Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello Everyone
The word Thermostat Housing
should be in the Oxford Thesaurus meaning:
2 Men, 100 piece tool kit, 1hr of sweating & swearing
and still can not get the bloody thing off!!!
I do not have access to a 20ft can opener , the fire service said it would cost £400 for them to cut it of
and Castrol have just sent me a large bill for all the oil I have used to try and losen the nuts, so all Iam asking is :
HOW DO YOU YOU GET THE THERMOSTAT HOUSING OFF!!!!!
Pray mat at the ready please help.

Paul I assume that the oil you used was penetrating oil ( plus gas or similar ) and that you left it overnight to work, and are you saying you cannot shift the nuts at all, this is not a problem I have had because if they have rusted on the studs the studs unscrew with the nuts attached, you may also find when you get this far that the housing will want a tap to free it off, but only use a soft faced mallet carefully as it is possible to break the housing.

Right!

Take the heater feed hose (metal pipe going across the top of the thermostat housing) off. Take the top radiator hose off.

Undo the 3 nuts, and if you can take the studs out by locking two nuts together and undoing the stud then that will help.

Tap the housing from the side to crack the gasket seal. When the seal has broken, grab hold of the housing and EVENLY pull it upwards.

Whatever you do DON'T be tempted to use a screwdriver to prize the housing from the head as it will damage the surface(s) and may cause the new gasket not to seal properly.

If you can't get the nuts undone, then heat them up with a blow lamp, put a close fitting ring ended spanner around the nut and tap/hit the other end of the spanner with a hammer. This will shock the nut into undoing. I have always used the heat and shock method and have found it to be far superior to the WD40/PlusGas method.

Very good Cam however WD40 is not a penetrating oil it is mainly a lubricant and its name comes from the good old USA were it came from their aircraft industry and stood for Water Dispersing 40 days protection, which is why a lot of people go wrong in thinking its a penetrating oil, I also agree with the heat method however lots of owners are reluctant to use that method/ do not have a blowlamp.

Kevin,

Sorry but I seem to have posted at the same time as you!!

I usually use Plusgas which seems to be better than WD40. I thought that WD40 was Water Displacement formula 40?? anyway, with regard to penetrating oil what would you define as penetrating oil? (other than Plusgas) something like 3 in 1?? or is there some other oils that I should know about??

I realise that some owners may be reluctant to try certain methods, but if you want to do a job yourself and not cause yourself loads of grief then you should really be prepared to use the correct tools / methods. Otherwise get the job done by someone who can.

I have found over the years that jobs that took me hours can be done in minutes just by using the correct tools / methods.

Cam
Personally I was brought up on plus gas ( I was a toolmaker in a previous existance ) and its actually termed a dismantling spray, although we all call it a penetrating oil, yes 3 in 1 do one as well but most people only know of the normal lubricating oil, but its all part of the same group that make WD40, I think the main difference is that some are use specific and others are multi use, it all comes down to using the correct specification but how many of us actually read the lables. The best example I can think of is that we all know what Allen Keys are but in reality they dont exist, Allen was the name of the guy who invented them and the correct title is Hex Keys, but I agree that the application of heat often saves time and heartache.

Nice one, Paul!

I'm sorry I can't be of any help with your predicament, but your post was hilarious. After the day I had, it's just what I needed? You gonna be documenting any other work on your Morris, for tomorrow night?

To Kevin & Cam
Thanks for your reply`s
My dad (ex Sheffield Steelworker) (Thanks a lot MAGGIE!!) has a load of the Plus Gas I will use some next monday & tuesday when Iam off work ( see Gareth`s message below) I will have some people to help me so hopefully with both of yours advice we should get it of.
To Gareth.
Iam off work next Monday & Tuesday and I will have some people to help me, About 900 people!!!!.
Yes thanks to the fact Iam a bus driver working for First Group and the company has offered us a 13p pay rise it Strike time (Horray!!)
so next monday Gareth we will burn the newsletter from the MD saying that this is all first group can afford and this will make a nice fire, at that point we will warm up some tool`s and with 900 driver pulling Iam sure we will get the housing off.
Best Wishes everyone
Paul ( The very poor bus driver )

Woohoo! Teamwork, eh!

Up the workers!

Good luck, mate.

Horray !!!!

It`s Off

Thanks Everyone.

Great stuff, but which method did you use for shifting it.