SBF ManAFre / Thermostat help

I'm putting a Man-A-Fre intake manifold on my 289, and ran into a problem...
The water inlet in the manifold has a recess machined in it, same diameter as a thermostat, and as the recess made into the water neck... and about twice as deep.
It seems like I should remember something about this.. but I can't.

Anybody have any info on this? I would appreciate it!

Thanks,
Kamp

 

bump

 

lets see a picture of it......

 

Sounds like you're going to have to find a washer (or machine one) to fill one of those recesses.

dj

 

early 221 / 260 small block SBF had no relief in the water neck...probably hard to find though...

 

The Manifold


And a standard SBF water neck

 

Thanks, that's what I was thinking - but I couldn't remember for sure.

 

Some thermostat installations use a rubber seal ring above the t'stat. I wonder if, perhaps, this might be a solution? The ring is the same diameter as the t'stat. Might need two? I dunno. Just a quick late Sunday night thought.

 

rubber o-ring goes in the neck between the t-stat and the water neck... Only one is needed.

 

Wait you have a 4x2 Man-A-Fre for a 289??? Never seen one!?!
-Dean

 

I've seen 1, about 25yrs ago with no carbs or linkage.

 

Yup, only SBF ManAFre I've seen.
Well, I found a guy at a parts store who dug through the packages until we found something that would work. Haven't got water in it yet, but I think it will be ok. Hopefully get it ****oned up and running this weekend.

 

Awesome. Let's see the whole car now.

 

Ahh, nuthin' too fancy. Every winter I say I'll get around to the bodywork - and this year is no different. Going to be the maroon on the firewall ... if it ever gets there.

 

The water neck is the common 302 or 5.0 neck which had the rubber sealed thermostat. Should be able to get an 87-93 5.0 mustang thermostat and be set.
The 289 housing I had did not have a recess and was for a typical gasket.

 

I worked as a tech at a Ford dealer, and have owned quite a few 302's/5.0's (both HO& non-HO) along with 289's and 260's and have NEVER seen a rubber seal on a thermostat in one. Would the 94/95 5.0 be what you're thinking? I believe that they had a different water neck.

 

Rubber seal was on after market T stat necks. I have had several manafre intakes and never any t stat problems at all. If you can't come up with a neck without the o ring cut just use a regular T stat gasket and 3m it to the intake with t stad installed. This will hold the stat and gasket in place and simply bolt on the neck. Done a few like this.

 

Meant to say it was aftermarket but figured it was obvious since it's the chrome dress up kit style water neck. Sorry for any confusion.

 

Yeah, this is an aftermarket neck - not the o-ring style. This is a Ford part that uses a gasket. The neck to manifold seal isn't the issue. The manifold itself is cut to accept a thermostat, except about 3 times too deep.
Anyway, found a parts guy who found a seal I think will work...so I'm in the clear - at least until I try to put water in it.
Thanks everyone for your help.

 

I used one of these to syncronize the carburetors on my Chevy copy years ago..

http://www.jcwhitney.com/universal-carburetor-synchronizer/p2005371.jcwx?filterid=j1

Mike