Thermostat or not?

quickchange said:
hate to see you get the flu??Us old guys can get a jab for free, but not me. scared of needles, ???odd whiskey seems to keep flue away,

Derek I get for free as well -the Government pays each year for me to have and also the Nurses at my surgery. However I decline . I feel that after 23 years of seeing patients with flu my immunity is good. During the swine flu "epidemic" I was coughed over by several patients with swab proven swine flu and didn't get a sniffle -so far so good .Thanks for looking at the heater thing- Karl
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One Thing to add to this is the block is on of the most overlooked areas of the cooling system. There can be a lot of scale that builds up and you need to get in the water jacket with a coat hanger and remove the scale, this will help your cooling system a lot. but on a hot day and a steep hill get ready for the gusher it will overheat with or without the thermostat.
 
Group,

I have a thermostat but have not installed it yet.

From the reading that I have done so far, I "thought" that the Model A was designed to operate without a thermostat due to the use of various baffles in the top of the radiator and within the pump/block.

Is there any early Ford information regarding why Ford did not use a thermostat in the original design ?

Marc
 
marc hildebrant said:
...

From the reading that I have done so far, I "thought" that the Model A was designed to operate without a thermostat due to the use of various baffles in the top of the radiator and within the pump/block.

Is there any early Ford information regarding why Ford did not use a thermostat in the original design ?

Marc
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I don't believe that there was ever any doubt that it was better for motors to run at properly warmed up temperatures. The problem in the twenties was unavailability of reliable and affordable technology. More expensive cars had elaborate mechanical shutters to control air flow through the radiator. In the early thirties, thermostats were a Ford option. They were of unreliable design and construction. By the mid-thirties, thermostats were standard equipment, for a variety of very good reasons. None of those good reasons include the oft-repeated bogus business about serving a baffle function to slow down the flow to allow more time for heat transfer (opposite to Larry's original and sensible thesis starting this thread).

It's everyone's personal value judgement, whether it makes them feel better to have their motor feel as good as possible or to have it experience every possible authentic disadvantage.

Steve
 
There is more to using a T-stat than overheating. It keeps the block and head at consistant operating temp which will promote better performance, economy and help to minimize wear. When you use a T-stat that is rated 160 that is the temp. where it starts to open and is fully open at about 20 degrees above that rating. Most old cast iron engines seem to work the best at about a coolant temp. of 180. you can find this info in many publications dealing with earlier engines.
 
Temperature graph w/o thermostat

Here is a graph of a short 12 mile drive I made in my PU without a thermostat. It was done early in the morning with ambient temperature of about 60 degrees F. The temperature probe is located at the top of the radiator just where the coolant enters from the engine. The vertical scale is degrees F and the horizontal scale is minutes:seconds I plan on doing a similar drive in the future with a thermostat installed.

Bob
 

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Steve Rinaldo said:
... Most old cast iron engines seem to work the best at about a coolant temp. of 180. you can find this info in many publications dealing with earlier engines.
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Several years ago, I read a study showing that 160 was a good temperature for cast iron head, and 180 was good for aluminum. Wish I could recall the source.

Steve
 
Steve Rinaldo said:
There is more to using a T-stat than overheating. It keeps the block and head at consistant operating temp which will promote better performance, economy and help to minimize wear. When you use a T-stat that is rated 160 that is the temp. where it starts to open and is fully open at about 20 degrees above that rating. Most old cast iron engines seem to work the best at about a coolant temp. of 180. you can find this info in many publications dealing with earlier engines.
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My experience with thermostats is the temperature is a lot closer to the rated amount, sometimes exactly.

I personally like to see all model A's run a little on the warm side, around 175 degrees or higher, BUT, not high enough to cause an overheat on a long pull up a steep hill or with pedal to the floor acceleration. This will vary from one Model A to the next.

Sufficient temperature must be maintained for proper fuel vaporization and if a thermostat is necessary for this to happen then that is what you need.

Moreover, Model A engines with no thermostat that run too cool, which is often the case in cooler or cold weather, tend to sludge up the oil in addition to poor or inadequate fuel vaporization and also harmful by-products of combustion wind up staying in the oil instead of baking out.


Larry B.
 
When I first brought home Dad's old coupe I found the radiator was shot. Instead of relying on instinct and getting the exact replacement I became a victim of fahrenheit fright and ordered a new heavy duty radiator. I then read where the 2 blade fans were flying around and went with the 4 blade to protect my $600 investment. The result was an engine that ran cold (see distributor pic below). I now have a T-Stat (160 degree) installed. The car runs much better, even on short trips. I still feel the T-Stat could have been avoided had I not went with a HD radiator.
 

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A Thermostat is a must with the A. If you have taken apart one of these engines then you know that the # 3 rod pin on the crank is egged shaped and that is because that is were the water enters into the motor and until the engine is at full temp the block and piston are not heating up the same. The result of this is slite binding on the piston and cylinder wall just on the back side were the water comes into the block until the it warms up to full temp. so it starts to wear the crank and rod faster on # 3. the thermostat will improve that condition because the engine warms up a lot faster and will run better.
 
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