Cheep Krome Krap!
Chris in Arcata
Steve Laifman wrote:
> 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
|