rubber gasket didnt make it.

89tird

Registered User
i made my own t-stat housing from a rubber piece.. here's the link http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96709&highlight=finally

it didnt last too long :(. my t-stat housing started leaking a lil bit.

i guess the rubber expanded when heated and loosened the bolts a lil bit so i kept tightening them but it kept leaking.. today i did another one with copper rtv but same deal..

im just too tired of this t-stat housing crap... thinking of taking it to a shop any more suggestions ?
 
Do like I suggested in the 1st thread and make sure you don't overtighten the bolts, thats what causes them to warp. Make sure you clean up the intake manifold and housing with a scotch brite pad to give the RTV something to bite into.
 
Go to your local auto parts and get some extra thick gasket material and cut it out. Straiten the housing, clean the intake, use RTV black and make sure you thermastat did not slip out of the housing. I got some gasket material from Pep boys. None of mine ever leaked after I got done with this. Let it sit over night to let the RTV black dry before you fill it with antifreeze.;)
 
I was afraid of that. The thing you need to do is:

#1 Start with a flat thermostat cover.
#2 Don't tighten it so much that it warps


One thing that might help regarding warping is to cut a piece of aluminum or steel that you can put under the bolt heads and spreads the clamping force out around the thermostat housing. Some sort of insert.
 
one hard lesson i learned about the S/Cs thermostat housing is this;
when you assemble the thermostat into the housing and you don't make sure that the thermostat is secure in some way to the housing, the thermostat WILL slip down and when you go to tighten the housing, it'll warp and leak no matter what you do!!
this set me back a few days trying to home remedy until i took it to a guy i knew and he straightened it out for me. then i took RTV blue and put a light film of it on the sealing area of the housing. then put the t/stat into the housing with the gasket on top, the rtv acting like a sorta glue to hold it together. after waiting a few hours, and assembled it again, TA-DAAA!!
no leaks, FINALLY :D:D.
 
thanks for the responses.. i have the motorcraft t-stat in there so it locks in the housing.

it worked for a couple of weeks i guess, but now i really need to fix this thing tomorrow my fuel tank fell out of my crown vic today while driving :eek:.. so i need to fix the bird to get to work.

all i saw in the parts store was thin gasket material
 
Garry made a teflon gasket for me

It works great. Havent' had a chance to test it for reuse, but I'm sure it will be fine. He goes by the name Speedwagen. I think, you can PM Speedwagen here to see if he's interested in making anymore. :cool:
 
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how thick is the gasket that he makes ?

i just tried it again, took it out grabbed some sand paper and went to the glass table started sanding until it was flat and mirror finish.

got some right stuff and made a uniform bead all around the inside bolted it up torqued to 10 ft lbs, left it sitting for 2 hours , filled up no leaks, idle for 10 minutes no leaks... as soon as i gave it some throttle 2 fast drops :(.. going to try again with a gasket maker i bought.. wish me luck
 
cleaned it real good, both intake manifold and thermostat housing, installed the gasket i made with no rtv and torqued to 8 ft lbs , no leaks

ran it up to 10 psi of boost a couple of times no leaks :D... hopefully it lasts longer than the rubber one
 
if you use rtv you have to let it sit for 24 hours with no coolant or it will leak. That is why it did not work for you.
 
crappy 1 minute false advertisment on the right stuff bottle.

well everytime i would accelerate the car, more coolant would shoot out..

leaked a lil bit tonight , taking the old t-stat housing to machine shop to weld metal plate on it
 
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