My bones all froze up

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2013: My bones all froze up
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By samuel pine on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 03:21 am:

excuse me if I already posted this. Although I still
got 10-40 break in oil, it still starts 1/2 turn.
Soon as I get my check, thinking of 5 w 30 or so.
Problem is my engine runs too cold for my liking.
question? 160 or 180* thermostat. Thoughts are
with a 50 / 50 mix I got four balls floating ok,
but outside at 18 degrees then going down the road
now with wind chill factor, not good. I got no
waterpump or motor meter either. My coffee is
warmer than my block. Just like to know what the
average uses 160 or 180. cause I'm heading to Napa.
sam


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By George Clipner-Los Angeles on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 04:16 am:

Dad always would take a piece of cardboard and wedge it in or tape it to the front of the rad. and leave about two inches at the bottom open. Lake Ozark does get cold in the winter time. Back in the day there were gizmos avail from roll ups to blankets for the hood to manually adjustable louvers.
George n L.A.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hal Davis-SE Georgia on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 05:18 am:

I'm not sure that a thermostat will work on a thermosyphon system. Maybe, but I have my doubts. You could give it a try and report back. I'm thinking blocking the air is a better (And easier) fix.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Copeland - Trenton, New Jersey on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 06:13 am:

In a thermosyphon system the coolant in the engine will not move until its hotter than the coolant in the radiator. Any engine will run cooler in cold weather. Take the fan belt off and just keep an eye on your motometer. That will help some but I highly suggest avoiding the thermostat idea.Thermostats tend to make a big mess of things in a system that was not ment for the system. My 49 Plymouth on 80 degree days will run around 195 as where in 30 degree days it fights to make it to 165 degrees.I wouldnt worry to much over the engine temp, Yout bigger worry would be that the engine is being lubricated.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf, Parkerfield KS on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 09:59 am:

Cardboard is easier to install and free.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Dallas TX on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 10:02 am:

A guy gave me several NOS Model T winter fronts at Chickasha a few years ago. Here's a thread from 2010 where we discussed them:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/170854.html?1290697172


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Aaron Griffey, Hayward Ca. on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 10:39 am:

Nothing wrong with putting a 160 thermostat in a car with no water pump.
Several British cars up into the late fifties or early sixties had thermo-barf and they came with thermostats. Ford was one, Singer another.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Roger Karlsson, southern Sweden on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 11:11 am:

A thermostat is cheap and no modification is needed, so there's room for some experimenting. The benefit of faster warm up is less wear in the engine and a lower fuel consumption. The fuel condensates on the cold cylinder walls and flushes off the oil, thus more wear in a cold engine.

http://www.modeltford.com/item/A-TH60.aspx

"Questions and Answers:
Do you recommend a 160 instead of a 180 thermostat for cars without waterpump? Have you tested this?
Hello Rick, Sorry for the wait in response. Im not to sure if you know, originaly Model Ts didnt come with a thermostat. One of our employees runs one in his coupe because he drives it in the winter and it does keep the temp up in cold weather. But one thing he did notice is that if he pulls up a long hill and the engine does get alittle hot it takes a longer time for it to cool back down because the thermostat does hinder flow some. If you did go with a 160 instead of a 180 it would give you more of a buffer when something like that happens.
Answered By: 23 SEL"


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Dallas TX on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 11:37 am:

A thermostat introduces a latent problem into a system that is normally trouble free. When the thermostat sticks closed it causes lots of trouble. Not having a thermostat causes no trouble.

You can remove the moto meter dusing winter months so that you won't be distracted by it. If you do feel the need to keep the moto meter temperature centered, you could lay it in a window sill where the sun can shine on it.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Strange on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 11:42 am:

Like Jay Leno says in the video on his 1925 Model T roadster, "Sometimes ignorance is bliss - either it's running or it's not!"

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/cars/ford/1925-ford-model-t-roadster/index.shtml#i tem=84445


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Charlie B actually in Toms River N.J. on Friday, November 29, 2013 - 11:46 am:

I'm with the cardboard guys too. Cheap and effective. If she gets too hot you just slice some off and expose more radiator to the air. I'd stay away from a thermostat too. $$$ for (possibly) nothing. 18 degrees is pretty cold and as long as your not freezing the coolant it's probably OK. The system is what it is and your's sounds like it's working. It's just too cold to get "hot" in your area. Not to sound like a wise guy but you really don't have a problem.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Saturday, November 30, 2013 - 01:42 pm:

Ditto the cardboard. Cheap, simple and effective.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Harold Schwendeman - Sumner,WA on Saturday, November 30, 2013 - 06:14 pm:

Add me to the list of cardboard or "winter front" guys.

As I've said before, I'm sure no engineer, but when you get as old as me, sometimes an "experience" or two might be an advantage. Let me tell you about a couple things I learned a long time ago, that just might apply here and further support the guys in favor of the "cardboard approach":

I used to be a "detail draftsman" for a group of engineers when I worked for International Harvester Engineering in Hinsdale, Illinois, many years ago. Our group was mostly engine/transmission engineering, and I couldn't help but pick up a few "tidbits" from those engineers. One that I remember has to do with gasoline/diesel cooling systems. When designing such, the engineers considered that approx. as much as one third of the engine cooling came just from airflow alongside both sides of the engine from the radiator fan.

Another thing I've never forgotten has to do with experience as "company driver" of a U.S. Marine Corps 6x6 truck ("duece-and-a-half") on a training exercise when I was a USMCR member, back in the '60's. Our unit was on a training exercise on a 100+ degree day in Wisconsin, and I was driving this 6x6, hauling equipment and munitions at a walking pace with our unit, for several miles. The "gunny" kept SCREAMING at me to open the louvered side panels on both sides of the trucks hood as it was running hot at that slow speed. I kept "disobeying orders" to the point of a pending serious "problem" with the "gunny"! Upon return to the armory in Chicago, I showed the gunnery sergeant (as tactfully as I could) whereby the manual for that truck clearly states that in hot weather and at slow speed, the louvered side panels of the hood of that truck should be kept CLOSED, as opening them disturbs the airflow around the engine, which is an important part of that trucks engine cooling system. (The "gunny" replied,...."well,...you certainly know your job Marine,.....very commendable!") That's probably the only time I was ever "complimented" by a gunnery sergeant!

Anyway, I can't help but think that these are two examples that tend to verify that airflow past the engine is a large part of the cooling system, and I don't know why this would not apply to a model T ford, as obviously, the cardboard blocking the radiator not only lessens radiator cooling, but also restricts the AIRFLOW past the engine.

Yup! The cardboard approach makes sense to me! FWIW,.....harold


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tim Wrenn on Sunday, December 01, 2013 - 10:58 am:

Sam...with four balls floating, you should be pretty good to go. Don't worry about chill factor, it does NOT affect inanimate objects. Only exposed flesh. I wouldn't mess with a T-stat either, and I do like the guys suggestions about the cardboard "winter cover". On some of my "earlier modern" Ford pickups I'd have to do that too, as they always had such lousy small heater cores and the engine just didn't run hot enough.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf, Parkerfield KS on Sunday, December 01, 2013 - 11:34 am:

Some vehicles (Packard, Pierce) had thermostats that worked not by restricting coolant flow, but by closing and opening the grille. On T you do that with cardboard.

When you get old everything reminds you of something else. Harold's deuce-&-a-half story takes me back to the first day of basic training at Fort Polk. A corporal called out, "Anybody here know how to drive?" An eager volunteer raised his hand and the corporal told him, "Here, drive this cart around and pick up all the trash." I took a couple of lessons from that.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Sunday, December 01, 2013 - 12:12 pm:

I think that cardboard works well for the average guy. Having said that, I have a thermostat in my daily driver T and it works wonderfully. I stuck it in several years ago as an experiment and have never taken it out. I have both a temperature gauge on the head outlet (below the thermostat) and a moto-meter. The engine runs steady at 190 or so, but the moto-meter can be anywhere, at least in the summer. In the winter the moto-meter almost never registers.


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