180 Thermostat

A

AlanEdwards

Registered User
OK, I bought one from Advance Auto Parts. It's the same 180 they have listed for the 3.8 NA, the Ford 5.0, and the Chevy 350. It has 3 little slits for the water/air to bypass. Should I still drill a small hole on top? And if so, how big should I drill. Take care.
 
I think you need the 3.8 SC t-stat. I'm not sure if they are interchangeable or not. You will need to get the SC t-stat gasket as they are not the same as the N/A's. Drilling a hole is perferred so that it aids the removal of trapped air in the cooling system (1/16 I think?). Someone correct me if im wrong.
 
Scott Long has been using the Chevy 350 180* one for a while now without problems. That's not to say problems won't occur but it seems to work fine.
 
Attached pic contains three thermostats I have used.
A Fel Pro gasket # 35459 was used from Advance with blue RTV.
Top one is a 180 HP thermostat for a SC from Advance.
Middlle one is a 180 for a 5.0 L or a SC from Advance.
(Advance parts list confirms same part for both engines)
Bottom one is a Ford taken out of car.
The HP one seemed to cool the car a little better for me, don't remember by how much.
The HP appears to have a least twice the opening area.
(The HP looks similar to a Robert Shaw thermostat.)
 

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They are all the same.

I use a little drop of loctite red on the top and bottom edge of the t-stat and let it sit and dry in the housing for about 30 minutes before putting it in the car. It will not slide down then when you turn the housing sideways to mount it. It works like a charm. A few drops of some super high tack to hold the gasket in place, and you are good to go. No leaks ever. I didn't drill a hole as the one I got from autozone had one. I looked it up as an 89 Mustang GT and then looked up the SC and it was the same stat. I made the gasket myself out of paper and traced about 30 of them from the one in my head gasket set.

Make sure you take a razor and scrape the manifold of the old gasket, also clean the housing, I use 300 grit sand paper on that.
 
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