V7 SLR Posted July 19, 2001 Share Posted July 19, 2001 I read the comments both in Low Flying and on this site about the virtues of running your car a shade cooler, so I bought the thermostat as was quoted here, part no. GTS1102, but it's a different shape to the original. OK, the truth is, I haven't actually got round to fitting mine yet, but Mick Smith has, and he says the original thermostat in his Caterham has a flat flange whereas the GTS1102 one has a single semi-circular "rib" running round the circumference of it, and is altogether wider. Mick's ground his down a bit, but surely this wasn't what was advocated by whoever told me about the GTS1102 was it? Also, the GTS1102 has an air bleed nipple which hangs through the single 3 or 4 mm hole in the flange and looks flimsey. I reckon it'd perish over time and fall off into your water jacket. Any reason why I shouldn't just cut it off? Don't some people drill holes in their flanges anyway with no problems to aid water flow over the wax pellet? The GTS1102 comes off a Rover Diesel engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted July 19, 2001 Share Posted July 19, 2001 If you try hard you can make it fit without modification. I have fitted both the 72 (IIRC mine is 72 and not 74) and the 82 degree ones to the standard housing, both of which have the different flange. It is a firm fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elie boone Posted July 19, 2001 Share Posted July 19, 2001 V7 SLR, The little hole in the thermostat is to prevent air locks. If the thermostat is mounted horizontal make sure that the hole is on top. I would not cut off the " bleed nippel" as they never go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Dent Posted July 19, 2001 Share Posted July 19, 2001 V7 I put one of these in last weekend and had no problems at all. I had no reference to the old one as one did not exist. Longest bit of the job was getting the TBs off anf finding room to operate. Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7 SLR Posted July 20, 2001 Author Share Posted July 20, 2001 OK, thanks to all. I'll have a go then. Seems Rover/Caterham have engineered an "interference" fit without meaning to then. wink.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorAtle Posted July 20, 2001 Share Posted July 20, 2001 Andrew, can't see why you need to remove the TBs to get to the thermostat, unless you have lumberjack sized hands of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Bees Posted July 20, 2001 Share Posted July 20, 2001 I can't imagine doing it without removing the TB's on mine - I did think about it but after scratching head & hands for 15mins gave up. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7 SLR Posted July 20, 2001 Author Share Posted July 20, 2001 Is it really that hard to change without removing the TB's? Damn. I was hoping for an easy-change. Remember where the therm was on an A-series? Right in front of you as you face the engine in situ. The bleed nipple thingy is going to get junked I'm afraid. I can see no common sense reason for having it. So it lets a little water through all the time... I'm sure it never gets cold enough, even in the UK, that the therm is required to stay shut at all times. Having a small hole open permanently may help to prevent oscillating of the temperature when the therm opens and shuts. I've got the big rad, so when the therm opens it sends a lot of cold water into the engine. If I can reduce that effect, even a little.... Then again, a properly operating water system should do this. I know it happens on the Elise but that's because of the distance from rad to engine. There's probably a small bouce even in a Caterham. Peter, you have a 72 degree therm then? Is there any particular way that you can determine what therm would be best for your engine? Is it, colder = better? That can't be, or we'd run without a therm altogether I guess, so what's best? Edited by - V7 SLR on 20 Jul 2001 15:40:16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elie boone Posted July 20, 2001 Share Posted July 20, 2001 V7, running without a thermostat is not a good idea, because the cilinder close to the thermostat will always run cooler than the cilinder on the opposite side. In extreme conditions the rubber hose may collapse due to the increased waterflow, this depends on the lenght and condition of the hose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Walker Posted July 24, 2001 Share Posted July 24, 2001 Nig, I have just fitted the 74C stat, its not a straight fit as you have found out I had to fettle the plastic housing in the area around the one way valve to gain clearance. You can`t have it easy all the time ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorAtle Posted July 24, 2001 Share Posted July 24, 2001 I'll mention it here too, apparently you've got a different stat than I have. Check out Moprod MTO101, it's a straight swap. Rob, are you running the large rad (race) and how do you like the new stat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorAtle Posted July 24, 2001 Share Posted July 24, 2001 The bit about removing the TBs seems excessive. Do you RHD guys have something under the TBs I don't have??? Sure it was a little hard to get to but unbolting the TBs takes a lot longer time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7 SLR Posted July 24, 2001 Author Share Posted July 24, 2001 Tor, where do you buy the moprod one from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Beaumont Posted September 26, 2001 Share Posted September 26, 2001 Update on this, having just swapped my t'stat for a 74: Moprod it seems have become a Quinton Hazell brand, and the Moprod part no. mentioned above now translates to QHA101. QH parts are widely available from the usual motorists stores. I paid 4 quid. The thermostat has no bleed holes, but is 2mm larger in diameter than the original, so it needed a bit of careful grinding of the flange to fit. An easy job with a bench grinder. This with the plastic t'stat housing. I'm still wondering if I really did pay £10/gallon for premixed Comma Colstream though. Must've been a dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 I remember calling Lotus about this a while back (when tracking down the elusive lower rated thermostats) and they had some recently delivered ones that didn't fit - apparently some design changed, or so they reckoned. Very peeved they were as they weren't sure what they were going to use. Me? I don't run one. Appreciate this may not be technically a good idea, but the oil/water heat exchanger and the big rad I have seem to do a decent enough combined job of keeping the temps very constant. It also means that there's only ever cold water in the whole system at startup (warms through quickly anyway) and never a time when a hot engine gets fed cold water. Whether one end of the engine gets cooled better than the other I don't know, but I wouldn't have though the difference would be *that* great, and if it were surely a thermostat equipped engine will suffer in exactly the same way, the water will just be even hotter when it does? OK, so it's probably not as simple as all that but I can't be arsed fiddling with it. It seems to work (cue serious engine issues the next time I get out in it), and I'll never have to take my tb's off (even if I could) or spend 3 quid on a thermostat again smile.gif. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7 SLR Posted September 27, 2001 Author Share Posted September 27, 2001 I would suggest your engine is probably running too cold most of the time, which is definately a baaaaaad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted September 28, 2001 Share Posted September 28, 2001 Oil and water temps get up to 75degC or so in short order (5 to 10 mins usually)and stay there pretty much *all* the time, unless stuck in traffic in summer at which point they rise to about 85degC (well water does anyway, oil just goes up a few degrees). On LeSept the temperatures very occasionally rose enough to switch the fan on but cooled off suitably quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red SLR Posted September 28, 2001 Share Posted September 28, 2001 JohnE and I removed my stat last weekend with the TBs in place with no problem at all. The only problem was getting the hose re-attached onto the stat housing as it keep't slipping off. X777CAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red SLR Posted September 28, 2001 Share Posted September 28, 2001 Further to this... I now have no stat in there. The one we pulled out did not open in a pan of water. The new stat which I got from Halfords did seem to open up in a pan of water, but when we fitted it to the car the water temp still shot up to 100c and stayed there. The only thing I can think of is the stat was in the wrong way, can anyone tell me what way they are suppose to go in?? My head gasket is fine BTW. Ta Simon. X777CAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Payne Posted September 28, 2001 Share Posted September 28, 2001 Simon, They fit with the spring bit towards the water pump, i.e. the front of the car. Regards Allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red SLR Posted September 28, 2001 Share Posted September 28, 2001 Could this have been causing the problem??? X777CAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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