I finally got around to installing the new fan. That was after I put in the new radiator because I punched a hole in the old one. I'll still try and get the old one fixed though.
Installing the fan was pretty easy once I got going. I installed a thermostat control so that it comes on when the radiator is hot. I also wired it to the ignition side of the fuse box so that it will go off when the engine is turned off. Finally I included a bypass switch that is mounted on the dash (in place of the dimmer which I plan to bypass as it is useless). The bypass switch allows me to turn on the fan even if the thermostat hasn't kicked in. Basically an override. I even found a switch at advance auto that has a little red LED in it that comes on when the fan is on. Cool.
Showing posts with label cooling fan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooling fan. Show all posts
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Aftermarket cooling fans
I am in the process of installing an aftermarket electrical cooling fan. This basically involves wiring up the fan that will sit in front of the radiator. Once this is installed and running, I will remove the belt driven fan.
Why?
Because: the belt fan draws constant HP. It runs whether I need it or not. For example, you don't need a cooling fan at 50mph. It also runs when I don't want the engine to be cooled - for example, when I start the car in the morning and its cold. The cooling fan is also quite noisy.
The later Bs came with twin electrical fans as standard, but my car had it removed at some point, so I am basically returning it to its earlier state.
OK - the point of the post...Be very careful installing the fan - they come with plastic wires that are supposed to be threaded through the radiator. I did this and punctured the radiator - DISASTER. So now I either get a new rad, or get this one fixed. A better solution is to build a mounting bracket for the fan. I'll post more details on my solution later.
Apparently, from others on MGExp forum, this is not a unique problem - other folks have inadvertently damaged their radiators installing these fans. So you have been warned.
Why?
Because: the belt fan draws constant HP. It runs whether I need it or not. For example, you don't need a cooling fan at 50mph. It also runs when I don't want the engine to be cooled - for example, when I start the car in the morning and its cold. The cooling fan is also quite noisy.
The later Bs came with twin electrical fans as standard, but my car had it removed at some point, so I am basically returning it to its earlier state.
OK - the point of the post...Be very careful installing the fan - they come with plastic wires that are supposed to be threaded through the radiator. I did this and punctured the radiator - DISASTER. So now I either get a new rad, or get this one fixed. A better solution is to build a mounting bracket for the fan. I'll post more details on my solution later.
Apparently, from others on MGExp forum, this is not a unique problem - other folks have inadvertently damaged their radiators installing these fans. So you have been warned.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Temperature and Thermostats
The car has always run pretty cool. In fact I don't think the temp gauge has ever made it more than 1/4 of the way to N, and that is the middle of the NC summer. Normally the temp gauge won't get above C. I checked the temperature sender and it was working fine. You can test it by just making a circuit with it and the temp gauge should go to H. The sender seemed fine. I pulled the thermostat, it was rated 180 F. It also worked OK when I dropped it in a pot of boiling water. I also have another one that I ordered from VB. This one is rated so 195 so I decided to experiment. First of all, the new one also worked fine. One difference was that the 180 F thermostat opened much wider than the 195, so it would provide much more rapid cooling.
OK, so I went ahead and swapped out the thermostats, and went for a long drive. First of all the temp gauge moved!! Very quickly it moved to the left of N, and pretty much stayed there all the time.
So what???
Well a few things...
First, the car reaches operating temperature much more quickly. This means that I can put the choke in more quickly. This will save gas, reduce emissions, and result in less running rich which can coke up the engine.
Second, the car is now running at a higher temp, and within reason, a hotter engine is a happier engine in that it will run more efficiently, and in fact generate more power.
The results were quite dramatic, the car drove much better and performance was better as well. Its amazing what a $5 part can do.
I am running a 195 thermostat, which I might need to replace in the summer with a lower temp rated one, but I think that the old one was opening too much and letter too much coolant flow through the engine.
For an excellent discussion of thermostats, see this site..
http://www.mgcarz.com/thermostats.html
The key point here is that a fully functioning thermostat doesn't prevent the car from overheating. As the car gets hotter the thermostat will be wide open and the radiator is working flat out. The thermostat does provide a minimum operating temp, unless of course it is sticking open, in which case the min temp is going to be too low.
OK, so I went ahead and swapped out the thermostats, and went for a long drive. First of all the temp gauge moved!! Very quickly it moved to the left of N, and pretty much stayed there all the time.
So what???
Well a few things...
First, the car reaches operating temperature much more quickly. This means that I can put the choke in more quickly. This will save gas, reduce emissions, and result in less running rich which can coke up the engine.
Second, the car is now running at a higher temp, and within reason, a hotter engine is a happier engine in that it will run more efficiently, and in fact generate more power.
The results were quite dramatic, the car drove much better and performance was better as well. Its amazing what a $5 part can do.
I am running a 195 thermostat, which I might need to replace in the summer with a lower temp rated one, but I think that the old one was opening too much and letter too much coolant flow through the engine.
For an excellent discussion of thermostats, see this site..
http://www.mgcarz.com/thermostats.html
The key point here is that a fully functioning thermostat doesn't prevent the car from overheating. As the car gets hotter the thermostat will be wide open and the radiator is working flat out. The thermostat does provide a minimum operating temp, unless of course it is sticking open, in which case the min temp is going to be too low.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
A CB radiator in a RB?
As my car is a 1977 model, it should have electric cooling fans and not a belt driven fan. The cooling fans would be on the front of the radiator in a pair and would be "pushers". The car should also have an expansion bottle for the radiator. Take a look at the pictures and you'll see something is missing.
So what is going on? Well the previous owner told me that the car had been in some front end collision. This resulted in the front end being worked on a little. In the process it looks like the radiator was replaced with an earlier model - one for a chrome bumper (pre 75 car). But it doesn't stop there. In addition the electric cooling fans which are standard on this car were removed and a belt driven cooling fan was added.
The car runs pretty cool which is good although could be due to an overactive thermostat.
I checked the temperature sender by disconnecting the wire and grounding the end of the sensor wire. This should result in the temp going to H, which it did. So at some point I will need to check the thermostat. In the short term though, the current setup seems to do an effective job of cooling the car.
So what is going on? Well the previous owner told me that the car had been in some front end collision. This resulted in the front end being worked on a little. In the process it looks like the radiator was replaced with an earlier model - one for a chrome bumper (pre 75 car). But it doesn't stop there. In addition the electric cooling fans which are standard on this car were removed and a belt driven cooling fan was added.
I checked the temperature sender by disconnecting the wire and grounding the end of the sensor wire. This should result in the temp going to H, which it did. So at some point I will need to check the thermostat. In the short term though, the current setup seems to do an effective job of cooling the car.
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