Thankyou all for the advice on thermostats- I didn't start this thread,
but I sure benefitted from it.
This AM I went out to the garage, removed the bypass hose, and tapped a
1/2" ID piece of copper pipe with an end cap into the opening in the
thermostat housing opening. Since there was no consensus on hole, no hole
or size of hole, I settled on a 3/16 hole in the end cap.
I started it up (another challenge) and watched the gauge climb. It didn't
take very long, which surprised me a little. It went up to about 200, and
then, as if by magic, dropped right down to 185. I thought all my woes were
gone(overheating wise) so I went out to play in traffic. It behved
considerabley better, but after a while, it did start to climb back up to
190-200 range while waiting to make a left turn, and when I pulled into my
driveway soon after and turned it off, coolant was dripping out of the
overflow. So, I am not quite there yet.
Any thoughts on the next steps? There was mention in the thread of missing
shrouds. I probably am missing this since there is nothing in front of the
radiator except the grille and nothing behind but the fan. Since my problem
is at idle and it seems the shroud would be for channeling air at speed,
this probably won't provide the biggest return, right?
I was thinking about adding the overflow bottle that is in the Moss and VB
catalogs for the TR4 to help keep the radiator topped off. Now I am
thinking that the auxillary electric fan is also a good investment.
Bob K.
>In a message dated 97-02-27 10:09:33 EST, cloughbt@batman.flight.wpafb.af.mil
>(Bruce T. Clough) writes:
>
><< Bob,
>
> One of the things I enjoyed was the Ken Gillanders/Bob Schaller arguement
> on whether or not a hole in the bypass plug was required!
>
> In the long run I don't think it matters much. I`ve done cars both ways
> and it works.
>
> Bruce Clough
>
> BTW: the skirt probably only blocks part of the bypass flow since it's not
> a perfect fit! I'd guess about 10-20 % of the unblocked bypass flow still
> goes past the skirt, so if you live in hot climes you'd better throw out the
>
> skirted thermostat altogether and just plug the bypass!
>
> >>
>I have also had it suggested that, if you block the by-pass, you shouldn't do
>it completely- You should drill a 1/8 hole through the plug to let a little
>coolant through. I never heard the theory behind this
>Paul
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