Thermostats

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

Rob, there is a guy stateside that makes a valve for a model a v8. (on Fordbarn forum) It connects to the overflow pipe and i think is adjustable. Or you could advertise to the Australian carrier guys on this forum for one of their valves, also adjustable.

I think I am going to experiment with installing a cut down, low pressure, radiator cap off something else and installing it (or the guts from it) into the existing carrier cap. But since my carrier runs fine with no pressure, the project is not a high priority.

[Lynn Eades]

Charlie, if you look close, most thermostats have an air bleed, if not a hole, then a small notch. You do need to look close.
Rob, Thats a good thought on the pressure cap. With the advent of the small Japanese caps it should not be too hard. I hadn't thought of that.

Edit: Having now had a look, the standard sized cap is the likely donor.

[rob love]

Reallly, it comes down to creating a sealed seat that lifts off at a certain pressure. An adjusting screw built into it would enable it to be fine tuned. Of course, you also need a check valve of some design to prevent a vacuum from forming as it all cools down.

[andrew honychurch]

Not fitted and doesn't over heat at all. The T16 , and I guess all Carriers are not subject to running cold due to the enclosed nature of the engine and low natural air flow. I would rather have an engine take its time to warm up,, rather than over heat due to a 70 year old thermostat failing to open. No brainer.

[Lynn Eades]

Rob, All of that is of course incorparated in a modern cap. It might just require de riveting the cap part of an ordinary cap, and making a packer and gaskets to fill out the gap to the required spacing and setting up a jig with a pressure tester to check and adjust it.
Andrew, use a modern thermostat. Millions and millions of them are working perfectly everyday and if I recall correctly, Waxstats fail in the open position. The older style alchohol type bellow stats fail in the closed position. (these can cook an engine) As I said in a previous post; Thermostats are there for a reason. They often get the blame for cooling system problems, which are usually the result of other areas of neglect.

[Stew Robertson]

Lynn That is your opinion
I have messed with these flattys for 60 years
and now my opinion is leave them out!
use to run a flat head in a ski boat ,pulling 6 skiers and the water out of the lake was pumped straight through and only run at 120 f and lasted over 20 years
so tell me were the temperature should be 120 or 180 or 200 and I have never heard an engine complain about being to cool just too HOT

[Lynn Eades]

Yes Stew, it is my opinion, and yes it is the opinion of a person who has yet to finish putting together his first flathead v8.
So you have much more experience than I. Probably because I live in a country where likely the numbers of v8s equal (my wild guess) 1 in 200 engines.(but climbing, by way of Toyotas)

What I do know is that engine specifications are derived from experience established by the various motor manufacturers, Ford included.
These specifications are recommendations for clearances in engines that are going to run within a given heat range. Any thing else is going to give a shorter and less reliable life.
You may not have been concerned about that and running your boat engine at 120 degrees was o.k. by you. I would suggest your piston to bore clearance was excessive and that if you were after the best performance out of it, it should have been running at about the 200degrees F.

My recommendations are to help those who are not necessarily from a mechanical background, to try and give them the best possible all round result.
Many of us have been lucky doing things that don't meet specs. Luck often gets us through, but not always. I guess i'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Anyhow Stew, we both live in different countries and no doubt we see some things differently. Our varying views help others to come to their own conclusions about how they proceed with their projects, you at one end of the spectrum and me at the other. It makes for an enriched forum.
I look forward to maybe meeting you one day.