Other Stuff / Cooling

Well the cam didn't arrive so it was time to get on with a couple of other jobs, had an oil leak from the diff pinion seal so decided now was a good time to get that sorted. The diff was another ebay bargain, a Spitfire 3.89 picked up locally for £25 - should have really changed the seal before putting it in, I was more interested to see if it was a better ratio than the 3.63 that I had originally fitted. Removed the prop to make the job easier, this will also help when I refit the engine - should give me a bit of room to pull the gearbox back.

Thought I'd also record what I had previously done on the cooling system, my original radiator started leaking so I looked at what else could be fitted, its all quite tight but I eventually ended up using a Golf Mk II radiator, cost me £50 (new) with the fan temp switch (alloy matrix with plastic end tanks). It has four bosses on the front so I made up a frame which lined up with these and the original rad mounts on the chassis. The frame was also later used to mount the cooling fan and rad cowl.

Found this to be a good site for comparing rad sizes / outlet positions etc. etc. http://www.nissens.dk/uk/index.htm

I was already using an EWP (Electric Water Pump) so it was just a case of re-routing the bottom hose and turning the pump around. On the top hose I used a couple of 90 degree bends and some alloy tubing.

There is also an air bleed from the top of the rad, I routed this back to a custom made header tank mounted on the bulkhead - think this cost me about £40 of ebay.

The whole set up seemed to work ok last summer, the only mod was to add a resistor to the EWP controller to make it cut in at a lower engine temperature. I tested the system by giving the car a good blast down the motorway on one of our "hot summer days" and then parked it in the garage and left it idling for 30 minutes, between the pump and the fan the temperature was controlled at around 95 degrees. Under normal conditions it runs at around 85 to 90 degrees.

I may play around with the fan position to see if it makes any difference with the fan behind the radiator but to be honest it works ok at the moment and it is quite nice to have it all hidden away at the front.

One other point to make is that it is all quite tight to the bonnet line so if you are thinking of a similar conversion, you may need to adjust your bonnet to gain clearance.

Next job is to sort out a cold air intake, not sure if I'm going to stick with the standard plenum or go for filters fixed directly to the throttle bodies, this is something I will play around with if I get it on a rolling road later in the year.