I was getting so close to having my MGB GT engine running. Yesterday I added coolant and went to sleep thinking today’s job would be adding oil. A few electrical connections, bolt the muffler back on and..
Well it isn’t happening soon. When I went out to the garage this morning there was a nice puddle of coolant under the engine. This isn’t good, especially when the coolant isn’t under pressure. A quick check for the leak pointed to the thermostat housing being the culprit. Of course the first and easiest fix is to torque the bolts a little more and hope that will seal the gasket better but no, the leak continued.
Check out the photo below of my fancy aluminum thermostat housing. That’s a very nice crack running through it. There’s nothing better than quality parts.
Well, here’s the problem. If I had kept the old steel original housing I would throw that on and be good to go but it’s one of the few pieces I think I actually recycled. As I recall it was very pitted and had little life left in it. This is a lesson though… keep everything even if your wife hates the idea of turning your bedroom closet into a car parts storage area.
I do have a thermostat housing for the 18V engine that could work temporarily but the water outlet faces right instead of left. At least this could be used with a long hose in a loop. This might be temporary option one and I have some 1 inch radiator hose available.
Of course, one could always buy another housing but up here in the frozen north of Canada that would likely need to be brought up from down south at considerable cost (probably 2 weeks) and time. And I’m heading south in about a week anyway.
Would JB Weld work? I have a package on my desk and might give it a try at least as a temporary fix. Let’s call this fix two. Keep tuned as I am getting closer to having a car!
