Not Mopar! Thermostat or not?

[LocuMob]

The 1956 Mercury Medalist I'm working on didn't have a thermostat in it when I took off the housing. It also didn't have coolant in the radiator. Should I put a thermostat back in? I got the premium (yeah sure) stat but there isn't the breather in the flat part, or a hole. The housing has a bypass hole about 1/2" or so, is the breather or hole in the stat even required? Should I even use a stat? I'm hoping it was just some backyard mechanics that did no harm,car didn't get driven much obviously. Always seemed to run fine when we drove it the couple times it went around the block,and the 10 miles trek to storage.

Logic tells me to.put in a stat, just curious about the breather part. If I was to drill a hole, since it's on its side so to speak, would the hole be at the top, or does it even matter?

Thanks folks.

 

[rags]

drill a1/8 hole through the stat, place it 12 o'clock as a steam vent. pray that you still have an engine.

 

[saylor]

if its a 312 ford y block yes it should have a t-stat.

 

[LocuMob]

if its a 312 ford y block yes it should have a t-stat.

Everything should, at least the ones I'm dealing with.

 

[LocuMob]

drill a1/8 hole through the stat, place it 12 o'clock as a steam vent. pray that you still have an engine.

12 o clock is what I thought. Pray? Ueah, I'm hoping everything is good. The car ran fine before, don't see why it would be shot. Thinking the fuel pump went so that's next after the brakes and intake.

 

[rags]

just saw the car in the other thread. hope it's okay. with no coolant, it's hard to tell if it's been severely overheated. there's a certain smell that burnt coolant has...

 

[LocuMob]

Th

just saw the car in the other thread. hope it's okay. with no coolant, it's hard to tell if it's been severely overheated. there's a certain smell that burnt coolant has...

The little bit it had was green like normal. I'll have to see if it's getting gas and go from there.

 

[CBODY67]

The purpose of "the hole" is to allow a little coolant flow before the thermostat starts to open, so you don't get a wide "swing" of the temp needle. But rather a smooth swing as things heat up. On some engines, as the Buick 3800 V-6, if the hole isn't there, the temp needle will almost go to the red zone right before the t/stat starts to open, then settle down to the normal readings after it does open. Some mechanics like "the hole" on vehicle it's not needed in.

Use the correct thermostat and gasket.

CBODY67

 

[LocuMob]

The purpose of "the hole" is to allow a little coolant flow before the thermostat starts to open, so you don't get a wide "swing" of the temp needle. But rather a smooth swing as things heat up. On some engines, as the Buick 3800 V-6, if the hole isn't there, the temp needle will almost go to the red zone right before the t/stat starts to open, then settle down to the normal readings after it does open. Some mechanics like "the hole" on vehicle it's not needed in.

Use the correct thermostat and gasket.

CBODY67

When it was all said and done, I don't know if it was needed or not, but I drilled one and put it in. Car runs fine and doesn't get hot. Still can't believe I only drained out 1.5 pints of old coolant.

 

[LocuMob]

drill a1/8 hole through the stat, place it 12 o'clock as a steam vent. pray that you still have an engine.

No prayers were needed, everything performed the way it was meant to.

 

[rags]

that's great man. with so many unknowns over such a long history, asking for help from a higher power is not unreasonable.

 

[LocuMob]

that's great man. with so many unknowns over such a long history, asking for help from a higher power is not unreasonable.

Understood,I just wanted to be as optimistic as possible.