well got myself into another sticky situation. went to replace my thermostat today. took the old one out, scraped all the old stuff off, went to go put the new one in and i dont get it. normally the black rubber ring goes around the outside of the tstat, but that makes it too big to fit in the housing. that ring dosent fit anywhere else. the only other thing from the old one was an orange gasket that was pretty shot. what do i do?

 

It should be an O-ring, and should sit on top of the thermostat I believe. It isn't a typical gasket on the V8's.

On the hose elbow you'll see that part of it sits down inside the hole where the thermostat goes. If I recall correctly, that sleeves sits down on top of the O-ring causing the seal.