Overheating slowly

Cus · Postby **Cus** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:55 am

Installed the rad over the last two evenings, it's all sorts of "what I paid for" but it holds water. One of the rad hoses however, does not.

At a guess the old radiator cap was dicky and not letting the system get up to pressure, the rad came with a new 1.1bar cap, now when I get up to temp, I get this:

It's quite the leak, it emptied my overflow bottle in about 20 minutes of idling - initially I thought it'd burped up a bubble and sucked the clt out of the overflow bottle, but no, it's just pumping it out.

Now we wait for the car to cool down.... :roll:

Cus · Postby **Cus** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 12:33 pm

7mm socket on a ratchet with a long extension, a touch of anger, and the hose clamp is done up like nobody's business now, and all the other ones for good measure.

Seems to have stopped the leak. They were all done up fairly tight (I usually use a 7mm socket on a screwdriver thingy instead of just a blade screwdriver) and hadn't been a problem before, but as mentioned earlier, the rad cap was probably not letting the system get right up to pressure.

I'm just going to ignore the fact that the radiator cap was probably the culprit all along and go for a nice long drive along some nice windy roads, and if stays at temp, I'm going to not be unhappy.

Cus · Postby **Cus** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 4:44 pm

OK, I'm calling this one SOLVED!

It's 38 degrees here today, I have no under tray, no top rad panel, and there's a 1cm gap between the fans and the radiator I still need to sort out. Far from the optimal setup...

However! We went for a hoon with the A/C blasting full noise for an hour and a bit and the temp needle stayed exactly in it's spot.

Happy! Happy! Happy!

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 5:40 pm

Sounds like a result to me

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speed · Postby **speed** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:33 pm

Awesome! Let's just say that your old rad was definitely passed it's used by date ;)
Could you post a pic of the gap in between the fans and the rad? Peeps have said they just cut the thread down but I'd like to see the issue with my own eyes, especially as I have one still in the box!

Cus · Postby **Cus** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 9:12 am

After looking at the weather forecast today, I think the old rad is going to end up strapped to my back filled with ice water to keep me cool

Here's a couple of pictures from various angles: http://imgur.com/a/QSHaH

And here's the money shot:

Cutting the mounts down will help the problem, but cutting them down to completely solve the problem means you'll only have a few mm of thread to screw the bolts into, and you'll need much shorter bolts and/or spacers.

If the mounts were counter-sunk into the radiator tank (there's room) it would bolt in and almost be the same dimensions as the stock unit (or close enough to use the lower mounting points for the A/C pipes)

Original radiator:

New radiator: (Sorry for the blurryness, I did lock the verniers in place after measuring the OEM unit)

greenMachine · Postby **greenMachine** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 9:41 am

Drill out the mounting bolt holes to allow the fan mounting tabs to slide over the radiator fitting, and use tubing over the threaded radiator fittings and under the mounting bolt to secure the fans to the radiator.

How does the bottom mount line up?

:mrgreen:

Cus · Postby **Cus** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 10:24 am

I didn't even think of that! +1 internet to you, sir!

The bottom fan mounts line up approximately enough, start all of the bolts and you only need to man-handle the last one a millimeter or so to get the bolt to line up for both fans.

I did find it easier to mount the rad, then attach the fans once the rad was in place.

I also had to loosen the bolts for the A/C condensor to make enough room to drop the bottom of the rad in past hangers.

The solution for the difficult rad mount (A/C pipe bracket) at the bottom would be "make a new bracket" - the fan attaches OK, but the mount that stops the A/C pipe from moving around is too long by 10mm or so. Zip ties are currently taking care of this task.

Enbiggen: http://i.imgur.com/npjhukG.jpg

The middle A/C pipe bracket bends to fit

Enbiggen: http://i.imgur.com/RasPsXh.jpg

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 3:03 pm

Yay!
Bit ofr foam strip at the front and back of radiator to close up the gaps please.

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 8:41 am

Bunnings and Clark Rubber sell 19x15mm (?) adhesive backed foam that squished in there nicely.
I unbolted the top supports, lent the rad back, stuck the foam on the rad and then pushed it forward into the foam to compress it in. Did the same with the gap between the fans and rad and down the sides of the radiator too.