Thread: Wild Canary down---cheesy aftermarket parts.

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Probably just a casting flaw and you'll be ok with a replacement.

I ran a factory stock - although powder coated on the outside - aluminum bib for 5-6 years on my 462" Buick.
No problems.

It runs a cast iron bib now since the aluminum ones are no longer available.

Anyway, thought I'd pass on a good one I saw on a 348 "W" engine I saw in a 29 highboy roadster last night.

The intake manifold water bib was a piece of flat 1/2" aluminum.
It was drilled and tapped for a large fitting to adapt to an early style aircraft hose.
The radiator bib had a matching fitting soldered to the upper tank and the hose - looked to be 1 1/2" - with pressed on fittings both ends was screwed to both the threaded radiator bib as well as the one on the flat plate.
(Both hose fittings were free to swivel.)

It looked like there was enough height to let the thermostat fit into the flat plate and probably a little ways into the hose.
Struck me as a nice way to do it and it wouldn't be hard to make a flat plate adapter out of aluminum.
I'd be inclined to use 1" thick plate.

What would make it easy for guys who don't own a lathe is that the recess for the thermostat lip is usually on the intake manifold.

O-ring grooves are easy to cut on a lathe, but a Velumoid paper gasket would work just as well.

Another way to gasket the flat plate would be to steal the rectangular in cross-section rubber gasket from an oil filter.
I did that when I made the remote oil filter adapter for the Buick engine.
Works far better than the wimpy O-ring adapter sold by the aftermarket.

If you were cutting the flat plate adapter from scratch you should be able to get the right size oil filter gasket from one of the smaller engined cars.

Looks too like you could set up the flat plate adapters from fittings available at Earls and Aeroquip.
Even so, if you had an aircraft salvage yard in your area you could probably find the fittings you need there and maybe the hose as well.

A hydraulic supply house is another place to look.

Getting back to the flat plate thermostat housing, it would work well for some engines where the factory bib is hard to find.
Even the Buick bib that has a bypass hose would be easy to do.
Add a 3/8-NPT - I think it is - fitting and you'd be in business.