While cleaning for new gaskets, I noticed this wire in the coolant opening where the thermostat goes:



It was loose and I easily pulled it out. Did I screw something up? If feels and looks like a 12" piece of coat hanger. It looks like there's another piece deeper on the other side. I couldn't find anything like that in the pictures in the FSM.

Thanks,
Larry

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'72 Dart w/supersix, Grandfather, Father & Son project

Nope; it sure doesn't belong. My guess would be somebody was trying to clean out the water passages and just dropped it in. Could also be some kind of casting support from the core process, but it looks a little big for that. Getting the other piece out wouldn't be a bad idea, as it can't do anything great for your coolant flow.

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Used to own:
'82 Dodge D150
Erson 270 Cam, O/S valves, mild port work, ~9.5:1 compression

Currently fighting with an '85 VW Cabriolet

My other passion

Actually, that is a casting suppport wire left over from when the head was made, and therefore it does "belong", but it's good to remove them when you can. It's common to find them in heads when you're working on them — sometimes they break loose and float forward, pushed along by coolant flow. When I see these (often through one of the cylinder head's water passages on the deck surface) I reach through the passage with a pair of needlenose pliers and start twisting (as though collecting spaghetti on a fork Italian-style) until both ends of the wire break off, then give the pliers a good yank to get the wire out.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I recently yanked a similiar piece (only about 5 or 6") out of my cyl. head thru the thermostat opening as well...

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BoatAnchor
'71 Swinger /6-225
SuperSix, EI, front discs, 2.25" exh.

I've yarded a few of those out, one was about 12" long and doubled in half in the thermostat cavity...sheesh, how water ever got to flow through that passage with the casting wire in it, is beyond me...

-D.Idiot