Thermostat Housing Removal

Post by **Dominic** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:24 pm

Hello everyone, I hope that you all had a good Christmas, and that Santa brought you all what you wanted! Sadly, he let me down, there wasn't a factory fresh Moggie Convertible in my stocking!
Back to reality.... On previous postings regarding thermostat removal, I have a query. On the 1098 with standard heater, the copper pipe runs neatly over the housing. This needs to be removed to enable one to lift the housing. However, the brackets are anchored by two of the cylinder head nuts. Does this mean that one has to loosen all of the cylinder head nuts, with (to my untrained eye) the possibility of disturbing the cylinder head gasket? Or is it safe to merely undo those two nuts alone without disturbing the rest? I'd be very grateful for any advice on this, as in the next few weeks, I am going to fit a replacement engine to my 1965 4-door, and will be replacing heater pipe etc!
Dom

Post by **Willie** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:55 pm

Yes, it is ok to remove the necessary head nuts without undoing the rest of
them in my experience, but only WITH A COLD ENGINE.

Post by **bigginger** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:01 pm

Same here - though I've never tried it with a HOT engine

Post by **Dominic** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:22 pm

Thanks chaps! I must say that the thought of juggling with a pair of hot nuts brings tears to the eyes!

Post by **simmitc** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 8:25 pm

The other option is to disconnect the lower end of the pipe (from the bottom hose) and simply bend the brackets so that the pipe is clear of the thermostat housing. The brackets are only bent metal in the first place and will take MANY more bendings with any damage. I've done this countless times without any problems, and with absolutely NO risk to the head.

Post by **millerman** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:14 pm

This is the quickest and easiest way!

Post by **Dominic** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:44 pm

Sounds better still! Cheers Chaps!