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British car parts crusade

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aeronca65t

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin
Offline
If I needed a thermostat housing for my Chevy StepVan, I could go to about 20 local places and buy one. Dime-a-dozen.

But I need one for the 1500 motor in my Spridget (same engine as Spitfire 1500). The thermostat housing for these cars is a bit strange looking, with two outlets for hoses and a large threaded brass plug on top (to fill the cooling system). The brass plug stripped, so I built a *slightly* oversize one. It worked for a while, but eventually, it also stripped. It still holds pressure, but I'm going to the Hershey Hillclimb next weekend and I'd hate to have it fail while I'm there.

A short drive off to Moss East, to see if they have one. Dave the Counterguy (MGBGT-V8) looks through his catalogs but discovers it's no longer available. Figures. But then he remebers that he *might* have one at home in his personal parts collection. He calls me on Easter to tell me he's found the part. I'm away, so I don't get the message until Monday. I'm not able to get down to his house on Monday night, and anyway, it's a long ride. Then he remembers his girlfriend is going to an MG owners club meeting on Tuesday night....and the meeting is near me. It's in a VFW hall, but he's not sure exactly where the hall is...but he knows the town. That's OK...I have a friend who's active in the VFW, so I can probably call him and get directions. I ask, "Will she be driving the Mini?" (she has a nice '67 1275 S with a Union Jack on the roof). "No, she'll be driving her new MINI" says he.

Great! I'm going out at night, looking for an unfamilar place where I'll meet a person I know only vaguely, driving a car I'm unfamilar with.......so I can get a thermostat housing for my British car!

It's not a hobby......it's an adventure!
 
that's the great thing about our hobby. 99.9% of the people will go out of their way to be helpful and you never know who you'll meet
cheers.gif
 
I was able to get my thermostat at the local parts source for about $3 as its apparently shared with a Chevy. The gasket took a little longer to find. Maybe the Spridget 1500 one is different.
 
78Z:

You're correct...the T-stat is almost universal, and would be easy to get......but I was talking about the T-stat *housing* (the cast aluminum part that covers it). It's a unique 1500 part.

Actually, I'm not even running a thermostat in this car (I use a "blanking sleeve"....maximizes cooling efficiency).

As for a gasket.......that's what pizza boxes are for!
jester.gif
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by aeronca65t:
As for a gasket.......that's what pizza boxes are for!
jester.gif
[/QB]<hr></blockquote>

I use frozen pizza myself- the same cardboard effect but with the sticky goo already supplied....
 
On the subject of gaskets, that gives me an idea! The valve covers on my Rover are about 23 inches long, one inch longer than the longest roll of fiber gasket material that I can find, and I was resigned to having a tiny gap. I'm sure however that I could find a cardboard box (whether pizza or something else) out of which I can get a 23 inch unbroken length.

Seriously, would thinnish cardboard work acceptably for a valve cover gasket? What is there now , in poor order, might well be thick paper.

Ken G, 1925 Rover 16/50 (San Francisco)
 
Seriously guys.
Do you not have any great places where you can buy a sheet of thin cork?
Makes wonderful valve cover gaskets.
 
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