8BA timing help

The thermostats should just bring the engine up to temperature and/or maintain it. Different temperature ranges (such as 160 vs 175) should not effect the flow, the flow is determined by the area available for the water to pass through when they are open, not the temperature range.
 
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Ross F-1 said:
They don't just pop wide open at their preset temperature.
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That is true, but once fully open there is not going to be any difference in the flow through a 160 vs 175 vs 185 thermostat. If your wanting more flow you need thermostats with a larger open area or water pumps that are moving more water in the first place.
 
The only reason I was interested in the flow was to make sure I did not have a defective pump that was not pushing coolant. I am going to put some 160 stats in tomorrow and see how it performs. I realize that thermostats only control the minimum temp that the coolant works at but ther are some that are listed as high flow.. Is there a thermostat that works better in a flathead than others . Marlon
 
You might consider cleaning the block. I have all my blocks Bake cleaned before I assemble them and have never had a heating problem. Unfortunately,it's more difficult to clean a running engine. There are several ways to do this but vinegar seems to work very well.
 
Vinegar is acetic acid. You just put the stinky stuff in and run it. Some folks put pieces of nylon stockings in to catch the crap but as long as you dump & rinse the stuff out good after a time running it, it will dump most of the crud with the vinegar & water rinse. Wood bleach is another good cooling system flush and I don't think is stinks quite as bad. A person should either run good coolant or at least some water soluble oil after to keep the corrosion at bay.

I've been having a lot of problems with T-stats in modern vehicles over the last few years. Some just do not open at the proper temp and some like to stick on you just when you are in heavy traffic. It's getting damn hard to find good products these days.
 
"I've been having a lot of problems with T-stats in modern vehicles over the last few years. Some just do not open at the proper temp and some like to stick on you just when you are in heavy traffic. It's getting damn hard to find good products these days."

Boy, you hit the nail on the head with that comment, Rotorwrench. I don't know if I've just had a bad run of themostats lately or if they are ALL bad of late. It just seems like I have run into one after another that malfunctions and it doesn't seem to matter what brand I use. Is anyone else having this problem? Don't get me wrong now, they are not all bad but way too many of them are.
 
Now that the faulty thermostat topic has been brought up, I have been testing my stats in a pot of water to see if that might be my problem and so far I have only found one that have worked at the correct temp. Two 180 gates, one opened at 185 and the other just over 180 Two new Mr Gasket hi-flow 160 stats they were the worst one opened @160 and was fully opened around 165, the other did not open till close to 175 and never fully opened. I just when't and got two new 160 gates, going to test them before i put them in. all the thermostats that i checked we new. Marlon
 
I think if you check the manufactures specifications (not just recent, but historical) thermostats are spec'd to open within a range and not at a specific value. Also, they will start to open at one value but will not be fully open until another value.

As an example for an F1 (49 - 52)

Open at: 157 - 162 & Fully open at: 177 - 182
 
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