tigers
[Top] [All Lists]

RE: Radiator Ramblings (long)

To: "'Bob Palmer'" <rpalmer@ames.ucsd.edu>, Theo Smit <TSmit@novatel.ca>,
Subject: RE: Radiator Ramblings (long)
From: Theo Smit <TSmit@novatel.ca>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 08:21:54 -0700

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Palmer [SMTP:rpalmer@ames.ucsd.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, January 14, 1999 9:28 PM
> To:   Theo Smit; 'tigers@autox.team.net'
> Subject:      Re: Radiator Ramblings (long)
> 
> Theo,
> 
> At 05:04 PM 1/14/99 -0700, Theo Smit wrote:
> >Hi all,
> >
> >Just had my radiator and heater rebuilt. Replaced the existing 4 row standard
> >core with a 4 row high efficiency core.
> 
> Snip, Snip, Snip . . . . Yada, Yada, Yada . . . Snip, Snip, Snip . . .
> 
> >I rebuilt the voltage regulator with some solid-state parts and that fixed
> that.
        []  Yes. I admit it. My car has silicon implants. (sorry, couldn't
resistor this one. - Oops.)
> >
> >After all that, it was still easy to get the water temp to go way up just by
> >driving hard for a minute or two, which leads me to the following hypotheses 
> >and potential fixes:
> >
> >1. The rad is plugged up from not being driven very much over the last 9
> years
> >(that's how long the PO had it; I have no idea about what happened before 
> >that). I'll consider this problem (if it was one) solved.
> 
> Inspection of the old core would have been useful in determining whether it
> was a likely or possible suspect. 
        []  Yeah. I  should have had them save the old core.

        []  snippage.
>  
> >4. The oil cooler is blocking enough of the lower valence opening to
> starve the
> >rad of cool air. I'm thinking about replacing the oil cooler with a
> smaller  one.
> 
> I think the value of an oil cooler for most Tigers is questionable (my
> apologies to all you Tiger Mk-II owners) and there are alternatives. For
> example, you might consider a high capacity oil pan if it doesn't have one
> already. I used to have a Mazda RX3 oil cooler. It's real slick - has a
> thermostat that bypasses the oil until it gets to a reasonable temperature.
> If you're driving in freezing weather (like I guess you have there now) a
> non-thermostat oil cooler could actually cause your oil to run too cold. 
        []  I'm not moving the Tiger from the garage until the glacier in the
back lane recedes (we live on a hill).

        []  sssssssssssssssnip! 
> A sixth hypothesis might be that your water pump is lame. One way to
> diagnose this would be to check the temperature drop across the radiator
> (inlet versus outlet). Get two thermocouples and place one at the inlet and
> one at the outlet. If you can drive around and watch the temperature drop
> under various conditions you will be able to determine if the water pump is
> doing a good job.  Of course, the less the temperature drop the better the
> pump is working. I'd want to see something in the range of 10-20 degrees F.
> Maybe the PO talked to the same pump rebuilder I did and he talked him into
> cutting off every other impeller vane so the pump wouldn't pump as much
> water so the water would have a chance to cool off before it went back into
> the engine - well, you know the story.
> 
        []  Hmmmmm... good idea. I guess when I put stuff back together
(hopefully tomorrow) I'll jam some thermocouples past the upper and lower rad
hose connections at the radiator. Actually, the more the temperature drop the
better the rad is working. Ideally the water exiting the rad would be at the
temperature of the air exiting the rad regardless of the operating conditions.
Then if you can move enough air through the rad, the temperature rise of the air
is minimal. I had never heard of the 'cut the vanes off the impeller' thing but
that will be a good one to look out for (how do you spell 'cavitation'?).


> Snip, Snip, Snip . . .  Blah, Blah, Blah, . . . .Snip, Snip, Snip . . . 
        []  SSSSnip!
>  Always a treat to read you postings Theo.
        []  Thanks, Bob.

> Bob
> 
> Robert L. Palmer
> Dept. of AMES, Univ. of Calif., San Diego
> rpalmer@ames.ucsd.edu
> rpalmer@cts.com
        []  
        Theo Smit
        tsmit@novatel.ca
        B382002705

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>