Larry wrote:
> I too am using the cheap chrome distributor tie down. I think this is a
>chrome pot metal part, and this may be part of the problem with keeping
>it tight.
>
Guys, the TRUE failure finally shows it's ugly head. The "chrome"
distributor hold down is made of pot metal, and bends under load. This
allows the clamping action to diminish to near zero, and allows the
distributor to react to the rotating torque and slip.
Now, most of you probably either know this already, or deduced it from
Larry's note, above.
What you may be unaware of, and the reason I am writing at all, is that
the pretty chrome thermostat housing, with the huge O-ring great looking
seal, is no less a POS. It too is pot metal. The clamping bends the ears
and lets it become loose over time. Additional tightening just bends it
some more, until there is no tension holding the housing on and it leaks.
I totally recommend NOT using these, and chrome or cermakote an iron
one, or get the Aluminum casting to match the 4 barrel manifold.
The die cast housing is not TOTALLY worthless, though. It is also placed
on the galvanic table such that it sacrificially corrodes away from the
inside, saving your aluminum manifold and water pump (if any). A
magnesium stack under the radiator cap in the expansion tank will do the
same thing, and you won't find out it's life is over with a hole in the
side of your thermostat housing - if it doesn't leak like a sieve from
no gasket compression first. ;-)
--
Steve Laifman
Editor
http://www.TigersUnited.com
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