Cooling Probs

[Guest scrabster]

evening all,long running probs keeping the bloody thing cool.after fitting the bonnet scoop its had no effect what so ever. im still convinced the rad has to be upright as in the sierra.before i spend on another upgrade has anyone used Water Wetter with any joy.i have heard it does'nt do the rubber any good? I wished i had gone down the zero base kit now what with all the extras ive had to buy. .

regards,jess.

[speedtripledan]

my rad is tipped at quite an angle with no issues i use 2 fans 1 pushing and 1 pulling they only kick in in traffic i have the rad cowled in to direct airflow at it, exhaust wrap and 3 vents 2 in the either side of the bonnet and one on the top my pinto generates a fare amount of heat with tuning but does stay under control...

 

I don't use water wetter but i do use a 50% mix of premium antifreeze which does help keep it cooler than plain water..

[speedtripledan]

Do you have a mesh on the front of the nosecone? If so remove it and see if it makes any difference. I had a prob on my old 7 that abouve a certain speed air didnt get through the grill causing it to overheat only above 50mph

 

Also dont forget its not just about getting cool air in but getting hot air out so new cool air can get in. Some people have fitted the GBS side vents facing backward to remove some air from under the bonnet.

 

i to had the grill prob it stalled the air flow above 50mph and the car ran very hot ! as soon as i removed it the car was normal again..

[Guest scrabster]

i to had the grill prob it stalled the air flow above 50mph and the car ran very hot ! as soon as i removed it the car was normal again..

hi dan, i have a vent in each side panel,a vent in bonnet behind manifold,exhaust wrap,forced air to carbs,bonnet scoop.air is ducted up through rad and fan sucks air upwards,also bonnet is raised at scuttle edge so there is a gap for air to escape.apart from leaving bonnet and nosecone off im starting to scratch my head now and getting a bit pis£%d off.

jess.

[Shaft]

Vertical Rad Jess??

 

I'm only guessing here mate, no fact.... but, wouldn't having the rad almost horizontal leave a VERY big air pocket inside the rad?

 

Nick.

[Guest scrabster]

Vertical Rad Jess??

 

I'm only guessing here mate, no fact.... but, wouldn't having the rad almost horizontal leave a VERY big air pocket inside the rad?

 

Nick.

hi nick,rad is almost horizontai,i had a 90 degree neck soldered on it with the cap,ive even tapped into the block under number 4 cyl to improve water flow(this was a tip from the r/r tuner).motorway driving is fine,it lasted around 15 mins of town traffic with fan on and got to almost 100degrees when i got home.is your bonnet got the louvers pressed in it,what rad have you got?

disgruntled,jess.

[Guest scrabster]

Not a blockage in the system is there?

 

Or worst case could you mod the rad mounting to get a vertical mount like Shaft has on his car?

hi,rad is impossible to mount vertical unless i cut notches either side of nosecone.im confident there is'nt a blockage,ive just got no confidence to use the car around town.thanks for replies lads.

jess.

[Shaft]

hi nick,rad is almost horizontai,i had a 90 degree neck soldered on it with the cap,ive even tapped into the block under number 4 cyl to improve water flow(this was a tip from the r/r tuner).motorway driving is fine,it lasted around 15 mins of town traffic with fan on and got to almost 100degrees when i got home.is your bonnet got the louvers pressed in it,what rad have you got?

disgruntled,jess.

 

Not on the road yet Jess, so not got any evidence to prove my set-up... but my rad is a coolman type and mounted almost vertical.

I cut off the mounts on the chassis from GBS and made my own to enable this though. (see my build pics)

I too have tapped into the waterway under #4 cylinder (advice from Dan).

 

The only test i've had is 30mins constant at 2000rpm, car stationary, to bed the cam in. With the fan on it never went above 89 degs.

 

Bonnet was off though.

 

HTH,

 

Nick.

[stevedohc2b]

I know of a two 2b's that have the rad mounted flat and the air ducted through and they run very cool.

 

Andy Spencer has this set up with a zetec.

 

So I would look at other things.

 

A factory built marlin comes to our area meetings and that had over heating problems the hose feeding the rad was around the wrong way. ie the thermostat went to the bottom of the rad not the top.

 

I would try running with out a thermostat in and test it in a pan on the cooker when wife is out and a thermometer.

 

The car should be able to sit on the drive and not over heat. Is it boiling over or just the gauge reading high if just gauge this could be out so check with a thermometer touching the top hose.

 

Give a good feel of the hose when the thermostat opens you should feel the flow.

 

Is the fan running the right way this should pull or push air through the rad as it would if driving along with air flow.

 

 

Stephen

[Andy Spencer]

As Stephen says I have a horizontal rad which works fine. Air ducted through and fan sucking air through on top. Can get close to 100 in heavy traffic in hot weather but I've only got fan kicking in at 93, which I could lower, but once it kicks in its very stable. At speed its also very stable. Therefore I would look elsewhere for probs - the more horizontal a rad is the more efficient as hot air rises so you get better dissipation horizontally than vertically, if you can mainatain airflow through it.

Good luck

Andy

[stevedohc2b]

Andy what hose goes where on you system hard to see from pic

 

Stephen

[Grim]

is it actually boiling over? I'd say 100 degrees was acceptable! My fan doesn't switch on until 103°C.

 

If i dare go technical again, the boiling point will be about 120°C with a 13psi rad cap, so you still have quite a bit of leeway.

[richyb66]

Jess,

 

is it actually boiling over or is it just the gauge that say's it's running hot? Just a thought that maybe the gauge isn't reading correctly - can you double check with a second gauge or a different sender unit. Also, could you use a contact thermometer to check the water temperature at different points of the system, you'd expect some temperature differential between the inlet and the outlet of the rad. I've got a digital contact thermometer you can borrow but it's in Wales and I'm not up there this weekend but I can bring it back next weekend if you need it.

 

I'd give the water wetter a miss for now and try and find the root cause rather than a dirty fix. Can you post some pictures showing the rad installation and the pipe routing.

[Guest zoomzoom]

The rad on my zero is mounted flat and I now have a duct in the nose cone to force air through it at speed. My temps are running around town between 92 and 100 and at speed around 100 to 108 (depends on how fast).

Below 70 mph it stays at 100 and goes up to about 108-110 when at higher speeds* for extended periods

Also my bonnet is possible the worst fitting bonnet in the western world and allows alot of air to enter the under bonnet area so this also helps.

The hard running temp I aimed for was 110 and it sits at this level for most of the time

 

hth

 

Marcus

[Andy Spencer]

Andy what hose goes where on you system hard to see from pic

 

Stephen

Image courtesy of Longboarder

Mine is plumbed so that the top of the rad in the diagram (ie upper hose) is the front end of rad, and lower hose is rear. I have a water rail but essentially the same. No heater either so no bypass there. The good thing about the horizontal rad is that you get a universal temp across it immediately on thermostat opening, so better dissipation.