Thermostat by pass kit

[peterbike]

 Ash, on a thread in the past you told us about a kit for $240. I am now interested to buy one of these as I have noticed the standard one is only vaguely on the job; as well as taking way to long to warm up. I have had one of these kits on my car now for years, they are very good.
 So where do I hand over some more of my hard ernt ?   

[peddro]

Peterbike,

Much cheaper option is this:-
KTM have a few thermostats which are quite small & cheap, 55 degrees and work fine.

You just need to block off one of the 2 outlets which is very easy.
Part No.:- 54835013044
£27.26p




Peddro.

[Warwick]

If it's taking too long to warm up then I'd suspect a jetting issue (too rich) or a stuck open 'stat.

Unless you have other reasons for wanting to ditch the oem stat housing, I'd stick with it myself if it's a road bike and just fix the problem. You'll save a fortune - and the hassle of hosing in a different unit, sorting out a new sender and feed for the temp guage etc. It'd also be worth checking the routing of the carb heating circuit. sometimes these are re-connected up incorrectly allowing coolant to by-pass the stat completely (the 'stat has a small by pass hole in it so it doesn't use a bypass hose type set-up) which leads to slow warm up. It'd certainly be worth checking out before shelling out for a different unit I'd think - unless you simply want to ditch the oem set-up in any case of course. The KTM unit looks like the puppy if that's the case. Thanks for posting that Pedro.

[wullie3XV9]

If it's taking too long to warm up then I'd suspect a jetting issue (too rich) or a stuck open 'stat.

Peterbike, do you know for certain you have a thermostat fitted in the housing ?
The thermostat could be knackered. In the past I've had one start to come apart in a car system causing long warm-up issues.
I have the stock 3XV R / RS thermostat system fitted, ( with the carb heating circuit removed / blanked off ), & my temp. gauge is indicating 60 C after only 3 Kms of bimbling along at 5,000 ish rpm. Once the motor's warmed up properly, the temp. gauge never goes above the 70 C mark, no matter how hard she's ridden.  Hope this helps.

[peterbike]

Guys thanks for the input especially Pedro (very nice creation you have got there Pedro). Unfortunately that KTM one is $125 here, but I will look for a second hand one if possible. 
Back to thermostats, these things are a great idea. they make any trad. set up of thermo at the top of the motor seem pre historic. To give you a ruff idea, the bike would be at operating temp after about 200 meters (3 kms is too long- you are damaging your pride & joy)  and will sit constantly at the one temperature . 
.One cold day (13-14c) the operating temp didn't rise above 60c, that is to cold for my thinking. 
( thermostat ok,   carb hoses blanked off. )

[wullie3XV9]

.....the bike would be at operating temp after about 200 meters (3 kms is too long- you are damaging your pride & joy)  and will sit constantly at the one temperature .  
.One cold day (13-14c) the operating temp didn't rise above 60c, that is too cold for my thinking.  
( thermostat ok,   carb hoses blanked off. ).

13-14 Centigrade COLD ! ?  That's jeans & t-shirt summer weather in Scotland !  
Even when the air temp. is ( a lot ! ) cooler than that, mine still runs at 65-70 C.
Anyhoo, I kept an eagle eye on the temp. gauge goin' home from work last night. ( Air temp. 17-18 C ).
It took exactly 2 kms worth of bimbling at 3,000 - 4,000 rpm to get the coolant temp. up to the 60 C mark on the gauge. ( I was in a 30 mph / 50 kmh speed limit ).
I've always taken it easy for the first 2 -3 miles with any of the 2 strokes I've owned to give them time to warm up properly before "giving them some stick".  
I was always under the impression 60 C is the ideal coolant temp. for a high state of tune stroker.  
Compared to the air cooled 4 stroke aero engines I work on, a couple of minutes / kms to warm up's nothing.  
How does 20 minutes ( or more ! ) of warming-up in the winter to get to minimum operating temp. sound ?  .
They still take a good 10 minutes to warm-up to the 50 C minimum in what's laughingly called our summer.
( It's rained virtually every day for the last 2 weeks !    ).

[Warwick]

They warm up pretty quick if you just sit them on the redline for a minute I find... 

[wullie3XV9]

They warm up pretty quick if you just sit them on the redline for a minute I find... 

   That'll work !