[DeTomaso] Cleveland Specific Thermostat

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/28/11 18 55 2, SOBill at aol.com writes:


> A way to eliminate this situation, IMHO, is to totally  block the bypass
> path and use a Windsor style thermostat.
> 

True..but doing so defeats the warm-up circuit in the engine, and forces 
all the water to pass through the radiator.   That sounds like a good deal, 
but the engine was originally designed to have a certain amount circulating 
through it at all times.

If you look at any other Ford engine family (289/302, 390/427/428, 
429/460), you'll see that each of them has an external bypass hose which takes water 
from the area of the intake manifold/thermostat and sends it to the water 
pump.   In ALL of those motors, a certain percentage (let's guesstimate 
around 22%, same as the 351C) of the coolant always bypasses the radiator.   The 
351C is the only engine family that manages this internally.

It's been explained to me by people who are far smarter than I am on 
engines (which is most people) that this bypass stuff is a good thing.   Not doing 
so can create hot spots as the engine heats up unevenly with no water 
circulation through it.   Realize that if you block the bypass, when the 
thermostat is closed there is no water flow at all--the water pump is cavitating the 
whole time, and the water in the engine is just sitting there, stationary, 
as the engine heats up.   It doesn't heat evenly, so the water is 
superheated in places by the time the thermostat opens.   When it does, WHAM, ice-cold 
water is then dumped into part of the engine as the hot water exits.

The bypass setup does away with all of this.   The Ford engineers were some 
pretty smart cookies, and I have been convinced that their thinking in 
terms of the cooling setup needs to be respected.

Cheers!

Mike