Engine flap questions, search is failing me Options

[VaccaRabite]

I know that this has been discussed, but my searches either find too much, or nothing (which means I 'm searching the wrong terms.).

That said.

The cooling flaps for my engine don't seem to want to pop up. The spring is there, but it does not have the oompf to open the springs. The engine is out of the car, so now is the time to fix it, or choose to just leave the springs open.

I have the diaphram and wire on the car, but my instinct tells me to leave it unhooked and just run it with the flaps open. My rational is simple. If the system is gummed up now, and the flaps won't "fail open" as they are supposed to, I am worried that down the line they will get gummed up again, and some day I'll cook the engine because the flaps are gummed again and failed closed.

It seems to me that the risk of having them failed closed is worse then the longer warm up time.

Given that my car has no heat, and there for will only be driven in ambient temps above 60F (and usually in ambient temps around 80 or higher) do I need the flaps, or could I just leave them open with no real harm done.

Zach

[Gint]

The zambeziteen has been carb'd and sans thermostat since before I drove it home from CA almost two years ago. The temps had to get down below thirty before I noticed any evedence of oil not getting hot enough. And then only because it didn't get enough driving time on one trip to warm up thoroughly. And it drives pretty well at 30 degrees after a minute or two.