thermostat mod users - feedback?

[JonE]

a slight aside, but I bought a long section of the larger diameter tube for the thermostat housing so if anyone wants just a section enough to do the mod, shout! Not sure it's very postage efficient though....

[Barry Townsend]

I've had the thermostat mod on my RN for over a year and it's working fine in all conditions.
I have a Boyce Motormeter to keep an eye on what's going on. The engine warms up quickly and keeps a constant temperature under all conditions.
The only little puzzler I had initially was erratic temperature readings. I eventually realised that the Motormeter probe wasn't long enough to be in the coolant, I made up a copper pipe extension and after a bit of trial and error got it to work spot on because of the good conduction qualities of the copper.
Flushed with success I then fitted a small catch tank to the radiator overflow with the pipe submerged and 'voila' haven't had to top up at all since. The natural expansion and contraction of the coolant looks after itself, I'm using the blue anti-freeze as well which has also stopped any more corrosion. Incidentally I always have the fan belt on in all conditions.
I'm sure the 'purists' will be shouting at me but my little RN is running like a Swiss watch now.