I guess that makes me the "maintenance man"!!!
I thought that hole in my Robert Shaw T-stat was (previous) owner modified!!!! It looked sorta DIY vs a production thing..... OK then! Good to know that others are benefiting from this mod without even knowing perhaps!
Well, I gotta say that it works!!!! I filled the coolant system in about 5 minutes....bled it out a couple of times via the front vent on the radiator....fired it up and added very little water after that!!!! PLUS I had the front of the car ever so slightly higher than the (edit!) rear of the car, which is totally backwards from recommended procedure (of course there weren't vented t-stats when that was written!!!!) and all seemed well!
After running the header break in procedure of 5 minutes/cool/10 minutes/cool, the pressure tank was down about an inch give or take an inch.....and water was circulating well!
I cleaned the tanks out when I was doing all the pipes and hoses.....so all good there.
What I think I will do, is warm it up just a bit, then dump via the large tubes up front.....
Hmmmm do I take a shower now, then another iron oxide bath...and another shower?????
Cheers!
Steve