Back in bout 1978 I put one of those Cal Custom chrome thermostat housings on my car. Cost 2.98,, danged if it didnt spring a leak! So now I am wondering if there are any company's that rebuild these for under 50 cents or am I gunna have to buy a new one. Buying a new one is gonna be hard cuz Cal Custom is out of biz I think. Actually all the above is true to the best of my warped mind. What is really gonna happen is I am gonna tear my car down finally and freshen everything that is getting worn looking (wished I could do the same for me). Are the O-ring type housings superior to the paper gasket types??? What are the options?? powdercoat a stock one?? or are the chrome ones still crap,, I had trouble with mine all along. The worst part of it all was I was going racin tommorrow,,, the leak ruined it,,, and the fact that the old lady's b-day is tommorrow too... geez you would think she would want to get rid of me for a whole day. Thanks for any advice Dan
Dan, I've always had good luck and relatively few leaks using the paper gasket with a thin coat of silicone on each side of it. As far as cosmetics, there is the powder coating option....... contact the guy on this board who goes by the name Pegasus, he can tell you all about powder coating. All of the chrome aftermarket units I've seen use an O-ring.
Have you tried ebay for another one of the units? I bet you could find one for a 302 or whatever engine you have if you looked there.
Don't use the o-rings they down right suck.. thats my opinion. Ford still makes a paper gasket one. Just got it last month.. took ford like a month to get it to me. They list them in the new 2002 motorsport catalog. Ford is the only ones that carry them.
Maybe its just me but they were always more prone to leakage then the good old gasket seal with a bit of permitex. BUt if it aint broke don't fix it. fyi the part numbers for the water outlets from ford with the gasket seal is M-8592-A302 (45 degree) and M-8592-B302 (90 degree)
