?engine break-in with or w/o thermostat?

Unknown

QUESTION: on the break-in of a newly-built 308 engine, would one want to have the thermostat installed , or not??



Seems to me that a thermostat is needed to insure the engine gets up to proper operating temperature range in order to get the rings hot enough to seat (20 minutes @ 2000 RPM's).



I have a new 170 degree thermostat ready to install.



All ideas appreciated.



THANKS

Club Coupe

Install the thermostat and use a 7 pound pressure cap. I suggest checking the thermostat before installation. Heat some water to 170 degrees (borrow your wife's meat thermometer) and drop the thermostat in. If it doesn't fully open, throw it away and get another one. You can also have the thermostat in the water while it is heating but I prefer the hot water/drop in method.

Park_W

And don't forget when testing, the marked temp on the thermostat is when it should begin to open. To reach full open will take several degrees higher temp. I agree it's better to have the thermostat in, regardless of new rebuild or not. Engines don't work efficiently at cooler temperatures, and problems can be caused be running them too cool. The factory knew what they were doing when they put 'em in there.

hudsontech

I've done the "thermostat-in-the-pot" routine (to keep peace in the family wait until the little woman is out of the house before you use her good saucepan!!) this way. Take a wire coathanger and suspend the thermostat in the pan keeping it off the bottom of the pot. Not that it's a big deal, but it does give a more accurate check. As the man says watch the thermostat and note temp when it begins to open - it will go a little higher as it opens.



Hudsonly,

Alex B

hudsontech

Club Coupe

I like your coathanger trick. I've always used pliers or vicegrips to submerge a thermostat. Worse than getting caught with the saucepan is getting caught putting a meat thermometer in the radiator to check the accuracy of your temperature gauge. Wives just don't seem to understand important stuff like that and that's how they become ex-wives, I guess.

Unknown

what's wrong with you guys? :rolleyes: using the meat thermometer? :eek: use the CANDY thermometer,it's designed to be used submerged in liquid-george

hudsontech

Wives usually aren't happy with the carburetor overhaul in the kitchen sink or a transmission overhaul in the bathroom, either. Come to think about it motels aren't all that happy with people overhauling engines in their bathrooms. :mad: Sheeeeese - we cleaned the place up - with their towels.

Club Coupe

I once thought about using a candy thermometer but realized that it was glass, easy to break, and even easier for the wife to lift my fingerprints from. The meat thermometer is metal, less breakable and harder to get prints off of. :cool: Now, would anybody like to hear about the time that I blew out the gas line and sprayed my wife with unleaded? :eek:

Park_W

Well, I don't feel nearly so bad now about using wife's spaghetti pot for steam bending wood tack strips for my '36!

Unknown

Hey, my wife was unimpressed with my returning her biggest pot, full of cork soup, after I had rebuilt 3 1928 Hudson clutches. At least I used it on my primus out in the workshop instead of on the kitchen stove and bench! Pity about the burnmarks on the bottom!

Geoff.

Unknown

HI WELL I'LL WADE ON IN JUST ABOUT HERE NO ONE HAS SAID A WORD ABOUT PROPER WATER FLOW WITH OUT THE thermostat installed THE WATER FLOWS TO FAST AND DOESN'T LET IT COOL :cool: BEFORE IT FLOWS BACK IN TO THE ENGINE THERE FOR THE ENGINE CAN OVER HEAT



NOW AS FOR YOU GUYS USING YOUR WIFES KITCHEN "STUFF" SHAME ON YOU!!!! AND I NEVER WANT TO EAT AT YOUR HOUSE :eek:

HUDSONLY

PAUL :rolleyes: