Re: Restrictor washer instead of t-stat
In 1949 Ford redesigned the flatheads cooling system. Besides moving the water outlets from the center of the heads to the front they also decreased the size of the upper radiator hoses. Based on this modification by Ford Engineers there could be some merit for installing restrictors in the upper hoses on the earlier 24 stud engines. The problem I have with doing this is I don’t know if Ford restricted the upper hoses on the 8BA engines to slow down the coolant flow or if it had something to do with redirecting the coolant flow to the front of their newly designed heads. I would think that if restricting the upper hose size in the earlier heads would have improved the cooling system Ford would have made this change long before 1949. These engineers must have experimented with different flow rates and restricting the flow probably did not make enough difference on the earlier engines to warrant a change.
I measured the inside diameters of a couple of 8BA thermostat housings. A crusty original measured 15/16" and a new aftermarket housing measured 1". If you want to install a restrictor in an earlier engine
I definitely would not go smaller than one-inch.
Here is a photo of a 59A head next to and aftermarket 8BA thermostat housing there is definitely a big difference.
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