Kent Thermostat Housing / Filler Neck

[Steve Robertson]

My 79 Van Diemen could use a new thermostat housing / filler neck. I'm assuming it is a Van Diemen bespoke part. It's not like the usual cast thermostat housings. I haven't contacted Universal Racing yet, but that is still an option. The only other options I have found for any type of thermostat housing are at Burton Power (UK). Of their three offerings this one is the closest to mine. It has a radiator cap and the outlet is clocked close to the same direction. The price is 78 GBP without the VAT.



What I'm surprised by is the usual sources, Pegasus, BAT, etc do not have a listing for any type of Kent thermostat housing. One problem with adapting another t'stat housing is the Kent's center-to-center bolt spacing is 2.875" vs. 3.25" for all the other old stuff, i.e. SBC, BBC and BB Mopars. One source claimed the later model (79 - 90 ish) small block Mopars used the 2.875" spacing. Rock Auto has t'stat housings for the newer 318 and 360 ci Mopars. Not quite what I was wanting though.

Summit and Jegs have every imaginable style for the SBC/BBC. Has anyone tried to adapt a SBC/BBC t'stat housing to a Kent? If the housings can't be modified has anyone built an aluminum adapter plate that attaches to the Kent head and is offset drilled for the 3.25" spacing? There are some nice features of the SBC/BBC offerings. Some seal to the head with O-rings instead of gaskets. Some can clock the outlet port at any angle.

In the end, Universal Racing might be the answer. But I had wanted to adjust the plumbing slightly and the original part makes that more difficult.

Thanks,
Steve

[Supersmile]

Steve,

I have some stock ones and one that's similar to your photo.

I'm having trouble attaching photos to this so pm me an email address and I'll send them to you.

Rob

[BorkRacing]

Burton out of England

[Charlie Schmidt]

Do you need the filler on the part? If so, your choices will be very limited.

TBH Pegasus doesn't have them because volume would be extremely low---Burton has a large road car clientele as well

SBC and so forth also use bigger hose, so it's another adapter

got a picture of the old one?

[JHerscher]

I wouldn't be surprised if you took the old one to a radiator shop that they couldn't knock something up that looked like what you have, Years ago, when I had a RF82, the very top - the closing portion - of mine was damaged. I had a local radiator shop replace that portion. They cut off the top and soldered a new one in its place.

Now, to find an old school radiator shop.....

[David Ferguson]

I think there were several different filler necks available from Dave Bean Engineering. http://davebean.com/ Here is a something from an old catalog:

[Steve Robertson]

Thanks for the responses. Here is a photo of the current part. It is all carbon steel except for the brass filler neck which has some wear on it. Years ago I had it electroplated but over the decades that has worn off. I could bead blast it and clean it up but I'd still like to relocate the outlet tube.




Charlie, I don't need the filler on the t-stat housing. Other CFs use a more traditional t'stat housing with a horizontal outlet tube that 'tees' into the vertical filler neck tube. I could make that work. I assume VD did it this way because it was simpler.

John, the radiator repair shops aren't as common as they used to be. But there are several car restoration shops around here. They would probably have a radiator repair source.

David, thanks for the reminder about Dave Bean. The bottom right one in the photocopy has the correct direction. It would mean relocating the radiator cap but it's done on other CFs.

Here's a link to the 83 options available at Summit for the SBC. And Moroso has an option with a 1.25" OD outlet.

https://www.summitracing.com/search?...filler%20necks

[jrh3]

Might be worthwhile checking with Universal in the UK. The outlets on my ‘81 and 82 look very similar except for the temperature sender housing.

[Vne165]

FWIW, I had a similar carbon steel filler/outlet/header tank arrangement on a '98 Spectrum 06B & had to replace mine.

Took took an alloy housing like the one in your first post, cut it in two, just above the outlet and added 6" of aluminum tube, with the filler cap part re-indexed to the direction I wanted it. I'm an average TiG alloy welder, but it worked out ok. An experienced person would stich it together in ten minutes I 'd say.

[Chuckles]

Primus has one.

https://www.primusracingparts.com/wa...nt_p_4246.html

[Skip Weld]

Steve, David Clubine has one at Britain West as of a couple months ago, used I think. Alan Oppel in Oralando built one for me a month ago but I think he had some of the parts already.
Skip

[tlracer]

https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/De...ostat-housings
These are in the UK, but should be easy to ship.

[AlanVDW]

Here's my old one, and a sample photo of a new unit sent from URS. I had purchased one a while back. It's currently on the car now.

Alan.