Hi, I just drilled a hole in my 180stat and man, I am running three notches down from 220. Its nice and cool. I used to run like 1.5notches. Its just a plain all lil' hole. However, my gasket is not holding or sumtin since its leaking right under the waterneck upfront. I had this problem for a long time. The waterneck is always leaking, what would you recomend I do to seal that up. Its a little leak, but damn it will improve the preassure in the system if I sealed it, and I replaced the waterneck, now I have a chrome one!.
Like I said what do you recomend???Please, I am so furious!!

 

where did you drill the whole? where on the thermostat?

 

I drilled the hole on the metal right next to the spring. Just like the pictures that you can find on this board. I am putting some silicone sealant tomorow!!

 

I put a thin bead of RTV around the sealing surface. No leaks for me.

 

RTV is on! I am just giving it some time to harden. It was a bit of a problem putting it on since the thermo did have a hole in it, and coolant was coming out of it as is!! However, I managed to work it out so now it should be sealed!!!

 

What do you guys think about the whole hole in the radiator???

 

I took my thermo right out...
I know, it fixes a problem that should be fixed right.
A hole has the same properties as not having a thermostat, only the flow is more restrictive.
The way it works is mine is constantly in the 'open loop', as is yours now. Only yours has a much less flow as it is only flowing through that hole until your thermo opens up...
There have been a lot of things written about how this is wrong and bad for our cars...
There have been a lot of people who have done this and swear by it...
Whatever works right.
Anyway, I run almost cold now, to the point where I'm concerned I may be too cold...
I'm putting the thermo back in for the spring as I was not that hot to begin with. It was something I was trying - no therm - it worked, but maybe too well.

 

The funny thing is, its winter here in Colorado (duh) and I still have been running a notch down from 220 with 180 stat. Its crazy! So after 5 stats (u heard right) I drilled a hole in one and damn, it keeps it about 2-3notches down. Now The freakin water neck is leaking, I put the silicone on top and bottom of the gasket turned it down and it still leaked, than I tightened it up really nice. Now, we will see what happens.
Is open loop really bad for our cars, it just takes it a bit longer to warm up, but it doesnt do that jump to where it will go to 220 and jump down as soon as the thermo opens. Maybe a 160 thermo might work good??
Is open loop bad???

 

Oh, yea, the car is performing like a champ now. I really noticed some power on it. Go figure!!!

 

Your housing is leaking because it is a chrome one. Go back to a cast iron one to stop the leak. I had a mr. gasket chrome housing and the heat warps them just enough to cause seepage.

 

I'm not sold on this yet.

There has got to be something wrong with this in order for it NOT to have been the first modification pushed for our cars on this board.

Where is our tech guru?

 

Nevermind... I caught up on the thread.

 

wait wait wait....You can run without a thermo....? Any adverse conditions occur from this, long-term maybe? (warm/dry SoCal air for me).

 

You shouldn't run permanently without a thermostat. These cars are designed with a thermastat and they definitely should use it for a reason. The cars cooled right when they were brand new, so if they overheat now, then there is a reason, and you need to fix that reason. Often changing the thermostat with a new regular 195 should be right.

I can see drilling a whole or two to keep a little flow at all times but i don't think you should remove it. My uncle has mentioned that some guys put washers there with certain diameter wholes that restrict flow enough so coolant actually has time to cool off in the radiator. with no thermostat it wont be in the radiator long enough.

 

my own experience with thermostats ended up with a plain ol' gm 195* stock stat. tried them robert shaws "high flow" stats since i have a high flow pump, but after 2 or 3 of them (car would never warm up), they all went in the trash and i put a gm in there. been working ever since - up until the last time i drove it anyways (like 9 months ago) hopefully soon i'll see how well it all works again (rebuild and transplant almost done)

 

Ait, the leak is gone with some RTV, however today it got really cold in Colorado, and my car did not warm up on my way back. It got to about 150 and I got home. I was kinda freaking out, so I think am gonna just drill a little tiny hole in it, just to drop some temp down. So, its snowing here now, but I am bound to drop in a 180thermo with a little tiny hole!!
I really do approve of the lil hole!
I cruized last night with a nice looking babe, and we drove for about 3hrs. Man my temp was 180dead! ****, I wasnt even paying attention to her, I was just about to cream that my temp was 180! Sad!!

 

If your chrome water neck is a Specter or other cheap brand, most likely the base is warped. I had this same problem with one I got a few years ago. After weeks of trying to diagnose the problem, I noticed that the water neck didn't sit flush on a flat surface.