Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Ok guys, need to know a little info. I've seen on the internet you can buy a thermostat housing, gasket, and thermostat for $125. Now, they show a normal looking, present day thermostat. I guess what I'm asking is, does this housing have different inners to hold the normal looking thermostat, or are they just trying to take your money? I have seen on Max Merrit where you can buy either the present day looking thermostat or the bellows looking thermostat. Present day says it is low temp, bellows type says it is standard temp. Can you use either type thermostat in the original housing with the wire retainer?? Thanks, Brian.

That total does seem a bit steep but maybe convenience is part of it. I believe but not 100% sure that company offering the item is affiliated with Kanter -- or at least they offer a lot of the same items at roughly the same prices. No idea what the housing might be -- maybe NOS or a brass or bronze repro or maybe they did one in steel and the price reflects the repro costs. Most of the original steel housings were somewhat thin and rusted fairly easily so are getting hard to find in good condition.

SoCal region of PI projects page show a bronze repro housing for $70 and another 4 or 5 for the retainer wire. If they still have them that would seem like a better deal since you can pick up a thermostat and gasket at Napa for maybe $10-15 or so.

Not sure about the fit but I would wonder if the bellows type thermostat would be the best choice on a 54 because of the relatively high pressure cap used. Whether it is a real concern I don't know, but there was one of those Model Garage stories where an overheating problem was supposedly caused by a bellows type thermostat that couldn't open. Gist of the story was the thermostat was used in a car that normally had a low pressure cap but the owner had replaced the original pressure rating with a cap of much higher rating and the increased pressure kept the bellows from operating. The cars where Packard typically used the bellows type had a 7 psi max cap so logically it makes sense because the bellows has to expand to open the thermostat. Increased pressure could conceivably keep it from expanding but no idea what the thermostat is capable of.

If you can get a housing for $70 go for it, seems like the PI stuff was discontinued when I was last looking for it. My original housing is pretty thin but I brazed the rust holes in the hose sealing area and it'll do for now. I bought a retaining ring from Kanter and got a radiator cap from the shop that tested my radiator, they scoffed at my suggestion that the Packards could take up to a 13 lb cap and said "this is what you want", and gave me a 4 lb cap! We'll see what happens when I finally get driving, probably have to bump it up to a 7 lb cap. I bought a thermostat from Rock Auto, normal modern capsule type and the retaining ring works just fine.

Good quality capsule-type thermostats will typically outlast the bellow type by a considerable margin. Copper alloys "work-harden" with constant motion and the usual failure mode of a bellows-type is that they develop a crack on the edge of a bellow section. Go for a capsule type and if the proper diameter the ring clip will retain it.

If you can get a housing for $70 go for it, seems like the PI stuff was discontinued when I was last looking for it.

That really wouldn't surprise me because that projects page hasn't seemed to change for a long time. The housings may be completely gone or maybe waiting for a new batch. SoCal and SD regions usually have a projects table at the PI meet. Did anyone happen to see if they were well populated or if either of the housings were shown or offered?