Hello !

No anyone can order and ladies and gents production has commenced!

well I might make 50mpg on the trip comp due to ron box fooling the calculation but i've never done it in 'real life' I'm hoping for an improvement with new stat!

What about a bread knife.... No please stop laughing :D ..... It may give an angle for a straighter cut than a Stanley knife and the serrations may help with the fibres. Not the old fashioned ones with the hacksaw blade edge mind! You might as well use a .... hacksaw. :getmecoat:

Even better an electric bread knife, that would slice through it it no time. The problem with the stanley knife is that it's to small and you would not get a nice even cut.

Stubs

Flow rate
 

It is useful,of course, to discuss possible problems when performing modifications but, regarding the restrictions on flow openings I would point out that the bore of the pipe which enters the radiator is 28mm
at the most. The same as the Chevvy thermostat and probably the Mini
one too.
ROSSOCORSA, The difference between my brim to brim readings and the onboard readings with a Synergy 1 fitted is less than 2 mpg.
The last figures were for my usual test run on A and M roads. I am hoping that the readings for local traffic only show an improvement with the higher running temperature.

In preparation for testing my new thermostat yesterday I drove a route of largely 'open' road to see how long my car took to come up to temperature. I mapped the route onto Google maps and took the temp reading at points I could identify later.

The temp read the same as ambient air temperature (14ºc) when I started. I wound my way to the main road and after @1mile (at @30mph) already it read 40ºc.

By the time I had covered 2.6 miles it read 50ºc

It reached 60ºc (and close enough to my normal running temperature) by the time I had at total of 4.1 miles. Since that was running at relatively slow main road speed (following a JCB for half of it) I think that is a reasonable test to repeat with the new thermostat.

I'm interested to see if it actually warms up quicker than currently or just takes longer (distance or time) to get hotter. I guess this will depend if my current and rather tired thermostat is actually open or is just opening too early. I suspect that it is basically 'open' now as on Wednesday night when driving around town with air temp of 3ºc it never went above 57ºc!.

Hence why I put it in quotes. There has got to be a fuel enrichment strategy for when it is cold.

Modern petrol cars still have an enrichment program, just becuase there's no physical level to pull on anymore, it doesn't mean it doesn't have one!!!

As a compression ignition I don't think you need a choke but some basic diesels have an 'advance and retard' system to alter the pump timing.

I suspect the common rail systems do something similar. But I doubt they need to change the air fuel ratio at all.

Any chance of some moderator getting hold of this "definite answer" and turning it into a really useful reference for Thermostats. :}

My Meziere thermostat housing is now fitted. Took @15 min from bonnet open to closed.

It really is easy - but here is quick 'how-to'.

First, remove engine cover. 3 x 8mm bolts

Then syphon OAT from header tank. I did it in situ first, then removed the 8mm bolt and lowered it and you can hear the coolant glug back into the tank, syphoned some more then I wiggled the tank about and got a bit more to drain into it to syphon out but that was all. (I guess I got a bit under litre out - the container in the picture is 3L)

http://www.yamamura.unospace.net/pictures/Meziere6.jpg

Then I chopped the hose using a cheap serrated carving knife I found in the back of the kitchen drawer (already washed and returned - she'll never know....:}). I took @40mm section of pipe out and there was no coolant dripping at all. The Meziere 1½-1¼" housing slips perfectly into the cut hose. I clamped it up with a pair jubilee clips (if you are sensible you'll find some that fit an 8mm socket and then you'll only need one tool to do the whole job!)

Refit the header tank and refill.

Refit engine cover

http://www.yamamura.unospace.net/pictures/Meziere7.jpg

Job jobbed.

I didn't take any pictures of the task (not that you really need any it's really simple) because, as you can see, it was raining quite hard!

One thought for those going for the Specialist Components housing - what is the diameter of the unit with its flange? There is not a great deal of clearance between the unit and whatever the metal do-dad next to the oil filter is (pictured). If they touch I'd expect the vibration to damage either (or both) components.

So what is it like in use? Massive improvement!

The car certainly warms up a bit quicker (although today was 5ºc colder than yesterday and raining) but I noticed it was at 45ºc where it was 40ºc, 55ºc where it was 50ºc and @65ºc after 4 miles. It kept rising. I guess it reached the mid 80ºc's in @8 miles.

Once up to temp it seems to settle @87ºc. Rising under load to 92ºc, when the stat opens and it drops pretty quickly to 84ºc from which it picks up (again quite quickly) to settle back to @87ºc. The gauge sits exactly in the middle. :}

But best of all I had decently warm feet for the first time since I bought the car last year! :D

Thanks again to wuzerk for finding this and doing the hard work. :bowdown:

Edit - I should add what it cost me. After shipping, tax and Parcel Farce's 'handling charge' the housing and thermostat ended up costing me @£85 and I have a spare thermostat for @£7. (For those reading this in the future, see what I wrote about the exchange rate earlier in the thread, it would probably cost me a tenner less if I ordered today....) I guess you might also have to add a couple of quid for the jubilee clips but I had them lying about. The cost of doing the job is trivial.

The 'genuine' thermostats currently cost @£40 but fitting them is certainly not trivial - so this looks to be a great solution for me.