I pulled the thermostat housing today, and noticed that the thermostat was just sitting in the housing, and wasn't held down. The Thermostat sits in the recess in the Edelbrock manifold and then the Housing sits on top, but the thremostat's diameter is smaller than that of the housing bottom. I put a gasket between the housing and thermostat, but the thermostat had ripped through the gasket. Did I do something wrong? Do I have the wrong housing? Is it supposed to be this way?

Thanks

The thermo sits on the intake, next the gasket, then the housing. Wouldn't have a clue as to how it relates to chinese made parts (aka the intake).

FYI, Edelbrock manifolds, heads and carbs are manufactured in the U.S.A.

It sounds like you may have the wrong stat housing if the stat is busting through the gasket.

You simply have the wrong size gasget. The thermostat sits in the recess and the waterneck sits on top. All the gasget needs to do is cover the mating surfaces. If it is so big that it overlaps onto the thermostat then trim it down so that it only covers the rim on the intake. Be careful to install the thermostat with the spring side down.

Is the diameter of the thermostat supposed to be smaller than the I.D. of the thermostat housing? There is no way to sandwich the thermostat between the housing and manifold since the housing diameter is larger than the thermostat diameter. The only thing keeping the thermostat held down on my setup was the gasket, and over time it eroded and allowed the thermostat to free float in the housing.

Sit the stat in the indent in the intake with the spring down. If the stat doesn't fit the indent then get the correct stat. Then, lay the gasket on top and install the waterneck. Make sure there are no burs or dings in the mating surfaces to insure a good seal. One other thing after re-reading your post, if you have a non-stock waterneck then that could present the problem of the floating stat.

Waterneck was stock. Got one from my stash of parts to compare to the one I'm using. The One I'm using is "cast" and the new/old one I pulled out is aluminum. The new one's I.D. is smaller than the thermostat, so it will work as I thought it should. Appears the one I was using "corroded" out around the mating surface, and now is larger than the thermostat. I knew these things corroded, but wow it takes a lot of corrosion to eat away that much material.

Thanks Jim for the info.

Yah. Same with the timing covers. Glad you figured it out.

Me too, thanks for the help. Its a pain learning these things, but as long as I look at as a "learning" experience I actually don't mind.

Thanks again Jim.