Aluminum Radiators

[CBODY67]

On a recent segment of "Nick's Garage", he did a '66 Impala conv for a customer. After a week or so, it came back on the hook, engine overheated enough to turn the engine paint black. He put a new thermostat in the rebuilt +.040 350. Finally chased it down to the new thermostat, a Robert Shaw type. He got an electric tea kettle to boil some water. The new thermostat in the motor did not open, but a similar new one did. Nick's new orientation was to always check a new thermostat that way, to make sure it worked, not just once, but multiple times (9 or 10, he said).

He put both thermostats in the boiling water at the same time. The orig new one did not move, but the new one to replace it did. Quite an obvious difference!

FWIW,
CBODY67

 

[Gerald Morris]

On a recent segment of "Nick's Garage", he did a '66 Impala conv for a customer. After a week or so, it came back on the hook, engine overheated enough to turn the engine paint black. He put a new thermostat in the rebuilt +.040 350. Finally chased it down to the new thermostat, a Robert Shaw type. He got an electric tea kettle to boil some water. The new thermostat in the motor did not open, but a similar new one did. Nick's new orientation was to always check a new thermostat that way, to make sure it worked, not just once, but multiple times (9 or 10, he said).

He put both thermostats in the boiling water at the same time. The orig new one did not move, but the new one to replace it did. Quite an obvious difference!

FWIW,
CBODY67

I'd say its worth about 1 V8 engine there. Yes, DO check ANY thermostat you install! Rigorously. Likewise, check the temp gauges against a GOOD standard. I still like mercury thermometers myself. I calibrated the 2 old Clark Brothers capillary tube truck thermostats I'm running in my 2 old Mopars. Both read consistently, but one is stuck between 8-9 degrees Fahrenheit over the actual fluid temperature. Thus I don't fret seeing anything below 219F, provided it stays there. So far, it has.