Making 12 inch spal fans work??

Since I replaced my gravely sounding lucas fans, my car is still prone to overheating, blasting through the mountains, in high heat, particularly with the AC on.

The first photo shows the 12 inch fans peeking up over the condenser and i noticed that when they come on, they spent most of their air coming over the top, so i built the following shroud to both help support the fans and help direct the air through the condenser and radiator. Additionally, i installed more foam to "force" the air to go through the radiator, not over it, as well as an additional 1/2 inch at the spare tire compartment lip.

Tomorrow i am going to go through the mountains in 100 degree heat with the AC on, so this will be a trial voyage. Previously, it ran to 225 water and the ac was ineffective.

More info Sunday, if i am not too burnt out by the drive.

I have seen a few threads with radiators and full house shrouds, but this is easily do-able.

hth,
chris
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Hi Mike,

No one locally had the correct foam. Subsequent to these photos, i installed a double row of foam to temporarily block the air for this test.

thanks,
chris

 

Hi Steve,

I have replaced the thermostat during the major. WHAT A DIFFERENCE ! the car warmed up much more quickly and it ran at about 185 most of the time, only going higher when in 100+ heat. The old thermostat wasn't closing fully and would open a bit too soon, so it tok forever to get to temp and usually didn't. The temp sender was replaced at the same time.

I have replaced the cooler with a Mocal unit about the same surface area as stock, along with a 180 thermostat. all of the lines are -12 as well - So, the oil comes up to temp just slightly behind the water really nice, particularly in 50-60 degree northern califoania weather.

I had a bung welded to the top of the thermostat housing so i could install Verell's bleed screw and i could bleed the system at the engine as well as the radiator.

This ought to do it.

hopefully,
chris

 

The mountains are about 2-3000, not much - but it is a lot hotter inland at this time of year, 100+ At sea level, the LM-! is telling me that i am running around 12 mostly.

chris

 

I had thought about it being 30 years old and having unknown care - 30 k miles??? So, whent he lucas stuff started to fail, i read and followed a few threads to install 12 inch fans. I noticed that they stood three inches over the ac condenser and a hell of a lot of air was blowing over the top of the radiator, so i did the shroud thing.

I also applied foam to the hood over the radiator to keep the air going through the rad and ac cond. rather than over it and out the fender louvers.

Just to make sure the hot air wasn't coming over the "lip" into the spare compartment and possibly into the cabin, i installed another 1/2 by 3/4 bit of foam a that joint as well.

Since i was journeying into the hot country, i had a knowledgeable budy drag out his R-12 can and add a bit of freon to the system as well.

Completely blowing by the old rule of changing one thing at a time, i hit all of the above measures, as well as building a fairly tight shroud for the two 12 inch fans, so i can only report that the result was great. I could hold 70 mph through the hills, with ac on, in 100+ degree heat and the water temp hit 200 max, oil running 230 or so and the ac doing a great job. I often backed it off from max to mid-cool and ran #2 speed on the fan. I know i have a freon leak somewhere, but suppose that the cooling system is doing quite well.

Moving past that, i am wondering how well it might work if i did pull the rad and have it recored/rodded - or if it looked like this work wouldn't improve things, going to an aluminum radiator.

Basically, I want a trouble free cooling system in 100 degree heat, on the track. If it will do this without overheating, i will be happy. Routine driving/touring will be trouble free.

best,
chris

 

Thanks Michael,

You forget that i live beyond the redwood curtain - Ace hardware is the best i can do without having to go online. Speaking of which, anyone have a good site to score the wide/thick foam??

thanks,
chris

 

Dearest Hugh E. Rection,

I have little idea about the interior condition of the radiator. When i pulled the intake manifolds, along with a carbs, to match the gaskets and do a carb rebuild, i had a moderate amount of crud build up/pitting, possibly indicating that the block and radiator might not be deposite/corrision free. I have almost no experience with copper radiators, so am not sure how to interpret my findings.


Longingly yours,
chris

 

Hi Brian,

Is your avatar from the big labowski? One of my heros - or is that a self portrait?? You are probably right that the problem lies elsewhere, but i couldn't ignore the fact that all of that cooling air gong over the top of the radiator wasn't doing any cooling.

If this doesn't keep it cool on the track, the rad is coming out for a rod/recore/or aluminum replacement. Mixture and timing are good, new coolant/hoses/t-stat&sender. 12 inch ducted spalls coming on at the right temp - and no front plate

stupified,
chris