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Installing electric fan

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yon_pie_eater

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I'm sizing up the installation of my Kenlowe fan in front of the radiator on my BN6 at the moment. To get the fan in I may need to chop off the cross-brace in front of the radiator. Another option maybe would be to move the rad back a little to squeeze it in behind the cross-brace.
My questions are:
a) Is the removal of the cross-brace a recipe for disaster?
b) How close can the rad be to the fan (It's one of the flexi-blade fans). At the moment it's sited about an inch from the radiator.

Thanks for the advice

Andy
 
Hello Andy,

Why do you feel you need an electric fan is my question?.

Are you having overheating problems?, if so why not deal with the problem rather than mask it.

Is your radiator core in good condition?, if not then when you go to replace it get one with 1 or 2 extra rows of tubes in it.

Generally speaking extra water usually means extra cooling.

What is your thermostat like is it good or are you not sure?.

With regards to your electric fan does it pull air or push air?. This is important to determine which side of the radiator it is positioned.

It is better to pull air through the radiator than try to push it. Pulling the air through is helped by the natural progress of the air from the grille to the engine.

When I first bought my BN7 here in Calif it overheated at every oportunity. As soon as I had a thicker core installed in the radiator it has never done it since. Now the thermostat gets to do it's thing. During the cooler months I have to remove the fan as the temperature stays too cool.

The other problem if you're having overheating is that the engine block could have it's water jackets partially filled with sludge. The sludge is mainly rust deposits from inside the water jackets of the block. It can be difficult to remove unless you have the engine block out and have it boiled. Some of the sludge can be flushed out with a regular hose after the drain tap and hoses have been removed. This is not a 100% fix but it can help.

Sorry to ramble on.

Regards,

bundyrum
 
Thanks Bundyrum.

The overheating only ever occurs when I'm stood still in traffic on a hot day. If I coast downhill at say 15-20 mph, then the heat is dissipated, so I reckon that a blower electric fan in front of the radiator would emulate this effect. It never overheats when I'm in motion, no matter how hard it's driven.
The problem has only started since I replaced the block because of a oil passageway leak problem.... previously it would sit all day long at 190 in 90 degree temps so it's unlikely to be in the external cooling system (I've also ran it without the thermostat and it overheated when stationary). I was told by the P.O that he had changed the rad to a larger one.
I'm therefore sure that it's the new block. It was purchased from a v. reputable supplier, and internally cleaned out etc. One thing I did notice was that the distance from piston top to the top of the block was noticeably smaller than on the old block (they skimmed the block for me). Maybe the compression has been raised a fair bit (but there's no sign of pinking). Would this require additional cooling?
I changed the block two years ago, and I'm covering around 8000 glorious miles per year in it at the moment. This is the only little fly in the ointment and I really don't want to pull the motor again...

Thanks
Andy
 
Hi Andy,

Overheating while stopped is not an uncommon problem that has been addressed by most Healey owners. My 67 BJ8 had the same problem although it never climbed above 212 deg. Having higher compression in your new block would generate more heat in the engine which may contribute to why you are now having this problem.

You want to use the correct sleeved thermostat. That will give you faster warm-ups and keep you from running under temp in cool weather. Removing the thermostat may cause it to overheat move since the thermostat slows the coolant circulation to allow it to absorb and dissipate more heat. A six-bladed flex fan will move a lot more air at idle than the stock fan. A larger and more efficient radiator core will do wonders. You may want to consider a coolant recovery system so that the radiator is always full of coolant. More coolant translates to more potential cooling capacity. Redline Water Wetter is a good coolant additive which helps to increase heat transfer.

I used the fan sold by British Car Specialists here in California at the advice of other members and have been very happy with it. I tried a couple of thermostats and found the sleeved thermostat sold by BCS to also function the best. The 165 deg. sleeved thermostat sold by Moss had a tendency to run the engine too cold (145 deg F) when in cold weather. The BCS unit warms the engine up quickly and doesn’t let it drop below 160 deg in cold weather.

With the 4-row radiator, BCS 6-bladed flex fan, BCS sleeved thermostat, and some Redline Water Wetter, my car never climbs above 185 deg when sitting in traffic in 100 deg California weather. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t overheat while being baked in the 100 deg sun in the open cockpit, but that Healey grin never leaves my face! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Mark
 
The engine in my BN7 would overheat in traffic until I replaced the original fan with a more efficient fan from BCS (British Car Specialists/Norman Nock). No other changes were made. I live in Central Florida where the temperature is in the 90's half of the year.

Have a good day,
Ed
 
Hello Andy,

I think you would need an extremely higher compression to cause a serious overheating problem.The likes of which would cause general running problems as well, ie idling and driveability to name a couple.

How does the car run?. Is it easy to start, does it tend to run on after it has been switched of?. Maybe it's a timing issue?.

Yes you NEED the thermostat without doubt, wouldn't run without one.

Remember the P O was trying to sell you the car so he probably told you a whole host of things to get you to buy it.

If you can get access to another Healey radiator either in or out of the car measure the radiator core itself and this will tell you if a larger one has been fitted.

How is your radiator cap also?.

The standard core has 3 rows of tubes in it and I had a radiator shop get one that had 5 rows. As I said I've never had any trouble since.

For me luckily this was all I had to do. Prior to this I had tried the electric fan but without any success.

The coolant recovery system works well as markA says because it means when the engine boils and the radiator cap allows the water to escape (because it has expanded) then the water goes into the bottle. When the engine cools down the water in the bottle gets sucked back into the radiator that ends up being full again.



steveg,

That was a fantastic link you gave there. It's gems like this that really make you glad you're part of this wonderful game.

Regards.

bundyrum
 
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