When I took the thermostat out to check it, the housing was full of corrosion so I stripped the housings down further to clean them out. As you can see above the bypass housing was completely blocked.
Seeing how much sludge was present I took the opportunity to remove the side plate whilst the carbs and exhaust were off. I was surprised by the amount of sludge in the block and the state of the side plate considering the block was cleaned out and new side plates fitted 8 years and 1000 miles ago and it has always had good quality anti-freeze in it.. As you can see above the bypass housing was completely blocked.
Seeing how much sludge was present I took the opportunity to remove the side plate whilst the carbs and exhaust were off. I was surprised by the amount of sludge in the block and the state of the side plate considering the block was cleaned out and new side plates fitted 8 years and 1000 miles ago and it has always had good quality anti-freeze in it.