1988 Ford 351w FWC Thermostat Housing Cracked!
Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Boat Maintenance
Forum Discription: Discuss maintenance of your Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=49839
Printed Date: January-30-2025 at 12:59pm
Topic: 1988 Ford 351w FWC Thermostat Housing Cracked!
Posted By: Singlespeedy
Subject: 1988 Ford 351w FWC Thermostat Housing Cracked!
Date Posted: May-23-2021 at 9:40am
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Good day all! I'm looking for help on my 1988 Ski Nautique 2001. I bought her from an area where she ran in brackish water. This is a fresh water cooled engine with a PCM heat exchanger .Needless to say the engine was pretty rusty. Over the winter I pulled the engine (a Ford 351W) and did a paint job on it. I didn't tear it down completely as it had low hours (600). I replaced a lot of bolt on parts, fuel pump, distributor, coil, etc. I had the exhaust manifolds cleaned while they were off. I'm just now adding all the fluids and found a couple of things. 1) The lower thermostat housing is leaking antifreeze from a small crack at the lower bottom right bolt flange. The crack does not appear to go all the way inside the housing, just on the exterior. I suppose it is weeping through the fatigued metal to the crack? Can this be welded? Looking through previous posts it appears these units are no longer available! Part number stamped on the outside is R-025004. 2) When I opened the thermostat housing to inspect said crack low and behold...there was no thermostat installed! I'm assuming skidim.com https://skidim.com/t-stat-w-g-170-degree-w-gskts-thin-lip.html" rel="nofollow - Thermostat 170 Degree W/Gaskets PCM RP026003 is what I need? 3) I live on Lake Ponderay in northern Idaho. Boat will only see fresh water from now on. Is it possible to convert to raw water cooled or is that a bad idea? Is there a kit available? I can't find one. 4) I used the cork valve cover gaskets recommended by skidim.com that have the metal spacers at each bolt hole. I did not use RTV on them when installing. As I poured fresh oil in the gasket began leaking oil just below the filler port! Should I have used RTV or another gasket sealer when I installed them? Is another type gasket better? Thanks in advance for any help!
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Replies:
Posted By: Jonny Quest
Date Posted: May-23-2021 at 10:45am
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The older carb 351 SBF called for a 143 degree thermostat. The other option is the 160 degree thermostat for the GT-40 and fuel injected versions. Your engine likely came from PCM with a 143 degree T-stat. You can run the warmer 160 degree T-stat if you feel so inclined. I ran the 160 on my 1994 with no issues. Some will tell you to run the cooler thermostat if you run in salt / brackish water. The reason behind this has to do with the salt reactivity in the warmer engine water. JQ ------------- Current 2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited Previous 2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow 1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow Aqua skiing, ergo sum |
Posted By: Singlespeedy
Date Posted: May-23-2021 at 11:14am
| This is pre GT40. This is also a fresh water cooled system...not raw water cooled. I believe the 143/160 thermostats are for the raw water cooled versions. |
Posted By: Jonny Quest
Date Posted: May-23-2021 at 11:23am
Doh! Don't know how I missed that. FWIW I would love to have a closed-loop/fresh water system with coolant. I believe you are correct with the SkiDim the part number RP026003. The old temp was 143 and the new is 170. JQ
------------- Current 2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited Previous 2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow 1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow Aqua skiing, ergo sum |
Singlespeedy wrote:Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: May-23-2021 at 1:30pm
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I would get ahold of Vince at Skidim and have him contact PCM and see if they have that lower housing. Check on the thermostat too because the PCM book shows RP026001 as the 170 and RP026003 as the 143 ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS 95 Nautique Super Sport |
Posted By: pjsmoreno
Date Posted: May-27-2021 at 11:49am
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Just as the car engine thermostat
housing, I don’t believe a boat engine thermostat housing can be welding due to
the type of metal it is. |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: May-27-2021 at 11:55am
I think you'll find that this one is cast iron
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Posted By: Singlespeedy
Date Posted: May-27-2021 at 12:23pm
| Well folks...it turns out the thermostat housing upper and lower is made of aluminum. I dremeled the crack to make a nice clean V for Marine JB Weld. That worked like a charm. In the meantime I contacted Vince and Richard at skidim.com. They contacted PCM who low and behold still have the lower housing for $85! I am getting the new housing and the 170 thermostat kit. |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: May-27-2021 at 12:27pm
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Guess I thought wrong on that one Raw water cooled upper and lower housings are cast iron though on a 351 PCM except that gawdawful expensive replacement upper that SkiDim sells these days.
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Posted By: Singlespeedy
Date Posted: May-27-2021 at 3:44pm
| This is a fresh water cooled engine. |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: May-27-2021 at 3:58pm
I know that, go back and read the part where I said I was wrong Just mentioning that the raw water cooled ones are some of that heavy magnetic metal, since it was mentioned that marine ones were made of something that couldn't be welded. How's your oil leak?
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Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: May-27-2021 at 4:19pm
Knowing one is aluminum and one is cast iron is the difference between a professional PCM hoarder and an hobbyist   ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS 95 Nautique Super Sport |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: May-27-2021 at 4:27pm
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I'm just a junior apprentice backyard hack who only hoards raw water cooled parts
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Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: May-27-2021 at 7:50pm
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It seems weird but I have heard that while PCM does not sell the fresh water cooling kit anymore,all the parts are available. ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS 95 Nautique Super Sport |