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Help: SP250 thermostat housing advice

Dear Folks,

The thermostat housing on a friends SP250 broke in two last week - on examination it had clearly been cracking for a long time. They are currently out of stock at every supplier he has tried so I am wondering if anyone here could suggest anything which would fit. There are easy, medium and hard bits to the specification ...

Easy: It's a bog standard thermostat - same pattern/size as a Herald, for example. Round, and a shade under 2" diameter (going by the gasket)

Medium: Two 5/16 UNF fixing bolts, 3" apart (so the gasket also looks like a Herald one, just a bit bigger

Hard: The outlet is 1 1/2" diameter and comes straight out the top - ie along the same axis as the bolts, and not out to the side. There is a slight offset, but not worth worrying about as the radiator can be shimmed to eliminate the need.

If this sounds vaguely familiar I'd be grateful for any hints about an alternative part which might fit.

Ian

Reply to
Ian
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Have it welded back together? It's not a highly stressed item.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

We've though of that but a) it's light alloy, and pretty manky from the look of the fracture surfaces and b) it comes out of the engine sideways (the flange is vertical) and is joined to the radiator by two very short hoses with the expansion tank in between, so although the stresses may not be very high, it'll see a lot of cycles as the engine moves relative to the chassis/radiator. Last resort at the moment is fabrication, but it would be vexing to go to that trouble and then find that the housing from a Sprogget and Walmsley was a direct swap and readily available ...

Ian

Reply to
Ian

One for a Truiumph TR3/3A/4/4A might fit. IIRC there were a lot of TR components used in the SP250

The parts manual is available (in sections) on the Moss site:-

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Page 93 (14 of the pdf) shows what the housing looks like - numbered as 13 Have a strong drink handy though - £24.95 plus the usual.

Roj

Reply to
Roger Glover

A friend of mine with an SP250 under restoration (for the past 15 years, but that's another story) suggested eBay first (he says he has tracked down virtually everything he needed so far there). Next is David Manners in the UK - he bought a windscreen from him.

My friend also needs a set of hood sticks for his car, among many other things...?

Reply to
Dean Dark

"Roger Glover" realised it was Tue, 29 May

2007 23:35:06 +0100 and decided it was time to write:

Alas, that only goes for chassis components. The engines were completely different. To start with, the Daimler had twice the number of cylinders!

Reply to
Yippee

Not an SP250 thermostat housing to be seen! And yes, everything is there, just about. A Well Known Journalist is well on the way to building an entire Dart from eBay bits ...

Out of stock at the moment.

Ian

Reply to
Ian

However ... dammit ... I think he could very well be right. The picture looks spot on!

Ian

Reply to
Ian

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