A thermostat puzzle

After my fan launched one morning and took out my radiator and distributor I decided to make a stronger and better assembly.I went to great pains to make a fan assembly that centered the blades in the middle of my radiator and also extended the fan to within an inch or so of the core. I welded it up in the lathe and it seemed to work great. I drove it around for a month or so before I left for Bonneville. On the way across Nevada, I thought I felt some sort of scary harmonic vibration. I took the whole thing off and figured I would not need a fan for the rest of the trip home. It was fine. I saw no change in temp from when the fan was on. I have even driven it in stop and go traffic when it was close to 100 deg. and the warmest the engine got was 160. Now that it is starting to cool off I am getting concerned that the car won't get warm enough to run well this winter. I have a problem with the carbs icing up in the morning as it is. Well I put a pair of thermostats in the top hoses yesterday and drove it to work this morning. It is still running VERY cold. I'm thinking. Did I put the thermostats in the wrong way? Did they move cockeyed in the hoses and let coolant slip past? I am open for any ideas on how to get it warming up quicker before it really gets cold here. Well, cold for San Francisco bay area. I have sent along a picture of the no longer needed fan set up.
Thanks,
David

 

Didn't see any pic!!! But you might try a radiator blind,just pull it over the rad till it gets to temp then roll it down to maintain the temp you want.
john.

 

I am at work and my image software has been removed from my system. I can put something in front of the radiator but was hoping for something less extreme. I hoped that the thermostats would let it warm up quickly and then let the big radiator take over from there. I have put them (thermostats) on top of the heads with the pointy side up. towards the radiator and they are marked. I think the problem might be that they are moving and not blocking the flow as they should. Has anyone got a good method to hold them down to the head? I thought I might drill a couple of small holes and wire them in place. I am open to ANY other ideas.
Thanks,
David

 

Back in Iowa...we used custom card-board to make radiator block offs, just trim to adjust operating temps...

 

Two thermostats with naught to hold them down must mean pre-49 flathead, yes??
Proper original type hoses have a ledge on the inside that holds the stats in place. A reasonable kludge would be to go to Home depot or such and examine the plastic and copper or brass tubage for something the right diameter to put in there. If nothing exact avails itself, get a piece of whatever in the closest larger size and cut out a sliver. Push a short section of your widget into each hose and secure it with both weather strip glue and a hose clamp on the outside.