 5/8 hose. It was all I could do to stretch the 3/4 hose onto the heater necks. I have to say that this thing blows like a hurricane. I'm using the rheostat switch that was dangling off it at the swap meet. It was set up to run 'sideways' with the intake air at the top and blowing down towards your feet. What I'm sayin is the shaft of the fan motor is in the vertical position. I'll get a picture later. Now I want to weatherstrip those doors!

[G.M.]

The best stock thermostats you can get are the
old Robertshaw 330-160--- 330-170---330---180
or 330-190. These fit right in the 8BA goose neck.
the flange has to be reduced and the ruff spots cleaned
out in the earlier V/8's. These have the largest openings
and don't restrict the flow. I think they are being reproduced
in Mexico. I know they had quality control problem a number
of years ago but I would guess they have that fixed. I am not
guessing about the flow this is what we see on Skips water
pump test machine tested at a 5 minute flow test. G.M.

[philipswanson]

Originally Posted by JSeery

Little hard to have much more impediment to water flow than a thermostat!

Not when the thermostat is open. You want maximum flow then. I glued mine in with JB. An added advantage is it seals the edges of the thermostats so no water can bypass the thermostat. JB holds them strong in position. I am running high flow Subaru 180 degree Fail Safes. They pass quite a bit more flow when open than most others.

[JSeery]

An open thermostat has less crossectional area than the diameter of the hose. A cylinder inside the hose to retain the thermostat is going to be larger and less restrictive than the open thermostat.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by philipswanson

Not when the thermostat is open. You want maximum flow then. I glued mine in with JB. An added advantage is it seals the edges of the thermostats so no water can bypass the thermostat. JB holds them strong in position. I am running high flow Subaru 180 degree Fail Safes. They pass quite a bit more flow when open than most others.

So I googled the 180 subaru fail safes and got more confusion. Sounds like what I want. Would you have an amazon link to part # or ebay link? Do the 'fail safes' fail in the open position???

[Drbrown]

Good old days - my stock 1932 4 cyl Plymouth had a full adjustable vertical metal louver behind the radiator operated by a choke cable from the dash .... but also had a stat.

I use small inner piece of rubber hose to hold my Stant 160 degree stats in-place. Oddly enough, when warmed-up the engine runs at 175-180 degrees anyway.

[slowforty]

I used some Volvo Thermostats in my 40 with a 46 motor. Naturally I dont have the part numbers. They fit well with a gasket around the thermostat. I used a piece of wire to hold it in place.

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by Drbrown

I use small inner piece of rubber hose to hold my Stant 160 degree stats in-place. Oddly enough, when warmed-up the engine runs at 175-180 degrees anyway.

The thermostats decrease the time it takes to reach a minimum operating temperature. They have little impact on the maximum temperature your engine will run at.

[Sid]

Originally Posted by flatmotor40

with Offy head on a 59ab the therms dont fit without grinding the id of the heads.What thermostat ft without grinding.Mine doesn't get hot enough to use the Vintage air heater.It is a heater by itself no A/C

I had the same problem with my Navarro heads. I ended up using the bellows style stats.

[philipswanson]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

So I googled the 180 subaru fail safes and got more confusion. Sounds like what I want. Would you have an amazon link to part # or ebay link? Do the 'fail safes' fail in the open position???

Yes, there are two types. One fails in the open position and the other one is a higher flow. The later one has a much larger opening. The MotorRad part number for the high flows is 2003-180. Don't run a colder stat in a flathead. 180s are perfect. It is a Subaru thermostat and fits earlier flatheads perfectly. Not for 8BAs tho.