New Thermostat Housing

[Jon Miller]

After the third coolant leak in as many years, I have decided to solve the problem of the ever warping thermostat housing.

The one that I started with was nice and shiney, but must have been made with melted soda cans. It seems that the only chrome ones available are made in Taiwan, and are worth every penny of the $9 they get for them on Ebay. The only other option I found was at the $100 price point from Billet Speciaties.....Given my $30 budget, abundance of free time, and a lathe, I went another route.

What started as a 124 ounce chunk of 6061 has been converted to a 12 ounce thermostat housing with an extra thick flange. Never again will my motor get sprayed down with anit-freeze! (I hope)

-Jon
(pics in gallery)

[FWB]

and you machined the flange on a lathe? don't get me wrong it looks nice, and i'd like to have one too, did you do a dimensioned drawing?

[Jon Miller]

I tried to take dimensions from the chrome one, but it was either built so poorly, or had warped so badly that I gave up....

I cut the hole to fit the thermostat, and the O.D. to fit the Radiator hose on the lathe. None of the other dimensions are critical, so I just went with what looked good. Lots of time was spent on the band saw, and with a file.

[IMG]http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/78154]