Itinerant Air-Cooled

Just installed my new Awesome Powdercoat thermostat...necessary since I crushed my old one during the last engine pull...it was dead anyway, but a shame to crunch it.

I had to drill out the mounting bracket from 13/32 to 7/16 and round off the corners of the new hexagonal nose piece ever so slightly to get a non-binding fit. The threaded portion of the AP thermostat is not the same size as my old thermostat, so switching the nose pieces was not an option. The old one came from BD, and lasted about 4 years.

After a quick three mile trip at 350* on my VDO, I realized that the thermostat never opened...then I read the fine print. The bottom tin MUST be installed for the thermostat to reach opening temperature.

With that remedied, all seems well! Temps are back to the normal 250-300 on the VDO, and warm up is much quicker.

I now have a bottom tin on the passenger side, but not the driver. The tin I have is for a federal, which does not allow for the catalytic converter. Still need to acquire one of those.

cegammel wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 21, 2019 4:23 pm

Just installed my new Awesome Powdercoat thermostat...

Wow! Where did you get this? Sometime ago I sourced a used thermostat, still operating fine, and I am always on the lookout for where to get the next.

I do have 2 bads that I plan to attempt to refill and solder first but if that fails then I will want a viable option.

Pat

It's awesomepowdercoat.com. They run just shy $150, but turn around was fairly short, and they are apparently made to order. My soldering skills are woefully lacking...

AND they come with a warranty, though I've babysat a few installations and never had a problem.

Robbie

I am Awesome NaranjaWesty, BobD, and Chloe sports some factory Wehler thermostat that manages to power through the clattery flaps and tough fail-safe spring.

Awesome uses a slightly larger cable nut, and you have to clearance the bracket for no-contact operation.
Colin