So I knew what I was doing going into putting in a 160degree thermostat, but that was because I have done lots of little jobs like that before. In reading my searches for anything I should look out for I noticed a lot of questions about where things were located. So when I went out to do it, I figured I would take some pictures as I went along for future reference! So here we are. Pop the hood! Take off the up pipe and the MAF/Turbo pipe Here is the hose that runs from the top of your radiator to the water neck and thermostat. (in the above picture, directly over the hose, you can see the electrical plug for the IAC. I removed that to get to things better as well. In the below picture you can see the unplugged unit) Remove the hose and here is the neck that needs to come out. If you plan on replacing it anyways, which is a good idea and what I did, go ahead and take the hose off and grab it with something and pull it out. you will probably ruin it this way. So if you are trying to reuse it, leave the hose on and use the hose as leverage on it to work it out. Easiest way to move forward is to take the hose that goes from the waterpump to the block off to get the housing out you will have to take this bolt out. Now is when you either put the radiator hose back on to get the housing out or you just grab it with pliers and pull. here's the old housing beneath is the thermostat I decided to replace the neck and got one from Autozone. It is CAST IRON so is way stronger then stock and was only 8 bucks and they had it in stock!
Finishing up lubed up the o-ring on the new housing with vaseline, put the new thermostat in, the neck, and the hose to the pump. Be careful when putting the bolt that holds the neck in back into the block. Ensure you do not cross thread it, take your time. hose back on! Engine back together! I know a lot of people will think it was silly to post this, but I hope it is a help to someone!
While I was at this, I also installed a water temperature gauge. Directly to the left of the the hole for the water neck you can see a single wire going into a plug. If you do a search, THIS is the one that feeds the dash dummy light that everyone says to use for your sender and is the one I did use. Works great. Sorry I didn't take a pic pointing to it, but I think it is pretty visable here.
Nice "How-To" write up. I'm learning the hard way that nothing is quite as straight forward as it seems when it comes to working on these cars. ~JM~
Thanks! and very true..lol I'm a prodigy! That's my oldest boy James! He likes to help for about 15 minutes each job...then he wants to ride his bike!! lol
TIP: Once the upper radiator hose is off, get a large socket that fits just inside the thermostat neck and use it to work the housing out of the intake. The thermostat housings can really be a PITA to remove if you are trying to just use pliers or the upper hose to pull it out.
These cars are cake to work on IMO. Everything is staring right at you, unlike most cars nowadays. I think the hardest part to these cars is the #6 spark plug, lol.
These cars are the easiest Ive ever worked on. 4th gen fbodies suck dxck just to change plugs on. The carb turbo cars are a pita but liveable. I will admit ive never had exhaust leaks til i owned one of these and i hate pulling off the turbo but its becoming second nature like everything else. My car has ran damn good since i fixed the cracked manifold keith pointed out to me. Just gotta think of them as an old simple 80s car. Good pics. this should be posted in the how to. the part number for the neck would help some people out just being in the section. get the idle fixed yet?
IAC isn't fixed yet. Wife wants me to get that water leak fixed before I go back to the idle because even with the screwed up IAC numbers it is running great. Don't have the part number off hand, but I will get it when I go out later.
I suppose I've been spoiled by my other G-Body. Small block Malibu Classic, it's as simple as they come. ~JM~
