To cut a long (hot) story short I've decided to try it without the thermostat.
So after lots of Plusgas, sheared rusty seized 10mm tin cover bolts, flakes of rust in eyes, skinned knuckles etc I finally got the housing off ...
Question is, is there a 'correct' way of getting the thermostat out of its housing or is it my less favoured brute force and ignorance?