Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I recently bought a running 1.6 vit motor with the 1.3 head on it, carby - alternator - and starter were buggerd but the motor its self ran fine.
being kinda lazy I didnt get the radiator flushed since the last 2 motors
so as time would tell it finally started getting hot
had red devil have a quick look at my rad to see if wes still usable they said no worries, Strip Flush weld back together and a new paint job $88,
(radiator out of the car, $175 if they had to remove it and put it back in 5 mins 4 bolts )(Pulled it out my self)
YAY no more over heating, infact it never even got warm
then I had an Idea
maybe all the cra^p got stuck in the thermostat
took it out to see if was working or clogged up
Nothing not even the outer housing

Now to the Question (sorry for the ramble)

With no thermostat in it ran cold as all day only just creaped up to just under 1/4 if in heavy traffic on a hot day,

but hardly moved while driving at night.

I have since put a thermostat in and now it sits just under halfway when in heavy traffic on a hot day.

I have taken the thermo out of old holdens before=
(cast blocks, great for summer sh*t for winter)

But never out of an alloy block

Could this have effected the block in anyway by not having a thermo in there,

or do you think

not having the
thermo in and having it run as cols as a cucumber is ok, It dosent effect my auto choke much cause its adjusted so its almost dosent come on anymore, but enough to help out.
(hate sitting at the lights with it reving up to 1500rpm or more)

To thermostat

or

Not to thermostat

PS: the radiator was 80% blocked

Keep the farkin' thermostat!

This business of removing the thermostat is a throwback to old-school shitty designs not being able to cope with summer driving loads - a well designed modern cooling system should work perfectly well WITH a thermostat.

Engines are designed to run at a particular temperature; all the internal components heat (and expand) to that temperature, and that's where they run. Your fuel system is designed to run at that temperature too.

Removing the thermostat (or installing a "lower temp" version) is a cheap-arse fix for a bigger problem, and means the engine components run at a wider range of temperatures, spend more time at different sizes, and will wear out faster. There's also the issue of emissions, but I realise many people don't care about that.

Did I mention you should keep your thermostat?

Keep the thermostat. Just keep it.

Make sure you have a fan shroud. This will have the biggest effect on the cooling efficiency of your car.

Steve.

Once you give the motor a hard time without a thermostat the water will flow to fast to cool and well you know the rest.

LudaCris