First the good... After 3 1/2 years since I started my rebuilt engine and ran it through the cam break in period and also drove it for a couple miles, I changed the oil, primed the pump, with the spark plugs out, also squirted about 2 cc's of mystery oil in the plug holes, added some gas and choked it and it fired right up. Then came the bad. The flex fan completely ate my orginal pristine looking condition radiator and blowed anti freeze all over my nicely detailed engine. Belive me , not a sound you want to hear, first I thought it was in the clutch pressure plate system but upon exiting the car and seeing all the bright green liquid all over my drive prepared me for what I discovered when I opened the hood.
So at this point I guess it is suck it up and move forward with something better than what I had before. Any one out there have any suggestions as to what my best option would be to rectify this problem? New verses recore? Crossflow? aluminum? Electric Fan? Recomended vendors? I am located near Charlotte NC.

Thanks Bob

How did the flex fan eat the radiator? Did you have the rear steady bracket in place and adjusted tight on the transmission? You said you drove it a couple of miles first, so the fan didn't hit initially, right?

Tim,
Yeah I ran it at a fairly high rpm for the cam break in and did drive it and I did have the steady bracket in place so I am not sure what failed unless it was the fan it's self or possibly the water pump. Maybe I can figure out what happened when I remove the fan and radiator.
Bob

Hi Bob, WOW! Sorry to hear about that. You indicated the "Flex Fan" would you define the soutce, shape and color of that unit.--Keoke

Keoke,

The fan has 6 thin stainless blades two of which are completly twisted forward at the ends then one non damaged then another twisted then two non damaged. The center is black and the blades are held by three rivets each. There is a spacer of about 1/2" thickness between the fan and the pump and there is about 5/8" clearence between the non damaged blades and the radiator. At this point I don't see a rivet failure, my best guess is I should have not used the spacer. What is the recomended clearence between the fan and the radiator. I really hate it when I ruin a nice original part. Oh well lesson learned and will now take this oppurtunity to put the best cooling system in that I can. I remember about 5 years ago talking to Von Patterson from Von's Austin Healey in Pineville NC and he advised me that he has the bottem tanks recofigured on the radiators that he has refurbished. He has since sold out his bussiness but I will give him a call and see if he will hook me up with whom ever was doing that work for him. Please let me know if you have any suggestions as I have much faith in your expertise. Source was Moss. I do not remember the MFG.
Thanks Bob

That sounds like the Moss fan. HERE is a description of it. The fan from British Car Specialists is similar, but it has 4 rivets per blade and I understand is more durable.

Yep Greg, The three rivit bit just aobut nailed the item. I sure would tell the vendor what there product did to my car.--Keoke-- :m-
Bob!
---Space between fan and Radiator 1 to 1 1/2"

I am not absolutely sure but I think the spacer is intended for use on 100's only.

Get a Texas cooler or Knock's fan and have the radiator recored with a new 4 row serpentine core.

000000000000000000000--------------------Keoke-Still--

I just installed the British Car Specialist fan without any spacer (it didn't come with any). The tips of the blades lightly hit the engine crank pulley. I took it off and found 4 "fender" washers and reinstalled the fan with the washers as spacers and solved that problem. Now I have decent temperature management while driving around town -- 190-200 deg., but it immediately goes over 220 deg. on the gauge after a very few (3-4) miles at 70mph on the freeway.
My problems seemed to start when I had to install a new water pump a few years ago. I've just ordered a new pump from Moss (the other came from a different vendor) and will see if that helps. Next step would be to get radiator recored, I guess.

That's strange, I don't remember having to supply any extra hardware when installing my BCS fan. I do have a different crank pulley though which I think has a smaller diameter. That may be the difference. Do you have the air deflectors installed against the radiator?

Like I said, I have an aftermarket water pump which may have a different depth than others. Yes I have the original deflectors in front of the radiator directing air into it. I never had cooling problems before installing the new pump. But because I drove such short distances (around the town) I never really noticed the problem and what may have caused it until this past year when I've been doing a lot of work on the car and driving it a lot more. I haven't checked the timing in a long while, but I've driven so little since then it can't be off much, but I'll do it anyway. I've also located a shop that can recore the radiator. I have to nearly take it out anyway to put the new pump in. I'll compare the pulleys and impellers too.

Hello TimK,

If you're going to have the radiator re-cored you may want to investigate a 5 row core.

I installed one in my BN7 many years ago and it fixed the overheating problem it was having. The original core was full of sludge and it wasn't worth the time to clean it out anyway.

I hadn't changed anything like pump or timing it's just that when the weather became hot the car overheated and being told "they all do that" made me determined to do something about it.

Sorry but I don't have any details on the core used.

The radiator shop measured the Healey core and looked in their book to find one that closely matched.

The 5 row core fit into the original top and bottom tanks without any drama.

Since then I've learned a bit more about cooling and one item that is important is the number of fins/inch the core has. More is better in this case, within reason of course.

My theory is you can never have too much water, thermostats are necessary because they regulate the flow and thus the temperature.

The wind defectors are there hopefully to show the air where to go and that should be through the core not around the outside. Air is lazy, it takes the path of least resistance so it has to be directed otherwise it won't work for you.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

bundyrum.

Here is a shot of my British Car Specialists fan. Did you get the aluminum spacer disk? From the core to the front of my blades is 1 1/4". From the back of the blade to the front of the front engine plate is 4 11/16" (when the tape is straight).

Yes variations in water pumps as well as the engines location in the engine bay can determine whether some adjustment of the fan's location may be required. --Keoke

Greg, my pump is very different from your. I did not get the spacer and I have a lot more clearance from the radiator. My four washers solved the tips hitting the crank pulley.

Bundyrum, Thanks for the detail on the radiator. I'll be looking into a recore and will give your info to the place I go to. Thanks again.

Here is the rest of the story. I pulled the radiator and took it to a local shop that has a lot of experience with older vehicles. They took it apart and found that at least a third of the tubes were plugged with some rusty clay-like substance. Unfortunately they put it together backwards which I did not notice until after about 1 1/2 hours of struggling to put it back in. Finally I realized the problem (the header overhang was toward the engine instead of toward the front). They took it apart and put it together correctly. I installed it today and drove 10 miles on the freeway with temp holding at 180. Not since the early 80's did this happen. For me this is like hitting a hole in one in golf. It makes all the struggles worthwhile. Also, Greg, I found the spacer for the BCS fan buried in the packing material of the box it came in and have installed that instead of the 4 washers. The new core has serpentine fins and 14 fins per inch. It is only 3 tubes wide, but works perfectly. I returned the new pump I ordered from Moss since it clearly was the radiator that was the problem. The pump I have was nearly new -- less than 1,000 miles on it.

Glad you got it sorted Tim, though it sounds like it was a long road to get there. I almost always throw my boxes away, so if I had left that part in the box, I'd still have washers installed.