Chrome thermostat housing leak. FIXED

[52-fan]

Ever since I got my 52 from Leonard's son it has had a slight leak at the bottom of the 2 bolt chrome thermostat housing. The leak was more of a nuisance than a problem since I could drive the car for hours without losing enough coolant to worry about. I finally decided to remove the part and see what the problem was.
I expected the gasket to be faulty or the base of the housing to need a little filing to flatten it. Wrong! This one is way beyond fixing. I don't know if it really shows in the pictures, but I was amazed at the amount of curve in the base. I was also surprised to see that this was the type of housing with an O-ring in the base because I could see the edges of a flat gasket sticking out. There was also a fair amount of orange silicone on the surface. I have found other things where it appeared that Leonard was trying to get something done so he could drive the car and never was able to get back to do it right.
Anyway, the mystery of the leak is solved, but I have to get a new thermostat housing. I suppose one made for a fat gasket would be better. Is this correct? In any case I plan to find a molded hose to replace the flex hose on there before. A stock hose will not work with this water manifold.

[57pack]

Those chrome aftermarket thermostat housings have been a bane of many since day one.
Junk made overseas, throw them away and find an original OEM type:
Everco or Everhot (if still in business) used to make quality cast iron replacements.

[StudeRich]

Besides THAT is a Chev. part, there is NO recess in it for the Thermostat!
Yes they do always leak on Chevrolets and are JUNK. They should have kept them in China.

[52-fan]

I have a Studebaker part that would have come on this engine (1960), but the outlet is at too low an angle. The 52 version would point up and be a good fit, but I would have to change to the earlier water manifold. The lack of a recess for the thermostat explains why there was a flat gasket with the O-ring. If the gasket had been thick enough, and the hole in it large enough for the whole thermostat to sit level, it might have worked. Like it was, it just made a hump to bend the flanges over.
How did the original Chevy provide for the thermostat? Was it recessed into the housing or the engine? If none of the aftermarket housings have a recess for the thermostat, we need a thin spacer.

[sweetolbob]

I have a Studebaker part that would have come on this engine (1960), but the outlet is at too low an angle. The 52 version would point up and be a good fit, but I would have to change to the earlier water manifold. The lack of a recess for the thermostat explains why there was a flat gasket with the O-ring. If the gasket had been thick enough, and the hole in it large enough for the whole thermostat to sit level, it might have worked. Like it was, it just made a hump to bend the flanges over.
How did the original Chevy provide for the thermostat? Was it recessed into the housing or the engine? If none of the aftermarket housings have a recess for the thermostat, we need a thin spacer.

Like this:

[52-fan]

Recessed into the manifold. That's what I thought. Although I have seen many small block Chevy articles in magazines, I have never worked on one.

[altair]

I have one of those Chevrolet thermostat housings on my 259 to get the rad hose in the right location, this is a 54 sedan with a 259 transplant. The housing does fit properly because the mating surfaces are not compatible, however with some fiddling I made it work.

[52-fan]

What kind of fiddling? Extra gasket, thicker gasket, grinding, filing? I have been pondering my options short of changing out the water manifold. In two weeks I want to drive this car to Branson for the Orphan Car Show.

[StudeRich]

Guys, it really is not that hard to change and find a '56-'60 Water Manifold and a Straight UP Sedan/Wagon T-Stat Housing.

[52-fan]

I've got several water manifolds to choose from if I need to change it out. It is the derusting, painting and such I was trying to avoid right now. Maybe I should get started on one.

[Green 53]

I had a chrome leaker on my 53. Changed to a cast one with no more leaks.

Denny L

[jclary]

I have enjoyed this thread. How much thought and attention has been given to an annoying problem, with a simple cure. However, the simple cure ain't as pretty without the shiny chrome If you had a buddy in a machine shop with a good surface grinder, you might be able to talk him into leveling that bent housing. Of course, most machinists understand how expensive a job for a "buddy" can be when figuring up the cost of energy, coolant, grinding wheels, set-up, fixturing, etc., on a machine tool. It would probably take more time & trouble to fixture that thing than to grind it smooth.

Think about it...once a thermostat housing is in place, at least a third of it is covered by the radiator hose anyway. A good cast iron housing will not leak. It is not a big item on an engine. Get a good cast iron one. Paint it an easy to ignore blend in color and be done with it. There's lots of other stuff you can bolt onto an engine to bedazzle onlookers. Besides, it only takes a tiny bit of leaky fluid to spoil everything else in your engine bay...and your peace of mind along with it.

I vote for a good ol' stock housing.

[52-fan]

One of my problems is that I don't know what shade of red Leonard used on the engine. And the paint is faded anyway. I intend to repaint the whole engine when I remove the fenders for painting the body, but I was hoping not to have a water manifold that stood out like a gold tooth on a big smile. Oh well.........

[sweetolbob]

If you want to keep the original look, why not go to a local hardware/big box store and find a small sheet of aluminum the thickness of the thermostat ring, cut it to fit the outside of the housing and make the center hole large enough to drop the thermostat into. (cut the center hole first) Permatex the adapter to the water manifold or use a thin gasket, drop the thermostat into it and set the housing and standard gasket on top and bolt it down.

As a note, most of the newer aftermarket SBC housings come with an o-ring instead of a gasket which should also work.

Upon further review, If you want to keep the originality, I'd flatten the bottom of the original and use it. If you do replace it with an o-ring housing, I'd still use a gasket as it crushes to hold the thermostat in place.

Bob

[mbstude]

In the amount of time this thread has been going, you could've already cleaned up another water manifold and had it back together with the correct parts.