thermostat housing gasket

My method was a bit different..... first I tried the gasket that came in the new thermostat box. After I wiped up the huge mess that the massive housing leak made, I tried a home made gasket, and RTV. Next came a second round of clean up for the slightly smaller leak and mess. I added a sprinkling of curse words on this round.

next step was make a gasket out of thicker cork gasket material and a healthy smear of RTV. I added a lot more swearing when this resulted in a leak similar to step 2

Next I tried lapping the aluminum housing base on a piece of glass and emery cloth, chucked the thing up into my lathe and recut the shoulder that the t-stat sits in. One more time with the cork gasket and a thin layer of RTV.

No more swearing and a little happy dance when it stayed dry under pressure.....finally.