I pulled the restrict-or out for giggles and only gained about a 1/4" going from the 1" gutted t-stat to the 1 1/4" t-stat housing. Think it will make a difference? Sorry to hi-jack.................

Only one way to find out. Take her for a 30 minute bumper to bumper crawl on one of those California freeways!

Now it`s Vegas freeways and it`s WAY hotter here than the high desert I left............... Will take a put later after the silicone cures.

Not a gambler so no 'lost wages"for me......................

I pulled the restrict-or out for giggles and only gained about a 1/4" going from the 1" gutted t-stat to the 1 1/4" t-stat housing. Think it will make a difference? Sorry to hi-jack.................

I said that tongue in cheek, not directed towards you personally.

I ran the 45 gph Meziere for ever. One thing I did that helped is I tapped the hole in the housing under the thermostat. put a plug in it and drilled a 1/8th inch hole in the plug. that was good for about 10*

Started to wonder if this mod helps on the MP alum. housing cos there`s a good sized hole in there about 1/2" or bigger from what I saw.................

I ran the 45 gph Meziere for ever. One thing I did that helped is I tapped the hole in the housing under the thermostat. put a plug in it and drilled a 1/8th inch hole in the plug. that was good for about 10*

Hey Dom how have you been and liking your new place? Well seeing how its going to be a long time till i get my duster running and the dart is to fast to race with out a roll bar, looks like i am going to put it on the street.
I have been using the summit electric drop in water pump that with the summit sticker removed is really a CVR water pump. Mine is rated at 30 GPM and i have also been using a gutted T-stat. I had it on the street one time last year and it did OK was in the low 90 and humid. the car did OK ran around 210 but would try and run a little warmer pulling a long hill. So i am going to try the trick you guys are talking about. I will be pulling my T-stat and installing a 3/8 pipe plug with a 1/8 hole. oh dumb question time,lol why cant you drill the 1/8 hole in the plug before you install it?

The heat sukz but the 1/2 naked women and cold beer make up for it. Ya, 210 is more than I ever need to see again and we`ll soon see how it works and I drilled the plug FIRST then installed it......no drilling in the housing just ran a tap and it`s nice and tight. I`ll take street driving any day over racing and I have a street race w/one of the friends of Shawn from here who was on Oakie Outlaws last week in the colorful 55 Chevy. Apparently it`s a 468 rat w/a 300 shot in a late model mustang so again, I`m bringing a knife to a gun fight but have zero worries just like the last two power adder cars I beat...............

Could the problem be elsewhere? I just put a 90A alternator on mine and now the voltage doesn't drop @idle so the fans spin faster and it cools better. I could reach 210 idling and now it stalls at 175 and maxed out at 180 after a long idle.

The 45 gpm pump he's referring to is the drop-in pump that fits the stock housing (same one I have). There is a bypass hole underneath the thermostat in a stock housing. You tap it for 3/8" npt (no need to drill), put a pipe plug in it, then drill a 1/8" hole through the plug. This is def. worth doing...dropped mine about 10° also. It reduces the amount of hot water that's recirculated through the motor.