Thermostat swap gone wrong

[TougeMS13]

Well, changing out my thermostat Monday due to it being a stant piece of crap and sticking shut. Not usually a big deal but this time it was. Replaced with a Nissan thermo, put some gasket on, tighten the bolts then it happens. Tightening the bottom bolt, *crack*, oh shat. Back out the bolt and sure enough, its snapped off. So, yesterday, I buy new bolts, this time, grade 8 allen heads. Get to work expecting to easy out a bolt. Pull off the other two housing bolts and pull it off, and low and behold. A nice chunk of the head falls off.

At first I wanted to kill, then I got happy and thought, well this is the perfect chance to talk the wife into letting me swap a motor with a nicely built KA. Then, my dad decides to come by and tell me, in front of me wife, nah, just some JB weld.... DAMN YOU. Anyhow, heres a few pics of the fun, after work I get to see how the weld is holding. Will never trust it again til that hooker is out of my car.





But on the brighter side, I got my peak tension rods and new rotors and yellow stuff pads on.

[amolao]

Ouch!, that's really bad. Never seen out crack like that. Good luck with the JB weld.

[Defiant]

Oof. Nicely done to snap part of the head off, instead of the usual cracked gooseneck. Less torque next time, perhaps. I don't know if you'll have any luck with JB Weld there or not, but please do let us know.

[guyaverage]

I'm not so sure I have much faith in this repair. I have never had too much luck with jbweld. Keep working on the wife, you may get your wish yet.

I did the same thing though (cracked t-stat housing) on my '87 Rx7 TII. Big, BIG chunk came off. Had to get a new water pump rear housing to the tune of about $250, and those were in 1996 dollars. The wife was not thrilled. At all. Still.

I did crack one on a Honda once, and used purple RTV to glue it back together. Believe it or not it worked for 50k+ miles. You might try that if the jbweld gives up.

[Florida240sx]

My friend had some 1800degree jb weld no name brand. A weld broke(just a pinhole for the wastegate) on his turbo manifold in Atlanta. Put that on it, drove the 6hrs back and has been boosting around for 3months now... Would you be able to soder it back on??

[redhat-z]

I have a spare single cam head thats been resurfaced if you're interested.

[amolao]

If you glue the piece first and then try to put everything together I think it will crack again as soon as you start to tighten the pieces together. Maybe you want to do it while the RB is still semi soft and then tighten the pieces before the RB is semi hard.

Sorry, I don't make any sense but you get the idea....

[TougeMS13]

Well, Tuesday I put the first layer of JB on, felt nice and sturdy last night, put another layer on and underneath the housing as well. Putting everything back together tonite, looks like it held great. We'll see though. Will post a pic of the rigging tomorrow.

[TougeMS13]

WEll yay, didnt hold. Now time to swap the head. Or the motor.

[amolao]

I was afraid of that, is just too thin in that area of the head. Try sourcing one from the Classifieds section.

[Ligouri Rd]

Quote » WEll yay, didnt hold. Now time to swap the head. Or the motor. [/quote]-Why do ya keep saying the head, that is just the front cover. Ebay, junk yard, etc... You dont have to pull the whole motor to replace that.