3B, 13B, 14B Lower Thermostat Housing Question (1 Viewer)

[crave reFleXion]

I'm currently doing some work to my cooling system and wanted to check if anyone has an idea about the following:

I am thinking about plugging a water inlet that goes to the lower thermostat housing. I think it would have been originally part of the heater system? As I don't have a heater and don't plan on plumbing one in soon, I was thinking about plugging the water return line. It comes out pre water pump, runs through a short fitting and then back in above the bottom of the thermostat... does that make sense? You can see what I'm talking about in this photo below: I would plug the red circle on the thermostat lower housing, and move the water temp gauge in green to the bottom where the brass fitting currently is. Basically, this would mean that that small loop would be deleted. Currently, it seems that the 'loop' would always be circulating cooler water (pre pump) directly into the body of the thermostat between the top and bottom... that seems counter-intuitive to me? Shouldn't water coming directly from the head/block determine the opening and closing of the thermostat?

The following is the lower thermostat housing and I am considering blocking off the upper left threaded inlet. The second inlet with a thread is for a temperature gauge. Therefore, the only water going to this before the thermostat opens would be from the head/block... any ideas?

 

[Splangy]

it sounds as though you want to delete the bypass. I’m not sure that’s a good idea. The BMI tee and copper elbow definitely aren’t OEM and appear to have been added for an additional temp sender.

 

[crave reFleXion]

It will still have the bypass at the bottom of the housing (corresponds with lower pipe on the picture above). Currently when the thermostat opens and closes the bypass allowing water to go to the radiator the 'loop' still remains open like a bypass; therefore, it continues to send hot water back through the block. That seems stupid to me. I have blocked the top (green circle) with a bung and relocated the temp sensor to the thermostat housing.

 

[crave reFleXion]

As I mentioned above, I had the flow of water messed up in my original post/thinking. The 'loop' is actually just like the bypass at the bottom of the thermostat housing, so in fact it is always hot water coming from the block (rather than cold water coming from the radiator side). This means that once the thermostat opens and closes the bypass to allow water to the radiator, the 'loop' is in fact still sending hot water directly back to the block. This seems stupid to me, so I have put a bung in and moved the temperature sensor to the lower thermostat housing. (photos below)

First photo shows the new upper thermostat housing (no more stupid blue tower) and new radiator. The second photos shows the 'loop' delete.

 

[Decs09]

Hey mate, on a similar mission myself but just wondering where you purchased your thermostat outlet from? Cheers

 

[crave reFleXion]

Hey mate, on a similar mission myself but just wondering where you purchased your thermostat outlet from? Cheers

A Company called Brett's Truck parts in Australia.

 

[John in Utah]

My lower housing has a plug in where you have your 2nd temp sensor. This is the best picture I have on my phone but you can see the plug:

I’ll have to investigate where my heat plumbing comes to and from when I get home. It has always been less hot than I expect it should be ... but that could have something to do with the extra “ventilation” holes in the floor

 

[crave reFleXion]

What temps do you usually run at?