Cracked Thermostat Housing

While replacing the thermostat in my '87, I went to put the thermostat housing cover back on over the thermostat. After hand tightening all three bolts, I began to tighten up the top right bolt(if you are standing on the driver side of the car). After tightening it a sufficient amount, the female part(the part attached to the actual engine) cracked around the bolt.


My Questions are:

Is the part that the thermostat housing cover bolts into(i do not know the name) attached to the engine block or is it a part that can be easily replaced?


and is there any possible way of salvaging this situation without fronting more than the car's worth(I am a poor college student).

Any help would be appreciated.

do you have a picture of which piece your talking about ? hard to tell exactly which one your talkign about

Sorry, I don't have pictures right now, but I will get them tomorrow.

Let me try and describe it better.

The thermostat housing has three screws that hold it in place(2 on top and 1 in the bottom left corner). The screw goes through the thermostat housing and then into something else where the actual threads are. The part that broke is this "something else" where the actual threads are. When properly tightened their will be a tight seal between the thermostat housing and the mystery part with a gasket in between.

Locationally, it comes right off the engine block.

sounds like its the housing...has three sensors in it.? not too expensive, but prone to breakage.

Thats it. Thanks a lot.

Now I just have to figure out if I want to try and replace it or if I should take it to a mechanic.
Anybody know of a good explanation of how to replace it?

me thinks if you're asking this question, you need a mechanic. but feel free to read this first. http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/tech...Thermostat.htm

Just took it in. The estimate was 297 for repairs, parts and shop fee. We'll see what happens from here.