thermostat housing

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Jan 5, 2004 | 12:42 AM

Faithful Old Road Dog

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From: california

thermostat housing

I installed a manual temp. guage soon after I bought my truck. I noticed that the temp usually read 140 and once in a blue moon gets up to 150. Way too cold. So, finally I get a chance to drain the radiator some and pull the two bolts holding the thermostat housing. I found the t-stat partially inside the intake manifold! Turns out that the intake manifold hole is about 2 1/4" while the t-stat is about 2 1/8". I'm thinking what knucklehead so called mechanic did this?! I suppose I'll need the bigger t-stat to fit over the 2 1/4" hole in the manifold as I'm not going to remove that boat anchor. Now the issue is finding a housing that will fit the larger t-stat. The current t-stat housing has a recess for the 2 1/8" t-stat. I've read in a response by BB in a posting that there are possibly three combinations - "big stat/big hose, big stat/little hose and little stat/little hose. The big stat/little hose one is hard to find." Since the housing has a little stat, it must have the little hose. But what size is the bigger hose compared to the little hose? I measured the t-stat neck for the hose to be about 1 3/4".

Jan 5, 2004 | 09:09 PM

72f250CS

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From: Palmyra

If I am reading this correct, your intake has a 2 1/4in hole and your housing is 2 1/8in hole. And your housing has a recess dia. of 2 1/8. What truck do you have? If i remember correctly my boat anchor(intake) is recesed for the t-stat and hy housing face is flat. If yours is not and you have steady hands, I would say to us a die grinder or dremel and ream out your housing to to fit the correct t-stat. If you don't want to go that route I'd go to a wrecking yard and start pulling housings until I find one thats right.

Jan 5, 2004 | 09:39 PM

Faithful Old Road Dog

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From: california

You've read correctly. I have a 71 F250 4x4 with 390. Hard to say if it was the original block. The radiator is aftermarket. I found the bigger t-stat (about 2 1/2"). Stant #13478, it's 180 degrees. Stant # 13479 is 195 degrees. Now I'm looking for that t-stat housing. The boat anchor does not have the recess. If I can't find the housing, I may just go hunt the bone yards. I think I'll keep the 2 1/8" t-stat housing. It looks to be new as there was no rust on the inside. It will take the Stant # 45358 180 degrees. Never know if I get an aluminum intake, it might come in handy. If I do find the correct t-stat housing at the parts house, I'll post the part number. Felpro gasket # 35063 should be the correct fit for the 2 1/2" t-stat. Grinding the housing will be plan B. I also changed the front Dana 44 pinion seal, National Seal # 5778. I'm just posting part numbers to make it easier for Ford owners.

Jan 6, 2004 | 11:05 PM

72f250CS

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From: Palmyra

Well thanks for the part #'s,. Keep us all posted if you do find the housing. Mabey you can get lucky and find an aluminum intake at a bone yard....Just mabey.

Jan 8, 2004 | 10:36 PM

Faithful Old Road Dog

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From: california

No luck on finding an NOS or new aftermarket t-stat housing. I hit several boneyards and finally found one. After cleaning and bead blasting the t-stat housing, I found a number 7050 cast into it. I don't know which aftermarket company, but I hope that this info. can help someone else. The one I had on there before has a casting number 7074.

Jan 9, 2004 | 02:28 AM

Fordboy 72 F-100 4x4

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Joined: Dec 2003

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From: Solano County

Try running no thermostat. I haven't had one for years. Just let her warm up a little more in the morning. Your engine shouldn't need to run much hotter than 160.

Jan 9, 2004 | 02:35 AM

Faithful Old Road Dog

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From: california

I was basically running without a t-stat because it was set at a 90* inside the intake manifold. I had a 2 1/8" t-stat with a 2 1/4" hole at the intake manifold. It rarely got over 140* and never reached 160*.