Hello fellow Spridgeteers,
Due to a leaking bypass hose I took the cooling system apart and am
about to reassemble everything.
Car is 66 Sprite Mk3 with 1275 Marina engine and downflow rad. Road use
only. Water temperature is OK (75C) when revs go up but high (90C+) at
idle or crawling traffic in typically Greek summer 36C. That's when I
switch on the whining electric fan.
Please give me expert opinion on the following:
a. Bypass hose. What does it really do? Later Mini/Metro A+ engines have
it blanked off by default. To blank it off or not? Do the little rubber
caps leak soon too?
b. Brass sleeve instead of thermostat. Install it or put a "cool" 74C
stat? How does this interact with [a]?
c. Bottom hose. Was a total pig to remove at the rad. Any smart way to
reassemble it short of cutting it halfway and joining the pieces with
custom made 1.125" dia brass sleeve? That new GRH315 is so tight over
the bottom rad tube...
d. Engine (mechanical) fan. Old one was a 5-blade plastic affair from
an... Opel. The only other I have is a yellow 11-blade one, also made of
plastic, from my Mini. It's a 12G2129 with fins 1.5" wide at tip. Will
this do any good?
Cheers
Evangelos
|