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Re: Hot TIgers

To: Bob Palmer <rpalmer@ames.ucsd.edu>
Subject: Re: Hot TIgers
From: Steve Laifman <laifman@flash.net>
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 15:36:06 +0100
Bob Palmer wrote:
> 
> Brad,

> Who knows what they were thinking when they wrote the manual.  Do they give
> the same advice for the Alpines?  I don't think Ford recommended changing
> thermostats twice a year for Mustangs, etc. that used the Windsor motors
> back then, and I think virtually every car sold these days has a 195F
> thermostat.  They also use 50/50 coolant mixture and 15 or 16 psig caps,
> which may not have been the case in '64.  Here's a trivia question.  What
> cap and coolant configuration were Tigers originally sold with?
> 
> Bob

Bob,

According to my 260/289 Sunbeam Workshop Manual, anti-freeze of the
"ethylene-glycol" type, as opposed to alcohol, is recommended "To avoid
... freezing whilst the vehicle is stationary.----in mixtures as
recommended by the anti-freeze manufacturer". They again refer to
anti-freeze use because even a drained system will leave some fluid
behind which could expand and crack something in cold weather.

Interestingly, they do NOT recommend distilled water (although I do),
but instead specify "clean rainwater" or "softened water". I guess this
was before acid rain?

How's that for "specific"? 

It goes on to inform us that the "thermostat used in production is for
use with water or "permananent-type" anti-freeze."

Sounds like they intended year round use, when anti-freeze is used at
all. They state that another thermostat is available for non-permanent
anti-freeze or water. See General Data.

The "General Data" specifies a 13 psi filler cap and 2 thermostats. A
"standard low temperature" which starts to open between 155/162 deg. F.,
and is completely open at 182 deg. F. (sounds like a 160 to me). The
other thermostat is a "high temperature" which starts to open between
185/192 deg. F., and is fully open at 210/212 deg. F. (sounds like a 190
to me). The same specs are given for both 260 and 289 versions.

Unfortunately, it does not indicate that the "190 high temperature" is
for the non-glycol antifreeze, but a educated guess would tell you that
the "standard 160" is the same as the "production thermostat for water
and permanent anti-freeze (ethylene-glycol)


Now for the ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY, my genuine Ford 1966 Mustang, Comet,
Falcon, Fairlane Shop Manual:

1) Same specs (any wonder) for the "high" and "low" temperature
thermostats, but, again, no application recommendation.
2) Ford, however, is quite specific about coolant. They specify 50-50
mixtures of their "Rotunda" ethylene-glycol and water with the rust
inhibitors. They very strongly state that "no more than 50% anti-freeze"
in very hot weather, to prevent overheating, or in any other areas
unless/and when the temperature gets below -35 deg. F. Anyone driving a
Tiger in that weather would really require careful evaluation. I've only
been in weather at 0 once, and that was more than enough to send me
skittering back to L.A.

So, know you know what the "Factory" recommends (recommended). But
everyone will do whatever they feel like anyway, or the aftermarket
speed parts business would never have existed at all, much less the
racoon tail antennae ornament.

Steve
.
Steve Laifman         < One first kiss,       >
B9472289              < one first love, and   >
                      < one first win, is all >
                      < you get in this life. >
                    

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