Thermastat

[poobut]

I just purchased an 84 t type, I am concerned with overheating, if I removed the thermastat will this allow it to run cooler?

 

[mikestertwo]

Never remove a thermostat, it will overheat. Just make sure your cooling system is in good condition and you should not have any problems.

 

[2QUIK6]

By removing the thermostat, the water rushes thru the motor too quickly to remove the heat effectively. All though the water temp may not indicate its hot, in fact it may read a lower temp than before, but there is a good chance there is hot spots in your motor where heat is not being extracted so it could in fact be over heating and you never know it by the gauge.

 

[xrunner123]

By removing the thermostat, the water rushes thru the motor too quickly to remove the heat effectively. All though the water temp may not indicate its hot, in fact it may read a lower temp than before, but there is a good chance there is hot spots in your motor where heat is not being extracted so it could in fact be over heating and you never know it by the gauge.

I've heard of this before but this does not make sense and is analogous to running the radiator fan slower so the air has more time to make contact with the radiator fins. The heat flow equations show opposite since heat removal is proportional for flow rate.

 

[Nick Micale]

I've heard of this before but this does not make sense and is analogous to running the radiator fan slower so the air has more time to make contact with the radiator fins. The heat flow equations show opposite since heat removal is proportional for flow rate.

I agree, I have heard this statement made many time, but no one has supplied info or data to back it up?

There are some legitimate reasons for using a t'stat in some cars and situations, and for NOT using one in other circustances.

First of all, a TR will NOT overheat w/o a t'stat if the cooling system is in good shape.

Second, more flow will keep the "hot spots" in the heads cooler, not hotter. Yes, I have data to back this up.

Most racers, at least here in the West, do not run a t'stat. Hard to do a quick cool down when using one.

Most late models cars will run like crap on the street w/o one as it will most likely never go into closed loop mode, or totally screw with the computer.

Bottom line in the original post, doubt that you have a bad t'stat because if it will not open, you will do much more than just run hot, it will boil over. So just remove it, and still overheating indicates a cooling system problem somewhere else.

 

[turbo nasty]

Best thing is to cut the pill out of the center of the Tstat then you have a restrictor plate that allows more flow but enough to kepp the coolant in the spots to absorb the heat

 

[Ormand]

The thermostat does a couple of things. One, it regulate temperature. That's pretty obvious. The second function is to maintain pressure in the block. The water pump feeds water to the block, but it is like any other centrifugal pump. It will only function within a certain range, and if you try to get it to pump too much, it will cavitate. The thermostat provides enough resistance to keep the pump in the range where it works well, and the back pressure also helps prevent boiling in the block and heads.
On a race engine, when you aren't concerned about the temp regulation, you can just use a big washer to provide the restriction- lots of racers do that.