Thermostat housing advice please?

[Sundowner]

Hi,

My '75 Sprint has a perfectly good thermostat housing. It has however, a "make do" filler bung in it and while I was looking around at replacing the bung with a correct one, I thought I should look for a spare housing too. Just in case I break mine. BUT....I cant find any. Are they scarce because they have all broken and have all been absorbed.....or, is it that they never break, so the vendors don't bother having spares available?

AND, that has prompted me to ask......after filling the cooling system, is it wise to screw the bung in when the housing is hot or cool? And also how tight should I screw it in? I'm concerned that I might crack the housing and then be left without a spare.

I look forward to your learned advice on this, Gents.

Thanks & Cheers,
Rob

[sprint95m]

Sprints and 1850s share thermostat housings (TR7 ones are very different).
They are prone to having the outlet for the expansion tank hose break, but this is repairable
(by fitting a hosetail).

The plug should only ever be removed or fitted when the coolant is cold.



I have not tried this myself, but I should think a T2000/Vitesse/GT6 housing could be modified to fit a Sprint
(by fitting hosetails and a plug).
Alternatively, if you employ a suitable header tank positioned correctly, a TR7 thermostat housing could be used,
however this will involve a bespoke top radiator hose.



Ian.

[cleverusername]

Hi,

My '75 Sprint has a perfectly good thermostat housing. It has however, a "make do" filler bung in it and while I was looking around at replacing the bung with a correct one, I thought I should look for a spare housing too. Just in case I break mine. BUT....I cant find any. Are they scarce because they have all broken and have all been absorbed.....or, is it that they never break, so the vendors don't bother having spares available?

AND, that has prompted me to ask......after filling the cooling system, is it wise to screw the bung in when the housing is hot or cool? And also how tight should I screw it in? I'm concerned that I might crack the housing and then be left without a spare.

I look forward to your learned advice on this, Gents.

Thanks & Cheers,
Rob

Oh you can break them, I found this to my cost. Always make sure the thermostat is properly seated before torquing, aluminium parts are quite brittle.

I had a spare because I bought two inlet manifold, one came with a set of carbs and the other was in better nick. They do come up second hand on ebay and they are often thrown in when someone is selling an inlet manifold.

[Sundowner]

Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to answer Gents. Much appreciated.
Cheers,
Rob