Remote Thermostat Waffle

Been doing some hunting...

Item below looks like the ticket...I can buy two of those for abour £10!

Its even got 32mm tails. The smaller pipe is the bypass...So while warming up water is cycled through the smaller pipe back to the before the water pump...Then when warm enough the stat opens it flows through both that and the radiator...

Probably an 87C stat in there atm...What I could do is slice it in half...Make two flanges and weld them to either half...inbetween the two flanges can be a normal thermostat housed in the Rover rubber ring...Basically replicating the rover two piece housing...Just slap it on for now.Other options are the QED kit as below, but thats £150, even 2nd hand probably £75.
Found this neat Nascar housing on ebay.
Probably just slap the top one in for a few quid eh. Quite keen on the thermostat idea, I always wanted to be able to run my 1300 a bit warmer at cruise on motorway...Water system was too efficient. I want to run a bypass now, so will need a thermostat.

Heater Valve

Brought a new Ford VA/Transit one (£4 with my ebay £10 coupon!)....its electrical operated.

This is a neat item for me, cause by the looks of it, it serves two functions...When the valve is closed the water will still circulate down the centre pipe...So clearly it operated by the thermostat bypass line. This means the water will either go via the bypass when its closed or through the heater when open, or through both when semi open.

I think I will add a remote thermostat, so this can be plumbed in to the bypass line via the two connectors on the right, the left connectors go to the heater...

Again this system and the remote thermostat will work with either EWP or stock water pump.

Only thing I have to do, and have done is it move the swirl pot right up to the end of the new water rail....

The remote thermostat will go between the swirl pot and the radiator in the top hose...

Obviously the swirl pot has a return line to the header tank which blows into the air space at the top, as such the swirl pot must always be under PRESSURE with water flowing out the head, so water flows OUT the small pipe on the top into the header tank.... If I place the remote thermostat before the swirl pot, when the thermostat is closed the swirl pot will be under suction, not pressure! So it would suck the air from the top of the header tank and cause all sorts of problems, till the stat opens and it switches from suction to pressure flow! No issues with the swirl pot before the remote thermostat though...

Not quite sure where the heater hosing/valve will go or routed, another lengthy session of head scratching.



I'll probably chop this thing up a bit, just leaving the flange the foam seal is in, drill a few holes and add a mounting plate, cut off those plastic legs on the right...Not sure if this is on/off or scaled in action...Not really bothered either, I usually want heat or no heat. Next job is finding that out.

Water Rail Part 2

Quick welding session at lunctime. Stage 1 is complete. Now just need another mount for the alternator area, to stop any vibration. Also need to add the heater take off tube I have already prepared...First I need to work out what heatervalve to use, so I can place the takeoff in the place for neatest plumbing and minimalist fitment.It has a JIC4 weld-on stuck at the highest paet, to aid initial bleeding. I will put a JIC4 blanking cap over this.

Just have recut the seat slightly to get a bigger flat washer on the head end.

It moved out a few mm from alignment with the head it was parallel, but its not a problem, thats all part of the fun of taking pieces somewhere to be welded. I can't really tweak it back in without pressuring the flange, so just account that with a slight offset on the front bracket.

All good.

Water Rail Part 1

First job make a flange. Restricted the outer hole to 3/4".
Ported the back to match the head for clean flow.
Dropped into Concept Racing and got a better responce in person.

Brought a tight 90 bend, 50cm of straight tube, got them to bend the end to 40deg and bead it for the hose... Not bad for £20...
I had this temp gauge pipe insert before...I stuck in a lathe and chopped the hose ends off it and cut a recess so the tubing friction fits inside either end, to aid to welding, jigging and aligning and it makes a stronger joint.

Basically that part is done, may get it TIG'ed tomorrow, over the weekend I can make a front mount to bolt the front end to the alternator bracket and another mount to bolt it to the head at the back, vibration damping. I can also add a bleeding screw at the highest point, the heater take off tube...

Pleased with progress on that, its exactly what I wanted! That just about nails all the under bonnet fabrication. I can have a test run of the water system then...

May get a bracket added to the swirl pot and apollo tank, to bolt them together, bonnet clearance to the fitting that will go on the swirl pot is minimal, so I can force it down a little with it bolted to the tank.

Anyway, been putting this job off and its worked out well economically...As tubing is hard to get locally...Till I found the concept place...This bespoke stuff can be a pain in the arse driving all over the place to get stuff and get work done, paying for stuff, fuel...time...

Exhaust rambling.

Time to give this some thought.


I'd like to "sort" it for good...


I am two minds atm. The Caterham manifold I have is a 4-1. Below shows a 4-2-1, yes the primaries are too short I know. So my plan maybe to buy some 1.5" tube and 1.75" and modify my manifold into a 4-2-1.

I can slice off the collector, handmake some new collectors to get the pipes into two, not 1 as no.

I can then get the secondaries over a long length around the end of the sill and have a collector here, then into the main pipe 2.5".

That should help torque and low speed running.

Also the place my cousin works at can mandrel bend pipe, so I can go there and blag the machine and make my own exhaust, my cousin can tig it up...

Its better for me having two smaller pipes of the collector and along the outrigger as the wheel will not rub on them at full lock.

That would give me a half decent exhaust...I could do it for the material costs and small time on the bending machine.

Or just go 4-1 and that just needs a section of 2.25" bending up.