[Healeys] Coolant bypass port in the head - 6-cyl

Bob Spidell bspidell at comcast.net
Tue Mar 29 19:49:13 MDT 2022


Years ago, someone--might have been BCS, but I'm not sure--was selling a 
Robertshaw thermostat with a brass sleeve soldered to it (Robertshaw 
thermostats have a center portion that moves up and down). The one I 
bought was 160deg; I desoldered the sleeve and soldered it to a 180deg 
Robertshaw. I bought one of the original, bellows-type from 
Kees--whatever happened to him?--but never installed it; heard they were 
the 'fail closed' type, which could turn a minor failure into a 
catastrophe (still have it around somewhere).

https://flowkoolerwaterpumps.com/products/robertshaw-330-160-degree-thermostat


On 3/29/2022 6:35 PM, Alan Seigrist via Healeys wrote:
> Harold -
>
> Thank you, now I understand how the whole thing is supposed to work.  
> The sleeve works to cut off the bypass so that hot water is not 
> recycled into the system after it warms up. FWIW, this only applies to 
> the 6 cyl, the 4 cyl doesn't have any sort of bypass.
>
> Yes, I think it would be great if you could share with us which 
> thermostat to purchase and how to modify it.
>
> Best,
>
> Alan
>
> On Wed, Mar 30, 2022 at 1:28 AM Harold Manifold via Healeys 
> <healeys at autox.team.net> wrote:
>
>     The coolant bypass plays an important but problematic role in the
>     Healey’s cooling system. When the thermostat is closed coolant
>     returns to the water pump via the bypass. See the red circle on
>     the attached picture. The bypass is important for three reasons:
>     its allows the coolant in the block to continue to circulate and
>     come to a uniform temperature before the thermostat opens, it
>     prevents hot spots that could develop from stagnant coolant and it
>     prevents the water pump from dead heading.
>
>     The problematic part is in the original design the bypass was
>     closed by a sleeve on the bellows type thermostat when the
>     thermostat opened. The original Bellows type thermostat used a
>     volatile liquid and were not reliable and were not suitable for
>     the 7 psi cooling system pressure. Wax type thermostats are much
>     more reliable but they do not have a sleeve to close off the
>     bypass. There may be some expensive wax type replicas of the
>     original bellows type.
>
>     After looking at many options the best option for a reasonably
>     priced wax type thermostat with a sleeve to close off the bay pass
>     is the modified Land Rover Series ll thermostat. If anyone would
>     like to know about modifying the Landver thermostat let me know.
>     It can be easily done.
>
>     Harold
>
>     *From: *Michael Salter via Healeys <mailto:healeys at autox.team.net>
>     *Sent: *Tuesday, March 29, 2022 9:17 AM
>     *To: *Healey list <mailto:Healeys at autox.team.net>
>     *Subject: *Re: [Healeys] Coolant bypass port in the head - 6-cyl
>
>     The coolant travels from the bottom of the radiator to the water
>     pump into the block then from the block into the head then through
>     the thermostat to the top of the radiator.
>
>     M
>
>     On Tue., Mar. 29, 2022, 11:57 a.m. Elton S, <eps2660 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>         As a related question, what is the direction of flow through
>         the radiator - up from the bottom or down from the top?
>
>         Elton
>
>         BJ7
>
>         On Tue, Mar 29, 2022 at 11:44 AM Michael Salter
>         <michaelsalter at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>             As Gary points out, and far as I have been able to figure
>             out, the bypass passage is open when the engine is cold,
>             the idea being that by "short circuiting" the radiator the
>             coolant in the heater and bypass passage will warm up more
>             quickly and the heater will produce heat more quickly.
>
>             We had a slew of the "shrouded " type thermostats that I
>             bought when Smiths Canada closed down. The part number was
>             43570/28 and we used to sell them to customers who
>             reported overheating problems.
>
>             I stopped promoting them as a potential solution to
>             overheating issues after being taken to task by a customer
>             who did an extensive study of the issue and proved, at
>             least to my satisfaction,  that they improved cooling not
>             one iota.
>
>             M
>
>             On Tue., Mar. 29, 2022, 10:47 a.m. Alan Seigrist,
>             <healey.nut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>                 I don't know if this has ever been answered before,
>                 but where does the little bypass port begin?
>
>                 What parts of the head does that bypass come in
>                 contact with?
>
>                 When do you want to cover the port with a sleeve (when
>                 coolant is hot or cold?)
>
>                 I ask because the old bellows style thermostat will
>                 cover the bypass port when the thermostat opens
>
>                 then I have another wax thermostat and the sleeve
>                 actually cover the bypass when it is cold, and doesn't
>                 cover it when the thermostat opens.... so it works
>                 exact opposite to the old bellows style thermostat.
>
>                 confused....
>
>                 Cheers,
>
>                 Alan
>
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