VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 31 running temp with thermostat

Is there anyone out there in cyber land that is running either a 160 or 180 degree stat in their 31's, and if so, what is your guage reading?? Mine without stat is running at alcohol boils point. Need to have it running hot enough even in this cold Iowa weather to keep moisture down.

Thanks.

Jim.

ahhhhh..... I wouldn't trust trying to compare different people's temp gauges. I don't think that I've ever had two that displayed the same value. They are just too inconsistent after all these years.

Have you thought about putting a (people-style or meat) thermometer in the top of the radiator and getting an accurate TEMP reading? (Just pull over to the side of the road, remove the radiator cap, and hold the thermometer in the water for 10 seconds.) Then you could compare that with someone else with some reasonable accuracy.

Focusing on your comment above - my own personal experience is that my '31 has always run hot enough in the winter -- and that includes a couple of really cold ones in Connecticut.

--Bill

My '32 also runs at the "Alcohol Boils" point on the temperature gauge and I love it there. I won't put a thermostat in my car because the temperature is great right where it is.

On my 29 it ran too hot with no therm. the water seemed like it did not circulate enough. I put a flat washer with about a 3/4 hole and that seemed to help a lot and I could see the circulation .

Thank you to Mr. D., Mr. B., and RJP for your responses. Will try that meat thermometer in mine after head work completed. I enjoy running my 31 in cool temps, enough heat coming through firewall and floorboard to keep things fairly decent in cab even without heater in car.

Jim.

Hi
Just catching up on posts since Me and the bride have been away from home for three months on a motoring holiday to Victoria. We live in North Queensland.
I run a coolant in my '31 and no thermostat and it runs at Alcohol Boils.
Northern Queensland is a hot climate and that's a pretty good temp to run at.
I did buy a thermostat but am reluctant to fit, given I don't have many overheating issues.

As we say in the USA....."if it ain't broke don't fix it". Your running temperature sounds great so I would leave things just as they are.

I run 160 degree stats in all of mine and it seems to work fine. If I drove them in the winter, which I don't, I would run 180 degree stats.

Thanks to Aussie 31, Mr. Dog, and Uncle Ed.

Got the head back on and took it for a short drive, everything seems ok, but am going to pull pan and check clearances on mains and rods in spring. Weather too sour to do anything right now. The block has been punched out .080 and head milled about .060 so I want to check bottom end. After going in bottom end, will think about the thermostat thing again. Remember I have a 32 block in my 31.

Best to you all and have a Happy New Year.

Jim.