Cooling and necessary parts, What parts are necessary? Options

[pistonboy]

Hello
My friend and I had the heads rebuilt on a motor I have purchased. All thermostat parts have been removed including bellows, wire, rod, and flaps.

I live in a desert and am not worried about cold weather since there is none, but I am concerned about cooling in the hot summer. I wanted to leave these thermostat parts out of the engine. My friend has a friend who is supposedly very familiar with these engines who says we should have the bar and flaps in the engine, but tie them permanently open.

I believe the flaps are at slightly different angles on the rod.

Is there a problem with leaving them out? I do not see a problem.

What is your advice about this?

Thank you.

[Dave_Darling]

A lot of people seem to; we've seen a whole lot of people who "don't need the damned flaps". They generally are of two types:
- Race car builders who have massively modified cooling systems
- People who later complain about always running hot

Some even fall into both of those camps...

Bottom line: You absolutely MUST have the flaps installed, unless you have completely reworked the whole cooling system. It is best if you have the thermostat hooked up and working correctly, but it is not completely mandatory if you are willing to live with extra wear and tear on the motor.

--DD