Aussie Desert Cooler.

[FB_MAD]

Yeah, could have been that one but not 100 % sure.

Someone here would know.

Terry.

[ratbox]

i think he is correct with the VL, don't know about cooked engines but they have a bleeder in the head and i think in the nissan cars where the engine belongs there was no probs, but the VL is very well known for head problems

[Jordo]

Hey Ed, The guys name is John Bennent with the bypass system.His phone number is 03 3354344 or 03 7923277  Cheers Craig

[Ed]

thanks Craig,

I will give him a call later.

just a brief update.

after all this I noticed my temp rising on the freeway but OK at idle... hmmm.
After noticing the bottom hose was cold and the top hose hot, Al Wall suggested it sounded like a blockage in the radiator top tank.

since the radiator had been pulled apart and cleaned, it led me to suspect the replacement thermostats I have been swapping in / out etc.

on close inspection, the new thermostats would not open as far (due to a big heavy spring), had a reduced orifice size due to the shape of the metal retaining ring, and the bridge across the top.

All this has reduced the water flow significantly. 
so I will replace these with the original thermostat which I have modified slightly for optimum flow and all should be OK.

Incidentally the brand is Tridon. When at the shop I was looking through the catlogue and there exists a "high flow" thermostat from Tridon (part no prefix TTT). 

When i requested this, the parts guy looked at me and said "I've never sold one before in my life". As he was at least twice my age I accepted his wisdom, and most of the clunkers in the eastern suburbs obviously overheat.

well... the standard Tridon thermostat is woeful.. I know that now.

so I'm back to my original fan configuration now, Have flipped my sway bar over and notched the outrigger as per FC427's suggestion, mounted the trans cooler on a nice solid mount and the fans are not zip tied through the core any longer as this casued leaks.. If you use the zip ties they WILL cause your core to leak.

I'm still going to play around with it more and probably build a shroud from fibreglass, I wont stop until my car can sit in Sydney peak hour traffic jams during a 40 degree heatwave and not over heat... I'm not asking much!

will post pics of the thermostat when i have a min to upload pics.

Cheers

Ed

[lucky13]

Hey,dont do this much, I recently got my fe on the road again after 5 years sitting replaced water pump(its a red motor) flushed radiator a large eh unit and replaced battery.shipped to Katherine where I liveand drove daily thru dry and wet seasons outside temp above 40c no external fan a flexfan fitted years ago no guage occasionally smells hot dosent use water.RU running a decent coolant Have you checked the whole cooling system ie. themostat hoses etc. If you are running standard radiator change it for bigger and make room
I dont know what engine or cooling system you are running blow thru fans are better but are they coming on when you are in traffic?this aint hard

[Ed]

Hey lucky,

im running a 4 row HQ radiator which has been chopped down to 13 inches tall.
new water pump, flushed the core recently, good coolant.
2 x 12inch blow through fans, 1 x engine mount fan, new OEM water pump. uncollapsible hoses.
i'm probably just being too particular  but hey... if its running, it's gotta run right.
i just re-adjusted my fan belt in case it's slipping on the pump pulley.

havent driven it yet, rode the bicycle instead...

will start on the shroud over the weekend.
Cheers

Ed

[Ed]

I've just finsihed making a polyurethane buck for a fibreglass radiator shroud, will post pics when i get a moment.


Cheers

Ed

[GOA350]

Had a 350 Chev years ago that was running fine until the water pump started leaking. I went out and bought a brand new water pump and put it in , from then on I had nothing but trouble. The solution in the end was to buy a new genuine GM product .Just my 2 bobs worth,
                          Scott

[Ed]

Hey Scott,

Funnily enough im having more trouble now after putting in a genuine GM pump.

I'm reverting back to my original set up in every way except im shrouding the fan.

both pumps have the cast impellor and the aftermarket one seems to have tighter tolerances around the blades to body. The after market one also has a much smaller water bypass.

It's all very annoying now..

Cheers

Ed

[Ed]

just a pic of some odd jobs using fibreglass...

formed the shape using some polyurethane foam.  you can make some real curvey shapes!

painted it with resin, then waxed it up before laying up the fibreglass.

the foam is a "plug" the foam will be dug out once the fibreglass has set.

sizing the shroud, it has approx half an inch from blade tip to shroud.  the shroud wont be this deep, it will be cut down to size.



another pic just showing the cool shape you can make with fibreglass.  I was going to fab it out of metal but it would have looked too agricultural.


I managed to lay up the fibreglass yesterday, i will trim it to shape and chip out the foam.  the shroud will be cut in half (upper and lower) so I can get it in without taking the radiator out.

anybody know where I can buy some toolbox style latches??

[TTV6FC]

Awesome work Ed.There is no shortage of talented people on this forum.....

[ekute]

Hey Ed,

Had similar heating problems in my 308  EK ute, changed eveything to no avail.Was talking to a mechanic friend one day...then he pulled out a laser temp reader (same as I use in my supermarket) and took a reading on the radiator and found that it was 20 degrees lower than what the guage said!

Something else to check?

Regards Mark

[Ed]

thanks Jamie,

spent some time chipping out the foam last night and it starts to look like a shroud now!

Mark,

good thinking i'm starting to think my guage is not very accurate too.  i can hold the bottom radiator pipe after a drive so I will drop a thermometer in the top tank and see what the temp gets too.

would love to see some pics of your ute.

Cheers

Ed

[Russ]

Just thought id add i've bought two rads from Norm (ADC) and they are great but you can have the best radiator and no air flow and it will still get to hot, on a wb drag car we had a 16" thermo all the right stuff but it still got hot but after we fitted the twin fan setup from a V6 dunnydoor with the full shroud it woked a dream. on another note if anyone is waping radiators i think the VT radiator is shorter and wider enableing it to fit further forward and under the bonnet latch.... should work good.

[Ed]

Hey Russ,

yep im going with the flow and trying to maximise it! hence the shroud.

I've found that radiator width to be a problem as the narrow rails in the subframe wont usually allow a good  V8 size radiator to fit in and under the bonnet latch support panel.

Jason fevanv6 has fitted a VT radiator nicely with thermo fans, and im guessing it could be done with a V8 as well.  are the V6 and V8 radiators for VT identical?  I'm not considering the change, just thinking more about the fit up in general.  maybe Jas can post a pic here.

Cheers

Ed

[JB]

Just cut the radiator down by about an inch, fabricated and welded aluminium tanks and fitted the thermo fans.

Ed,

The V8 and the V6 are the same units.

Cheers
Jason.

[ekute]

Gidday Ed,

Here's a pic of the 308 in my ute with HQ radiator & twin fans.

Mark

[jack_fc]

hey mark, OK, its not a FE/FC, but that engine bay is bloody impressive. more pics of the ute please! or are there pics on FB/ek forum?
cheers jack

[Ed]

nice one Mark 
very neat fitup.

that's what I should have done, used a standard size radiator.. everything else used is an off the shelf part!

Cheers

Ed

[julius]

Hi Ed

Your overheating problems my also be caused because you havent put the splash guards back, thus you dont have the air flow required. They were not put their for catching oil drips a number of people that have put them back have solved their overheating problems.

regards

Julius