• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Radiator Baffle Installation

Share this page

B

BT7Doug

Freshman Member
Country flag
Offline
I finally got my Moss baffles installed on my '62 3000 Mk II and while a tight fit everything seems to work. I had problems with overheating even at highway speeds on hot days and it was pointed out that a source of the problem might the missing baffles. The rad had been removed and tested by a reputable rad company and the thermostat was new. If the baffles don't do the trick then it will be time to pull the water pump which was the rad mechanics first target in a 50+ year old car.

Before attaching the upper bolts on the baffles I had to move the cable harness attachments which were occupying those holes. These baffles had been missing a long time. My only concern on the instal is that the drive side baffle is just touching the radiator. Passenger side missed by a mm. On the MkII, there is for and aft adjustment on the top rad bolts but not the bottom. My question to the forum is this "snug fit" to the radiator acceptable?

The first picture is the driver side baffle just touching the rad and the second is the lower baffle mount showing no room for forward adjustments.

Doug Cavill
Gabriola Island, BC
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3727.jpg
    IMG_3727.jpg
    78.6 KB · Views: 174
  • IMG_3725.jpg
    IMG_3725.jpg
    73.4 KB · Views: 173
The impellers in the water pump will and often do erode/corrode and otherwise become smaller and less efficient. I actually wish I knew of a source for them (at least for the 4 cylinder pumps) because i have a couple of cores I'd like to rebuild. I can source bearings and seals but not the impellers as far as I have found.
 
Dough:

If you are runing a stock radiator you may still over heat it really gets warm up there in BC in the summer and you might have to install an upgraded radiator.

Similarly, if you are also runing a stock Healey fan you should consider upgrading to a 5 or 6 bladed fan..
 
The temperatures in BC right now are not high enough to cause the overheating issue you are describing. There are a lot of things you can do to get to the bottom of this but the first thing to check is the water pump. Is there any groaning or whining coming from the interior housing of the pump? If you loosen the fan belt, can you grab the water pump pulley and rock it significantly? Lastly, start the car with the rad cap off, allow it to warm up - you should see significant flow from the top of the rad - it should be really obvious that you have good flow. If not, stop all other efforts and change out the water pump. The baffles will help once you know you’ve got good coolant flow. They are tight to the rad on my BJ8.
 
I don't think the baffles are suppose to be that tight a fit, and certainly not touching the fins on the core.

Also, don't go chasing any other problems until you try out the baffles.
 
Back
Top