I just changed my thermostat last week. I replaced the housing too. Before installing the new stuff, I scraped all the old gasket material off using a thin, flexible razor blade that I keep around for scraping gaskets. I just used aLITTLE black RTV on the edge of the thermostat to hold it in place, and a LITTLE more around both sides of the gasket and bolted it up. I didn't wait even 10 minutes for the RTV to cure...I jumped right in and went for a ride, and had no leaks. Then last night, I retorqued the housing bolts, which were surprisingly loose considering that they were tight originally. Each bolt turned about a half turn with no struggle. Even before I did this, I had no leaks.

Replacing my thermostat and waterneck, I only had to unclip the wiring harness from the distributor, and remove that small hose going from the waterpump to the waterneck to gain access to the bottom bolt. It wasn't hard.

 

when I changed mine I didnt take the water pump off, just took a little longer, but it was very easy to do

 

I'm replacing mine right now and made the classic mistake. I forgot to see how the thermostat was aligned before I took it out. Is the spring on the thermostat supposed to face the front of the car or rear?
Front:

Or rear:

 

Spring to the rear.
You can change the t-stat without removing the water pump and you will need a little silicone or RTV. IT WILL LEAK! Ford ain't that good!

 

it only goes in 1 way

there should be grooves on the waterneck and thermostat that have to line up in order to be flush

 

Thanks for the help, I got it in there without too much trouble and used some silicone to help seal it up. However, I couldn't get all the coolant that I drained back in the radiator, it was boiling over like crazy and I still had some left. Not sure what I did, I'll look at it tomorrow.

 

i had to let the car get back to operating temp for the coolant to properly circulate. i kept adding coolant to the overflow tank and it filled itself. i had to do that 2 or 3 times

 

Yeah, these cars can be finicky about coolant levels. Sometimes it's never an issue than other times it's boiling over or the low coolant light is on. I should be able to work it out after a few attempts. I'm just hoping that thermostat housing doesn't leak.

Does anyone know where the coolant tempurature sensor is? Mine was bobbing up and downbut I assume it's because it was hitting pockets of hot air.

 

i had the same problem till i replaced the tstat. if you want to replace it anyway (since its like $5) its right by the distributor on the driverside lower intake manifold. it has a single cable connected to it with a boot

 

I just replaced the thermostat- that's what I was talking about above. Or did you mean something else?