[ve3wireless]

Awhile back here a reader raised the point that running a car WITHOUT a thermostat was self-defeating, in that the coolant flowed through the system far too quickly for the radiator to do its job properly...

I ran this by a friend who used to run laps on the Mosport Raceway here in Ontario with his 1960(?) Austin-Healey...he agreed 100% with that point, and even went on to show me an actual after-market coolant "restrictor" that the racers would place into the thermostat housing to slow the coolant flow (It looked like a sort of a miniature brass bullhorn.) He went on to say that his coolant temperature was 180F without the thermostat --- once the restrictor was installed in its place, the temperature stayed at an even 160F all day long at the track...

Anyway, I removed the spring and all of the "innards" of an old thermostat that I had here (yet ANOTHER suggestion from a helpful reader!), and installed the remaining brass "receptacle / shell" into the housing, along with a fresh gasket, to act as an ad hoc restrictor in my '78 T/A.

I guess I'll see what develops here in the coming days with the coolant temperature, as warmer weather approaches southern Ontario...

Eddy
Ontario, CANADA