Auto Radiator Factory

Anyone purchased and installed a Healey 3000 radiator on eBay from the Auto Radiator Factory using a San Bernardino, CA, address? This appears to be a Chinese product, though the firm says it has warehouses on both the East and West coasts. The reviews are quite good, but they represent a great many different cars. Didn't see any that were Healey specific. I would be interested in knowing whether any purchasers have found a noticeable temperature reduction using one of these radiators. I had my radiator rebuilt with a supposedly larger core immediately after purchasing my '60 BN7, and despite many different efforts to help control engine heat, I'm still seeing temperatures above 200 degrees at times. Not comforting if one gets into traffic.

An aluminum radiator at their advertised price is a very attractive affordable alternative. Reviews aside, I reached out to seller with questions on # rows in core (expecting at least 3) which suggests cooling capacity / ability and how the rad is mounted since pics do to appear to show any welded-in capture nuts on inside of brackets like our original rads. I'll share answers.

It's unfortunate that your upgraded rad has not resolved "overheating" issue. If temp gauge is primarily used to assess overheating status, then check it's accuracy. There are other parameters which could contribute to overheating issues that are worth checking ask well. This forum discusses all topics on Engine Timing, cam timing, carb mixture, rad obstructions, absence of rad shrouding etc. A search may enlighten. Good luck. GONZO

IMOP if you up rated your car with an improved Copper cored radiator, an Aluminum cored one will not solve your problem as the thermal conductivity of aluminum is significantly less than that of copper..
Consequently, I suggest you look elsewhere in the cars cooling system for your problem ,Start with the fan.

I was aware of the point Keoke makes here and accept it. The car came to me with a six-bladed fan, fiberglass-looking blades attached to a steel center section. I own a laser temperature gun (that's what I'll call it) and have found that the car's temperature instrument accurately reflects the kind of temperatures I find at various points in the cooling system, thermostat housing, etc. I am running a 160 degree thermostat with the Moss sleeve. I also have an aluminum surround on the radiator of the type under discussion currently on the Forum. Additionally, I have shimmed the base of my radiator away from the cross frame member in the hope of getting better air flow down at the base. This idea was given to me by a Healey member at the Safety Harbor Brit car gathering across the bay from Tampa a couple of years ago. I also have installed an air scoop below the grill of the type designed by Steve G, the master of interesting Healey enhancements. I have also added a new radiator cap, new water pump and a coolant recovery tank that doesn't seem to play any role in cooling, probably because my car doesn't get THAT hot. Interestingly, after having the radiator rebuilt, supposedly with larger capacity, I didn't notice that much improvement in the cooling. That occurred shortly after I bought this car four years back. A characteristic of my car's behavior is that the car doesn't seem to get hot--say in excess of 200 degrees--until I have driven maybe 15 or 20 miles. It has never boiled over because I am very attentive to the engine temperature. But not to worry, I have purchased one of the Chinese-made radiators and should receive it next week. However, I won't be installing it until after our Brit car show outside of Jacksonville on Oct. 21. It's a misfortune here in Florida that the Jacksonville area Brit car show sponsored annually by either the MG or Triumph clubs is in a date conflict each year with the very fine show at Safety Harbor. Our members enjoy going down to Safety Harbor (think across the bay from Tampa) but also like to support our local show. I do digress, but this problem needs to be resolved! I'll report on the radiator in the future. My car came to me with the excellent Toyota 5-speed (and the likely defunct side-shift Healey gear box and overdrive it replaced), so originality isn't an issue on this car. By the way, I bid for the radiator on eBay and paid less than asked in some ads by the same seller.

RDKeysor:

Has the engine been overhauled or is it possible the engine block has an obstruction in i t such as rust????

Two other ideas:
1) easy - check your timing
2) harder - flush your engine - there may be a couple inches of mud in the bottom of the block. I got rid of that by removing my carbs, manifold and exhaust, then removing the freeze plugs. Fishing around between the cylinders with wire while back flushing. The water jacket between the rear cylinder and firewall gets full of impacted dirt. When my engine was apart, Russ Thompson dislodged dirt there by poking it with a long thin phillips screwdriver through a cooling passage with the head removed.

If the timing doesn't work, at the minimum I'd bone up on the best cooling system flushes and backflush after using one of those.

Hi RDKeysor,

Although I agree with most of your engine cooling implementations, I am not so positive shimming the radiator away from the cross member is a good move. As I see it, the major issues in cooling the Healey reside within the area of air flow and due to the Healey's porous radiator bulkhead and lack a directed easy airflow escape within the engine compartment (unless you have implemented bonnet louvers or fender vents), the more aggressive the fan, the faster a blocking high pressure bubble builds and slows air movement. Air passing between the cross member and radiator disrupts air flow and causes a slowing of exiting radiator cooling air at speed. At slow moving or stopped situations, heated drawn radiator cooling air finds it easier to exit through any bulkhead openings only to be redrawn through the radiator again and again.

To address this cross member issue and to improve the flow of exiting air, I have closed the opening between the radiator and cross member as well as installed a cover across the front third of the frame (attached to the bottom and ending a little before the pan). These efforts have significantly reduced air flow disruption caused by engine compartment air penetrations between radiator and below the frame and has provided a smoother rearward flow of exiting air at speed.

Air recirculation when moving slow or at stops and the lack of a smooth exiting air flow at speed are the cause of most of our high operating temperatures and we only exacerbate the problem when we install more aggressive fans without consider management of exiting of the greater air flow

Just my thoughts,
Ray(64BJ8P1)

Steve has provided a fairly detailed method of blocking the hot air circulating out of the engine bay alongside the radiator and then flowing back through the radiator. This is the condition that Ray discusses above, the lack of a hot air escape that permits a high (and hot) air pressure build up in the engine bay where none of the common venting fixes have been applied.When I get around to pulling my radiator, I think I will follow his suggestion about trying to flush the engine block and head with whatever is on the market for that end. I will also take a good look at his shot air recirculation blocking and the under tray Ray mentions. I believe I have seen instructions for that at Healey6. I will also double check my timing. As for the radiator tilt, it is less than an inch at the bottom and I may not repeat that if and when I install the new radiator. Unfortunately, I applied this tilt remedy at the same time I did another cooling enhancement, kind of muddling any conclusion. Meanwhile I am still chasing the fix for the long brake pedal I created when I restored the standard brake master cylinder to my aftermarket-servo-equipped BN7. This car's engine was rebuilt in a race shop in North Carolin circa 2000, according to the man who restored the car and sold it to guy I bought it from. There is plenty of evidence of the balance of the rebuild, but since I can't tell what was done to the engine's internals. It is a very good running car that tracks down the road perfectly.

Side Note (which may or may not be of any use or interest): Both my BN2/100M and BJ8 behave exactly the same WRT running temps: They both have 180degF thermostats, but will run well below 180 on cool days on the highway, 180 on warm days on the highway--though the BJ8 will start to heat up pulling a long uphill grade, e.g. Hwy15 heading east to Vegas--and both will heat up sitting in traffic on even cool days. Both have fresh engines, both behaved the same before and after overhaul; the BJ8 has the stock baffling--but with a minimal fan shroud--and the 100M, of course, has a louvred bonnet. I've heard of engines that (always) run cool and Healeys, of course, can run hot but engines that run too cold sometimes and too hot at other times seem to defy the laws of thermodynamics.

Side Note 2: On a recent episode of 'For the Love of Cars' they restored a Triumph Stag. I didn't know much about the cars but, apparently, they were notorious for running way too hot, and subsequently ruining engines. The restorer, named 'Ant,' loathed the car at first but seemed to acquire grudging affection for it as the show progressed. The engine teardown was a bear as the engine had not run for a long time and the major components were 'fused' together. After a meticulous overhaul they brought the car to a guy who supposedly trains pro racer crew chiefs and put it on a rolling road. Ant expected the engine to overheat, but it ran perfectly on the dyno and the expert declared the engine temps were all nominal. The expert concluded that the engines built at the BL factory were being built under duress--BL was on the cusp of BK at the time, I believe--and hence were never assembled properly, but a properly built and spec'd engine was a decent V8. Ant had bought an aftermarket aluminium radiator with an electric pancake fan, but decided not to use it. My point: A properly built and sorted AH engine will perform adequately in any conditions the average car will ever see, and slapping an aluminium radiator 'band-aid' in the engine bay is not necessarily a panacea. As Keoke pointed out, copper and brass are better conductors of heat than Al, and the primary advantage of Al radiators is a bit of weight-saving.

Side Note 3: Ant also took the car to an 'expert on what engines sound best' (or something). He brought both a 12-cyl E-Type and a Kubota riding lawnmower for comparison to the Stag. Ant expected the Jag to blow away the Stag in the 'most pleasing engine sound' department, but the expert declared--according to his algorithms--that the Stag V8 had a better note than the Jag (but the Jag did 'beat' the lawnmower).

Side Note 4: One of the reasons--expense being primary, I suspect--that newer cars tend to have 'idiot lights' instead of honest gauges was that your typical driver--not gearheads--don't know how to interpret gauges. When my dad was a factory rep for Ford he said people would bring cars into the shop saying they were 'defective' because the oil pressure gauge showed a drop from cruising speed to idle. Same with the temp gauge; anyone else notice how modern cars' temp gauges always read nominal, no matter the environmental conditions and load? Not saying that's the case with Healey owners who, by necessity, tend to know more about cars and engines than your average Camry driver, but is it possible we're overly nervous about normal fluctuations in gauge readings? Case in point: if my temp gauge didn't show some heating sitting in traffic or pulling a long uphill grade on a hot day, I'd suspect the gauge, not the engine.

Moral of the Story: Make sure your AH engine is in 'proper nick,' as the Brits say, before trying (possible) gimmicks (I expected Jet-Hot coating the exhaust manifold to help my BJ8's heating issues, but I saw no quantifiable change--$400 wasted). My best explanation for otherwise well-tuned, overheating engines is crud buildup in the block and/or radiator; tend to these possibilities first.

At Healey Week I saw a Cape aluminum radiator. I liked it because the upper tank looks just like a stock tank. The Wizards don't look correct.