Fellow rovers,
i came across a great thermostat mod from across the pond. It's from a company called megasquirt v-8. Their web address is Megasquirt for V8 engines - THOR V8. Attached are a few pictures of it. Take not to bad priced and will remove the goofy elbow pipe coming out of the intake manifold and put the thermostat where is should have been all along. It might be a bit of a pia to change on the trail (should only have to remove alternator and/or a/c compressor) but we all complain about the limey ****** engineers who designed the stuff on our vehicles. I'm ordering one instead of doing the inline mod and will go with the 180 degree thermostat. Hope this helps anybody looking to do the inline mod. It also looks to have a built in sender so you can add a gauge if wanted. I emailed them earlier today and as soon as I hear back, I'll be sure to post.
Jason

 

Looks good. As far as ease of installation, the inline mod is a walk in the park. I haven't seen any scary temperatures since I did the mod.

 

Good find, it gets the stat in the "block" where they will be the most accurate.

 

It's the way to go in my opinion.
ideally this would facilitate the use of the d1 top hose to save on cutting and simplify routing but not sure with the anciliaries in the way.

 

I'd love this setup, but I would like to retain the OEM D2 pipe, then just slap on a 90 vs the OEM T. You probably will not be able to do a D1 top hose due to the A/C compressor location.

 

LJB: after your initial inquiry is responded to, mind asking MS what their response is to the D2 A/C & ancillary factory setup with use of the D1 housing and if they have done any mock-ups?

You know about my intentions of machining the inlet manifold to accept the traditional thermostat & housing but I have yet to investigate the actual outlet & practical routing to radiator inlet. At this point I'm inclined to get the MS adapter plates and fab-up my own outlet housing if the D1 model is obsolete. It's cast iron so it's not possible to cut it down and modify the end tube so the way I see it is either fab my own housing or find something that will exit straight out @ 0-degrees then take their "top hat" adapter and just modify that design for the screw/bolt taps of the housing that is being used versus the D1 if we find that the D1 housing won't work. So let me know what you hear & if you want let's work something out: if the D1 housing can't be utilized, I will make the outlet housing and give you 1 if you get me a Kit too. I do this kind of stuff at work all day, it's nothing for me so nothing to worry about there. But if a custom housing is required, it's no walk in the park unless you have everything for the vehicle sitting right there in front of you & a shop full of materials and machines, and an expertise with AutoCad & CNC programming.

 

Will do Joe. I figure I'll hear from em Monday sometime.

 

Just checked their website and they are closed on mondays so it will be Tuesday when I hear from em but as soon as I do, I'll post their answers

 

10-4
Good lookin out.

 

There is NO WAY on a D2 you could use a D1 setup. There is ZERO clearance between the Alternator and A/C Compressor. I just was out messing on my parts truck (taking the vacuum ball off for the Cruise Control), and if we're going to run that adapter plate we're going to have to stick with our OEM tub coming from the intake. We'd have to add a spacer to the lower tube support, and a longer bolt as well.

Only way that D1 setup will work is if you're running an off road setup with no A/C Compressor then I could see the D1 thermostat housing making it work. However for a stock D2 with the A/C Compressor and Alternator in place it will not work unless we use our OEM D2 tube from the intake.

As long as the thermostat adapter plate allows a D2 owner to still use their OEM tube, a small spacer for the tube support, a longer bolt, and a 90 bend vs a T = We should be good to go!