Thomba48 Posted November 3, 2017 Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 As I need to replace my radiator (unfortunately - not a nice task) I shall be replacing the existing hoses etc. and probably also the thermostat. Have been looking around on ebay - the MOPAR NOS ones https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-MOPAR-1940-56-180-DEGREE-THERMOSTAT-ALL-MODELS/232241645893?fits=Year%3A1949|Make%3APlymouth&epid=1825211665&hash=item3612ae4945:g:6gcAAOxyUgtTLHfw&vxp=mtr look different than many others like this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/1940-41-42-46-47-48-49-50-Plymouth-Dodge-DeSoto-Chrysler-NOS-MoPar-THERMOSTAT/401371635025?fits=Year%3A1949|Make%3APlymouth&hash=item5d739d1d51:g:8~IAAOxyLm9TBZML&vxp=mtr or especially the new stant oneshttps://www.ebay.com/itm/Engine-Coolant-Thermostat-OE-Type-Thermostat-STANT-13478/272789502340?fits=Year%3A1949|Make%3APlymouth&epid=79391255&hash=item3f83857984:g:EuQAAOSw5l5Zou4X&vxp=mtr Does it matter which one I would go for? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worden18 Posted November 3, 2017 Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 I have a new stant one in my 51; zero problems in the past 6 months and 6,000 miles since my engine rebuild. Always runs 180 degrees or slightly less. Just making a statement. I personally wouldn't pay $65 for an NOS one; just sayin' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomba48 Posted November 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 thanks. no 65 I can not see the value in that. Good to read your verdict. Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desoto1939 Posted November 3, 2017 Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 I would go NOS thermostat but not at 65 doolar. You are paying for the mopar box and the mopar name on the box. The thermostart were made by other vendors and sent to mother MopAr. The 19 dollar one is fine more or less is the same unit that was originally in your car. Make sure that you are gettingthe correct one for your car. NORS new old resplacement stock is just fine. There were several manufacturer f thermostats and if the model is the correct one then buy it and now you know what to look for at swap meets. I have a catalog on themostats that shows the pictures and the model that were used onthe various cars. catalogs are so important becaue you then have pictures of the part and then when at a swap meet you can find the item much cheaper then going to one of the MoPar major vendors. I have seen these same thermostats at swaps meets for 5_10 dollars so pick up a couple when the price is right Do not wait until you need one and then have to pay the fullprice, plan ahead, same with dizzy caps, rotor, point and condensors and the other same parts to support your car. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomba48 Posted November 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 thank you. you are absolutely right about planning ahead. And yes, without the parts manual I would be totally lost :-) All the minor parts you were referring to I have always "on me" :-) Lucky you and your swap meets. Don't really exist here and certainly not for US cars. thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knuckleharley Posted November 3, 2017 Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 New is new when it comes to thermostats. Makes no difference if it was made 50 year ago or yesterday. Your only concern is "Is it the correct thermostat for my car and at what temps does it open? It wasn't uncommon prior to the 60's for some people to run a 180 degree thermostat in their car in the winter,and a 160 degree in the summer. The 180 will obviously supply more heat for your heater to keep your toes warm. Why not take it out and go to a NAPA store and see if they can match it up with one in stock? If you can do that,you will then have a parts number that will work at any NAPA store in the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomba48 Posted November 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 NAPA store - LOL. Unfortunately no NAPA store in Germany :-) But thanks. I see your point though. The actual thing I was wondering originally was less the age rather than the looks. Comparing the "old" version with the "new version" just simply creates a different picture. But - though I have gathered, that does not matter. thanks to you all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knuckleharley Posted November 3, 2017 Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 5 minutes ago, Thomba48 said: Quote NAPA store - LOL. Unfortunately no NAPA store in Germany :-) OOPS! Sorry about that! Quote But thanks. I see your point though. The actual thing I was wondering originally was less the age rather than the looks. Comparing the "old" version with the "new version" just simply creates a different picture. But - though I have gathered, that does not matter. I don't understand what you mean. There won't be an "old version" versus a "new version". If a new one isn't an exact replacement when it comes to size and fit,it's useless to you. If the size of it is correct for the recesses in your gooseneck and your head,and it is the proper heat range,it doesn't matter about it's appearance because it will never be seen. I don't think yours would have a pressure bypass hole in it,but you can look at it and easily tell if it does. If it does,use a replacement that has the bypass also. If it doesn't,use one that doesn't have the bypass hole. 5 minutes ago, Thomba48 said: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertKB Posted November 3, 2017 Report Share Posted November 3, 2017 I believe those two old style thermostats should have a rubber gasket that goes between the thermostat and the thermostat housing. These are often missing and appear to be with the older thermostats shown for sale. Without it there is always an opening and the thermostat will always allow coolant to pass and your engine will eventually start running hot each time it is run for a prolonged time. The Stant one has a good recommendation above so I would think that is your best option. Just my opinion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOHN EDGE Posted November 4, 2017 Report Share Posted November 4, 2017 Thom how do you like your new car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomba48 Posted November 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2017 (edited) 9 minutes ago, JOHN EDGE said: Thom how do you like your new car Do you want to hear the long story? First payment installment took ages to arrive at the sellers account. Agreed changes took ages to be finished. Way after your radiator etc. delivery was over. Hence the second installment got kicked off too late and than also took ages to arrive at the sellers account. First pick-up didn't work out for fuel pump reasons. Second pick up took ages. Than sadly certainly also for you Irma arrived. The car really was in danger of being "swamped". But didn't gladly enough. Obviously before Irma nothing worked and than at least 5 weeks after also. Had to realize that the shipping provider I have chosen to go with isn't really good both in terms of their service and speed. Car than finally - weeks after the actual purchase - ended up in the container and is now on its way !!! Short story - won't be seeing it before end of Nov. Bugger. That gives me time to organise and purchase required items to get the work started in Dec. Thank you for inquiring though :-) Edited November 4, 2017 by Thomba48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOHN EDGE Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 Send me a photo of you driving the car on the autobahn in the left lane passing everyone. Hope you enjoyed Oktoberfest and went to a faushing ball ( don't think I spelled that right) take car my friend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andydodge Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 I dunno if this is any help or what but when I had to replace the thermostat in the 1941 Plymouth I had I removed the thermostat housing and found that the thermostat was the same size as that used in the 318 Poly V8 and in fact other late model V8 engines....see the attached pic, this is an internal bypass thermostat housing so I just used a 180 degree thermostat that was for a 318 V8, fit & worked fine, bought from the local parts shop here in Grafton straight off the shelf..........Thomba is your engine internal or external bypass?, ie, does the housing look like the one my car had.............andyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomba48 Posted November 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 7 hours ago, JOHN EDGE said: Send me a photo of you driving the car on the autobahn in the left lane passing everyone. Hope you enjoyed Oktoberfest and went to a faushing ball ( don't think I spelled that right) take car my friend :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomba48 Posted November 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 1 hour ago, Andydodge said: I dunno if this is any help or what but when I had to replace the thermostat in the 1941 Plymouth I had I removed the thermostat housing and found that the thermostat was the same size as that used in the 318 Poly V8 and in fact other late model V8 engines....see the attached pic, this is an internal bypass thermostat housing so I just used a 180 degree thermostat that was for a 318 V8, fit & worked fine, bought from the local parts shop here in Grafton straight off the shelf..........Thomba is your engine internal or external bypass?, ie, does the housing look like the one my car had.............andyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomba48 Posted November 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 Just now, Thomba48 said: Looks different. And now you can also see why I will have to replace the radiator :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andydodge Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 Thomba..........still could be a possiblity as the housing on your cars engine has the oval mounting shape, heres a pic of the Edgy finned head I had showing the oval shape of the thermostat area, this was definately the same size as the V8 thermostat as I had fitted the chromed thermostat housing shown in the 2nd pic from the V8 intake onto the Edgy head to see how it looked.........I had a spare new V8 thermostat and it fitted perfectly on the edgy head using the chromed housing................so you should be able to use the later style thermostat with your external bypass housing, it should "care" what it sits on.................lol.................andyd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomba48 Posted November 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 thanks to you all. I bought a couple, simply to have the choice as they are difficult to track down here. And what I do not need I can easily sell off again. So thanks to you all :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiffyjet1011 Posted November 5, 2017 Report Share Posted November 5, 2017 nos is far superior to the new units being made today bottom line hence the price other vendors sell the nos ones for about 20.00 dollars and to not wreck a motor its worth the coin in my humble opnion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomba48 Posted November 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2017 I went nos !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy 46R Posted January 7, 2021 Report Share Posted January 7, 2021 Thanks for the great information in these older posts as they are invaluable to me as a recent owner of a 46 Dodge Coupe (Canadian Model). Today I was replacing the gaskets for the water pump and thermostat housing and as my shop manual has not yet arrived I was working off of memory from when I owned one of these in 1970. Problem was trying to get the housing to sit in place with the thermostat centered as gravity would cause the thermostat to fall out of place every time I flipped the housing into place. Once I did get it in place I realized an easy solution would have been to wire the thermostat into place through the radiator hose opening. Hopefully that isn't in the manual and is a help to someone in the future. Again thanks for all the great information it really helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted January 7, 2021 Report Share Posted January 7, 2021 on some of these housing which will serve with an undercut to locate the thermostat....I would use a rubber band and run it to the thermostat top loop feature and the use a dowel or similar object to catch the ears on the rubber band and this will hold the thermostat in the recess provided. and thus centered and allow compressing only the gasket and not the base of the thermostat when tightening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_shel_ny Posted January 7, 2021 Report Share Posted January 7, 2021 (edited) Shouldn't the correct thermostat just sit in the hole in the head, and then be held in place by the thermostat housing when it is bolted down. Edited January 7, 2021 by _shel_ny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted January 7, 2021 Report Share Posted January 7, 2021 the head is milled flat...the cast iron covers have a locating recess cut into it...with time this edge is eroded to some degree and loses this feature and keeping this housing flat and sealing is often due to a tad of blocking on flat surface or tweaking with a file to keep it flat adding to the loss of the lip cut into it for centering the thermostat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los_Control Posted January 7, 2021 Report Share Posted January 7, 2021 I use the permatex Indian head shellac gasket sealer on T-stats. I do not know what is best, just what worked for me 40 years ago while others failed. I glued my t-stat in place and also the gasket, let it setup for a few min before installing. Use fingers to support weight of t-stat while setting it down. Seems like it slipped once on me, you could tell because housing would not sit flush. Picked it back up and mooshed everything back together, more careful 2nd try and no issues. Probably something that would glue things better .... just what I use. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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