1.8 petrol thermostat

just stripped the thermostat out because of the overheating problem, gone to put the new one in. fitted it and it doesn't get a flow to the water pump.
does anyone know which way the the spring on the thermostat is supposed to be facing when fitted? is the spring to the water pump side or the supply side from the bottom hose?
it's doing my bloody head in now, next steps gonna be take the bastard out and just let it run cold

Not sure, but i changed the thermostate on mine to a remote thermostate setup and put the blanking plate and seal in the oridginal. It really was not as expensive as you might think and is a must on all 1.8. Do a search on the remote thermostate on this site. been covered a million times.

kit ordered off flea bay . gonna strip the thermostat back out tomorrow and rip the guts out of it to make a blank then least i can use it till the kit comes and i dont have to fart about round the back of the block again.
ta for the advice m8ty

Just make sure you use the the LR blanking plate and seal, as its not quite a blanking plate, it does have to let the water through and is very cheap. should be part of the kit. MY advice is that as you will be emptying the coolant either way when you do the change over, WAIT till you get the kit. You might want to change the resevoir tank and cap at the same time as these items are cheap enough from LR.

bolloxed without the car m8, far as i can see the blanking plate is essentially a spreader to keep the seal from deforming in the thermostat housing and the one i got a picture of on a search on here was just the top of a thermostat with all the trickery hacked off. i'll have to do it anyway but i'll take pics and compare it with the plate in the kit, if theres any difference i'll just have to change it again.
soon have my badge in cooling system bodging

The standard spring points towards the water pump. You hold the stat by the small cross member and place into housing, then twist clockwise until it rotates no more. It will say TOP on the upper part of the blanking plate.

cheers m8,