Clay’s Wedgewood Blue FB Ute

[Blacky]

I wish the bloody rattler would run like that ......

running too cold is worse than running too hot , it must be bypassing somewhere

[EK283]

I was under the impression that holden reds had thermostats ranging from 72deg to 82deg. Although the optimum operating temp for a late model engine is 90deg I quite often wonder if its worthwhile chasing this temperature on an old engine.
The cooling systems of late engines are very well designed in both volume and movement and do accomodate the 90 deg pinnacle, something thay may be lacking in the red dinosour.
I know one thing, you can drive home cool but you can't when the radiator is a volcano !

Greg

[Errol62]

Yes it’s definitely a first world problem Greg. I will try a new thermostat at some point. Lucky I’ve got an O-ring type upper housing.


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[Errol62]

Glen provided me with this 88C thermostat, modified LS part he said.
Went for my usual run, giving it stick up the windey hill after a run to the post office. Ambient temp is 25C and it seemed to warm up ok to 77C up the hill. Coming back down the highway at 100kph under compression with throttles shut, went down to 64C. I tell you, this radiator is too big. There is no way it can be bypassing other than the hysteresis effect as described by Harv.

Cruising home it warmed up again, and it sat at 84C idling in the driveway for 10 minutes. The hotter thermostat certainly seems an improvement, thanks Glen.

Here you can see the old thermostat, marked 82 on the pellet and 180 on the body.
It doesn’t have
Any bypass hole at all, unlike the new one.


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[Errol62]

I’ve had an apparent oil leak from the back of the block for quite some time, and the underside of the car was coated in dirty oil. Up on the hoist, I removed the clutch cover pan from the all synchro box. There was some oil in the pan and a drip from the Mal Wood thrust slave, with nothing on the flywheel. Phew!

Cleaned it all up and observed for a week, and even ran it in neutral for 15 minutes. No leaks were evident, so I put the cover on and degreased the driveline, suspension and fuel tank. The underbody can stay dirty for now.

The box is a very early Holden M15, which doesn’t have a front seal. I suspect it has thrown out all the oil it is likely to under normal circumstances, and there was a reservoir of it in the cover which leaked out over time giving the appearance of a steady leak. All that is apparent now is around one small drop per week from the flywheel, and a slight weep from the oil temperature sender in my fancy chrome sump. I tried twitching it up but it is super tight. I thought it best left alone, for now. Anyway, I’m pretty happy the rear seal appears ok. Next time the box gets done I will use a later one with a proper seal, rather than just an oil slinger like this one has.


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[Harv]

It doesn’t have Any bypass hole at all, unlike the new one.

If the hole in the thermostat is the air bleed, it should have a jiggler pin in it. With the pin in place, there is stuff-all cross section left in the hole… it will flow next to nothing, and only burp air/steam. If it is a redneck hole drilled to increase flow then mebbe it could cause bypass.

Cheers,
Harv

[Errol62]

The new one has a pin, that is right Harv. The old one had no hole stock, unmodified.


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[Errol62]

Hotter thermostat hasn’t solved my under-heating issue. I took it for a good run over Anzac weekend and with the cooler weather below 20C, it was running below 70C on the highway. I put some cardboard in front which brought it up around 77C.

RMS does appear to have a slight leak after all, as well.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[Errol62]

Ambient temp 16C. Idling at 83C.

Radiator surface area 50% reduced.



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[spanners]

G;day Clay. Does the ute have the tray underneath the engine like some models? I'm a bit rusty on the FB-EKs so not sure if they had the splash aprons like EJ-EH. There might be too much cool air coming from underneath and cooling the engine while travelling. In theory, if a thermostat is working correctly, it shouldn't matter how big the radiator is.

[Errol62]

Hi Spanners. Yes the ute has the splash trays per factory. A lot of these cars have them taken off, including the sedan we have. One theory is that having them on actually increases airflow through the radiator.

I speculate that all thermostats allow some flow when theoretically closed. One way to test this would be to replace the thermostat with a blanking plate, but may be a bit extreme.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[EK283]

Hi Clay can't remember where your sender is placed ?

That position may also give different readings.

Greg

[Errol62]

Lower thermostat housing Greg.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie