Well I got the right heater hose fitting on today and she fired up! Running way high on idle to where the idle screw can't bring it down so I'm sure the timing is way off. Before I got to check that I found coolant pouring from the thermostat housing gasket. Is it possible the system is overfilled? I filled it up warm to about 2" below the radiator cap and I have no overflow tank, just that hose routed to the ground. I would have expected anything to vent through that but it chose to blow out the gasket instead...
You don't have a good seal on the thermostat housing. If it was over-filled, it would puke from the vent.
Makes enough sense. Will replace that tomorrow and work on the kick down. I got that bushing installed for the throttle cable and it feels like it's in a better position. I'm just excited it fired up on the first try.
You can also try one of those "O-ringed" thermostat housings, mine was a Mr. Gasket, never had a problem in 25 years of use. Here is one listed with Summit Racing....... http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/spe-4232/overview/ David
It will initially run high (fast idle) on startup due to the choke. The fast idle adjustment screw is different than the idle adjustment screw.
Well I got a Felpro thermostat housing gasket, new thermostat (again) and some permatex 518 to seal the gasket. Putting that housing back on was the worst task I've ever done on a car and I'm sure I have permatex all in my cooling system now. Oh well. I quit for the night after losing the tiniest of c-clips from inside my distributor. Will try again tomorrow...
Wow. I don't know what you were doing to make the task so difficult, but removing & replacing that housing is a really easy thing to do. it's only 2 bolts & 2 hose clamps, and you don't need much RTV sealant --- certainly not enough to get into your cooling system.
Heh. What I was doing was making it harder on myself by trying to do it without removing the distributor again. I did it to myself! I was also certainly exaggerating. Replacing the 8 broken spark plugs in my 5.4 was way harder!
Is it possible that your distributor doesn't have the giant vacuum advance assembly on the front? That's really what gets in the way not allowing me to fit more than 2 fingers on that lower bolt. Either way, I can't get this thermostat housing to stop leaking from the bottom. 2 gaskets and permatex 518 gasket sealer on the second, both bolts tight, it still spits out pretty hard. I cleaned both surfaces with a razor blade until smooth and then carb cleaner until they passed the white glove test. Any other thoughts?
Possible that one or the other mating surfaces could be warped, one other option, remove and re-clean as you did before and use RTV sealer (blue is compatible for anti-freeze) w/o gasket. Let it really set up overnight and try again. There is also Permatex Black Gasket maker that you can use, alittle messy, but works really good too! Or you can purchase one of those "O-ring'd" thermostat housing that I mentioned in earlier post, you'll never have to worry about any leaks again and can be removed quite a few times before new o-ring is required. You might want to check that your bolts are not bottoming out into the intake manifold too soon.......good luck! David
Are you having difficulty keeping the thermostat in the pocket of the housing during installation? Could it have slipped down between the housing and the manifold surface causing the leak? I have never used gasket sealer for a thermostat installation. If you are having difficulty keeping the thermostat in the pocket of the housing I have a slick trick I came up with that makes the installation easier. Let me know if that is an issue.
Thanks but I used the rubber band trick to keep it in the pocket until the bolts were torqued. No dice. Going to try with no paper gasket next but not today
