Hi Stude fans, I recently bought a '56 Commander Sedan, 3spd with OD, which I love.
After driving it around to a few club events, it ran very hot, on one of our very hot summer days, here In Australia.
OK, no dramas (I thought), hot day, hot car, she'll be right. It didn't boil, but the temp gauge pegged out, and stayed there.
Next time out, on a much cooler day, she ran hot again after a short distance. Hmmm, not good, better get her home.
I did a quick look around under the bonnet (hood), radiator still had plenty of coolant, fan belt tight and OK, water pump had a slight dribble of coolant, but nothing super major, and no other obvious leaks or dramas.
So I started with testing the temp gauge and sender unit, they checked out OK, moved onto the thermostat.
Drained all the water out, which was still nice and clean from an earlier flush out, and removed the top hose, and thermostat housing (4 hole).
The thermostat looked to be in good condition, and was stamped "170" for temperature. So I tested it, where it began to open at about 105, and was fully open at 170.
Not much left to check, so out comes the water pump... Yep, the water pump was the culprit, with a problem I've never seen before.
The impeller was loose on the shaft, so no water was being circulating in the engine.
Luckily, I had just bought bought a new water pump, so in it went, got it all back together, took the old '56 out for a road test, and perfect.
We're back in action.
Now, for my question on the thermostat housing;
Are there any thermostat housings from other Stude V8s, that suit a larger diameter radiator hose?
Maybe a truck version?
The one on my 259 seems fairly small, and takes a 1-1/4" ID hose.
Just for ref: the mounting face is about 3-1/8" square, with 4 screw holes on 3-1/4" PCD.
If there is such a thing, it would be nice to know the part number, so that I would be able to order one.
Many thanks, Steve.
After driving it around to a few club events, it ran very hot, on one of our very hot summer days, here In Australia.
OK, no dramas (I thought), hot day, hot car, she'll be right. It didn't boil, but the temp gauge pegged out, and stayed there.
Next time out, on a much cooler day, she ran hot again after a short distance. Hmmm, not good, better get her home.
I did a quick look around under the bonnet (hood), radiator still had plenty of coolant, fan belt tight and OK, water pump had a slight dribble of coolant, but nothing super major, and no other obvious leaks or dramas.
So I started with testing the temp gauge and sender unit, they checked out OK, moved onto the thermostat.
Drained all the water out, which was still nice and clean from an earlier flush out, and removed the top hose, and thermostat housing (4 hole).
The thermostat looked to be in good condition, and was stamped "170" for temperature. So I tested it, where it began to open at about 105, and was fully open at 170.
Not much left to check, so out comes the water pump... Yep, the water pump was the culprit, with a problem I've never seen before.
The impeller was loose on the shaft, so no water was being circulating in the engine.
Luckily, I had just bought bought a new water pump, so in it went, got it all back together, took the old '56 out for a road test, and perfect.
We're back in action.
Now, for my question on the thermostat housing;
Are there any thermostat housings from other Stude V8s, that suit a larger diameter radiator hose?
Maybe a truck version?
The one on my 259 seems fairly small, and takes a 1-1/4" ID hose.
Just for ref: the mounting face is about 3-1/8" square, with 4 screw holes on 3-1/4" PCD.
If there is such a thing, it would be nice to know the part number, so that I would be able to order one.
Many thanks, Steve.
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