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Maintenance / Re: overheating problems
« on: September 11, 2009, 08:25:11 PM »
Thanks for the advice John, it's appreciated. I've been told that just with airflow (the car has no grille on it at the moment) at speed, (55mph plus) the engine should run around the 180 deg mark without a fan. Right or wrong I don't know. I just can't understand why after the water's been through the rad it's no cooler but hotter, thanks.....Nige
The coolant should be 25*-30* cooler coming out of the radiator than it is going in if the radiator is doing its job and has adequate airflow going through it. Most aftermarket electric fans are hopelessly inadequate, especially if they're the round type - they only pull air through the portion of the radiator enclosed within the circle, so at least half of the radiator core surface isn't seeing any airflow at all, thus no cooling is taking place.
They didn't overheat when they were new, because they had a full fan shroud (which pulls air through the entire core, all the way out to the corners), a big fan, and a clutch. Most attempts at "re-engineering" the cooling system with Summit catalog junk are dismal failures. The production cooling components were designed and developed as a complete "system", and they do the job if all the pieces are present and in good working condition.
Put the factory clutch, fan, and shroud back on (and seal the radiator to the support and the shroud to the radiator with foam seals so all the air is forced through the radiator instead of around it), and your cooling issues will disappear.