49 V8 Flathead Thermostat - late opening

Again, I believe there are significant differences between early and late (8BA) flatheads when it comes to this subject. It serves no good to lump them all together with blanket statements that may apply to one, but not the other

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, Skip rebuilds the late model pumps, but uses the stock impeller. His impeller design is different (more efficient) for the early pumps.
 
Thanks to Flathead Fever and all who helped with advice. I drilled a couple of small holes in the left bank thermostat and it seems to resolved the problem. That side now opens a bit ahead of the right bank and the warm water can be felt in the return pipe to the top of the radiator as the engine warms. I drove the truck for about 30 minutes today in semi-frigid conditions (-20C). The temp gauge just touched the low side of the mid point mark at the highest. At -20, that seems reasonable and a 180 would likely be OK. As a point of interest, the Ford manual I have for the 48-51 trucks calls for a 160º thermostat. I'm glad I had the 160 in while the unusual problem persisted with the head temp being 50º cooler near the thermostat housing than in was pretty much everywhere else on the head.

Again, thanks for all the input. My concerns are abated now!

Cheers

Wayne
 
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