So Last night on the way home, I stopped by the autoparts store and bought an
El Cheapo 180F thermostat.
Later that evening, when the car had cooled down, I went about the task of
installing it.
Guess what was in the car?
A sleeved thermostat that is stamped as 80 C
I knew my friend Kevin Beam had brought me back one from the UK several years
ago, but I thought I had lost it in my parts collection. I just plumb forgot
that I had installed it. Apparently whenever I installed it, I forgot that I
had put the restrictor in the bypass circuit too. Duhh.
So anyway . . with the new 180F thermostat installed, the car warmed right up
to the middle of the normal range on the temperature gauge this morning and
stayed there. It was considerably warmer in the car on the way to work too.
With the old sleeved thermostat, it took forever to get up to the bottom edge
of the normal range on the temp. gauge, and would sometimes take nasty dips
into the cold side when pulling away from a stop light.
I've got a little lab oven and good thermometer here at work.
I guess I'll pop them in and see how that sleeved thermostat behaves at
elevated temperatures.
So that's my update.
Here's my two questions:
Do new sleeved thermostats have a little . . . how to describe it . . the
little tiny piece of metal in the face of the thermostat that rattles around?
Looks like it is supposed to allow SOME coolant to go past the thermostat even
when it is closed.
Second: Anyone out there have a TR3 fan extension? If they are shorter than
the TR4 fan extension, that would be a big help to me. (any idea how much
shorter they are?)
Thanks for all the input on this.
Scott Tilton
1963 Triumph TR4 Everyday
Leesburg, VA
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