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Lilly is a now a cool car...

  • Thread starter Deleted member 21878
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Deleted member 21878

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well the term "cool" i guess is relative so let's just say it is a cooler car.

if any of you remember some of the threads i have written i have been concerned about how hot my car gets. i have tried ducting, a recurved diz, sleeved thermostat. etc. but i still felt it got too warm to easily. basically it would run about 110 over air temp and would climb pretty quick if i was at a light.
the thing i read over and over was a 4 core radiator. So instead of buying one, i decided to take mone to the local shop for a recore. the price was quite close to buying a black one from AH Spares but of course i saved all the freight. i had it quicker to. took it in on Wed and he was done on Friday. wow.
i looked at doing a staggered 4 core with flat fins and 12-14 fins per inch. but in the end i did a newer style core. it is still 4 cores but they are in line and it has the slinky looking type fin.
today was the first day i got to test it in some warmer air. it was 85-86 here today. before my car would have run over 190 and shoot up to a little over 200 if sitting at all. Today it ran 180 and would go up to a little over 190 if sitting. if i stopped at a stop sign and took off again, it would not even get to 190. the good thing was it would go right back down to 180 while i was moving. it seemed like before that if i stopped and it went to 200, it was very hard for it to get back down to the 195 area. so quite happy with my new core.
my only thought is that running in cooler weather will not heat it up enough. the other day i went for a short drive (10-15 miles). the air temp was 71 and the car barely got above the 160 mark. my thermostat is a 16o. so thinking i may have to go to a 180 thermostat.

a couple of surprises for me other than the temp dropping so much.

1) i expected going from a 3 core to a 4 core, i would need more coolant in the car to fill the radiator. that did not turn out to be true. i put back the same amount and it was plenty. engine even blew a little out in to the overflow. smaller tubes in the 4 core??? good possibility i guess. i read that with more cores you need to keep the coolant speed up.

2) it seems to take a lot longer for my car to get to temp. by that i mean longer to get to the 160 thermostat setting. not sure why that would happen. i could see it being better above 160 once the thermostat opens but this is before.

while i had the radiator out i thought it a good time to try a new panel or two as i like to play....

i added two side panels to the radiator to try and fill in some of the gap. i had a shroud (red) i had made so i riveted these panels to the back of them and painted them black. they don't show and not sure they help. but can't hurt i guess.
i also added a scoop under the car. the picture below shows it without the front bumper but i have put it back on now and it does not show. it just bends and goes up to the radiator. see below.
IMG_0449.jpg

cardboard template.
IMG_0455.jpg

This goes around the hose and up to the wheel well. then out thru the opening a little right in front of the shock.
IMG_0363.jpg

another template.
IMG_0364.jpg

ready for drilling.

not sure these help all that much. i figure at some point i may start eliminating one at a time and see what happens. if it does not help, may as well get rid of it. So these panels plus the extra ones at the top of the factory air deflector are all i am using. Sure looked good today.
 
Looks good.....A couple new improvements I made on my vintage racer this season that helped lower under hood temperature in addition to a complete fan shroud were inner fender well vents. NO over heating at all anymore, in fact water temp stayed about 210 even at max performance.


Radiator 1.jpg
Radaitor 2.jpg

414 Fender well vents.jpg
 
Dougie
i was walking thru a lumber yard the other day and saw some soffit vents. it got me to thinking about your fender vents. it seemed like a good fit for me since it is not cut in to the outer body. i think lowering the engine compartment temp is always a good thing, especially on the exhaust side.
i was wondering:
how well you figure they work?
the size and placement?
why that size and placement?

And have you considered adding them to your BJ8?

by the way, thanks for the info on your cars. i did go local and it seems to be a good call so far.
 
Dougie -
Are you using an electric water pump, or is there room between your fan motor and the stock water pump?

Stock water pump, but I've fabricated custom lower mounting brackets that move the radiator forward and I have a removable lower cross section that is "notched" for the larger racing harmonic balancer.
 

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The vents worked well, they're custom aluminum which I formed into the inner fender well. I had the largest size fabricated that would fit in the area I thought would provide the best flow from the high pressure engine comparment to the lower pressure inner fender well. I didn't want to just butcher up this area, the goal was to provide an original factory apperance. My '65 BJ8 doesn't have the overheating problem, it has a larger radiator core and a texas cooler fan, both do a great job during street driving.
 
Dougie,
I have said it before and I will say it again. You have got to have the most esthetically pleasing (attention to design detail and execution) high performance vintage racer in the paddock. Nice improvements!
Lin
 
dougie

after my last post, i got to thinking... i do not need to do anything else... unless it would help control the temperature increase at idle or in traffic. Don't think mine is that bad even there but the more stable the better.

Thanks again for your help
 
dougie

after my last post, i got to thinking... i do not need to do anything else... unless it would help control the temperature increase at idle or in traffic. Don't think mine is that bad even there but the more stable the better.

Thanks again for your help

DD - IIRC your car is recently on the road. Why not enjoy it for a while, then you can always embark on more "science projects".
 
Dougie -
I forget - did you buy your fan and shroud off the shelf, or are they custom made? Enquiring minds want to know (and possibly duplicate).

After a lot of research, I sourced this unit from Cooling Components, https://coolingcomponentsinc.us.com/portal/store/products/cci-1730/
As mentioned, I had to move the lower radiator forward to clear the water pump pulley and fabricate mounting points on the radiator for the shroud to fit tight. When I turn this fan on though, I can feel the air flowing out under the back of the car.....
 
steve
i plan to do just that... if the weather ever cooperates.

Also the TR6 is about to go on the lift for some winter work. will keep me busy for a while.
 
Dougie,
Perhaps I should ask about this in a new thread, but...

In an earlier post you said: "I have a removable lower cross section that is "notched" for the larger racing harmonic balancer." I have seen a photo of your modification and you clearly did a good job of adding additional bracing to support the modified cross member at the joints.

A number of years ago I was interested in doing something similar. My motivation wasn't racing it was just to make it much easier to get the engine/gearbox in and out of the car. I can't claim the idea as it was prompted by the photos of the car below. Unfortunately, it was too long ago and I don't have notes on who owns this car or why it was done in his case. I enquired a number of places about the wisdom of cutting the cross bar and bolting it in and I could not find a single person, whose opinion I respected, who would support tampering with the cross bar. So, I chickened out as I just did not have the courage to proceed.

I am intrigued to see that you did make your cross bar removable. Are you happy with this modification? Has it now been tested under race conditions? Surely if it is good enough for the race track with the stresses you encounter it would be fine for a road car. I would be very interested in some background on your modification and any follow-up thoughts.

Thanks as always.

Lin
phpzz71BIPM.jpg


phpKcyb8hPM.jpg
 
Thanks for the kind words Lin -

I made a couple interior upgrades this year I think came together pretty good as well. These included a bespoked stock style, "correct gold faced" 8000 RPM electronic race tach, oil temp gauge, and voltage gauge. My vintage racer also lost a few pounds with my "jump seat delete" option.

View attachment 55811
View attachment 55812

View attachment 55813

Like Lin, I always enjoy looking at your car and seeing your latest mods. I'm impressed with your tach and how it looks original. How did you do it? I wanted to be sure my original gauges would work with my Ford motor and used the guts of a Stewie Warner tach inside the original Healey can and face to make it happen. I'd be interested to see your approach. You should be commended for keeping your vintage racer orginal-looking as so many racers have modern gauges, etc, that take away from their presentation.
 
Lin -

I made the cross member mod years ago when I first bought my car as most big Healey racers have done this. It make the motor R/R much easier as this is often done a couple times a year. DW Racing makes a ready to install replacement, but they're pretty proud of it. https://www.bighealey.co.uk/austin-...assis/front-yoke-chassis-crossmember-cibp167y

Here's what it looked like with the old radiator installed.

Front Crossmember.jpg


Rick -

Made guages are scratch build solid state electronic units custom build to my specifications. I worked with a master fabricator in Switerland to create them. Completely blew my budget away but well worth it given the quality of the items, no regrets....
 
Thanks, Doug
Well done. Yikes, Dennis Welch does want a pretty penny for their piece!
Lin
 
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