Running without a thermostat ok?

69_340_GTS said

I think you were supposed to pull the spring out of the old hose and put it into the new one. But since these cars are 40 or so years old, the hoses have been replaced several times and the spring got thrown out with the old hose at some point in time.

I think it would be pretty easy to make a new spring out of some 1/8" aluminum wire. Just wind it around a broom handle or something similar. I know my lower hose has no spring inside it, and my 340 runs kind of hot. The spring might just be the answer, as I've done everything else.

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Exactly. It's not like it's rocket science. Make your own. Who wouldda ever thought of that? I can see a generation or two before some of these guys laughin their butts off at some of them. That's all people used to do. Make what they needed.

I don't know man......I have seen some of those springs really rusty and crusty after a long time......really unusable. I THINK what the idea was when the springs starting getting left out was that the hoses were made a little thicker for more support, BUT, hoses get soft when they get hot. They get soft when they get old. They will still collapse. The spring is still a good idea regardless, IMO......it was part of the original cooling system. I bet not one of these cars came from the factory without one. I would be surprised if they did.