I just put a closed cooling system on my merc 4.3, the gasket that came off of the old thermostat housing has rivets, the new one with the kit does not. Is this going to be a problem, and what are those rivets for?
Continuity , if your engine is raw water cooled this helps with corrosion control by bonding the t-stat housing to the block . If you have closed cooling don't worry about it , and if you don't still don't worry about it . Your engine would probably disintegrate before you ever have a issue with it.
Maybe if you have a temp sender or switch in the Thermostat housing it would "insure" a good connection, but for corrosion, i don't think so. The bolt and lockwasher would make a pretty good connection.
Did you get a closed cooling system from Merc? If not, that explains why there is no rivet in the gasket.<br />If you are concerned about it, get a gasket from a merc dealer that has a rivet, then you won't have to worry about it.
