This morning a bloke from work calls me up and asks if I'll help him change a thermostat on his HQ 350ci (has a 1971 vette motor). I said "no worries, it's a ten minute job. Come right over"
When I had a look at it there was at least half a tube of black silicone all around the housing. Great. That's gotta be hiding something.
This photo does not even show how bad it looks in person! The whats meant to be a perfectly flat line is as destroyed nearly all round. It was all just siliconed up and then bolted down and there wasn't even a thermostat in there, theres some white chalky glue that fills in the lip where the thermostat should be.
No wonder he was loosing water.
Quick job turned into a day job and a trip to the local speed shop for a new manifold - now the bloody car won't start. The distributor was moved too much and the ignition timing is way out so it won't start. That's a job for tomorrow. I called it quits when it started getting dark.
My point - who the hell would bolt a thermostat housing to that?
