I asked Bud about Big Duck's running temp. He said it was too low. I guess I knew it all along, I was just not anxious to undo the thermostat bolts. But/so, I ordered the thermostat for the SBC marine Chevy that fits all.
I'd stopped at two of the pseudo auto parts stores and asked for a SBC marine thermostat, giving them the number that I found on-line. Neither could help me without a make/model/year of car - no boats allowed. Then I went to NAPA. They knew right away what I was talking about and would have it the next morning.
Then I extracted the thermostat from the boat. Only two easy bolts, but 4 hoses to wring off. When I got the housing into the shop it was clear that the thermostat was suspect. What I hadn't figured tho, was that the thermostat is held in the housing with an "O" ring - which was not consistent with the one I ordered.
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| 4 hoses removed from thermostat housing |
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| Old thermostat |
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| Old thermostat with rubber "O" ring removed |
So today I picked up the wrong thermostat from NAPA, to see if I could make it work - but got discouraged when I needed to trim it down to 1 1/2" diameter which would interfere with the workings. So I ordered the correct one from Amazon and it will take two days to get here -- meaning I'll need to postpone my trip to the lake this week.
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| Thermostat housing without hoses or thermostat |
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| Thermostat sits on inner ring. Outer ring is grooved for "O" ring to keep thermostat in place. |
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| Fits all SBC thermostat on top. Remainder of old thermostat opn bottom. |
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| Thermostat gasket - I need two. |
