I'll give two more of my cents on this topic.
I removed the stock metal fan off my TR4 and put on a Hayden electric fan
that I acquired.
Admittedly my engine had been rebuilt and "balanced" not too many miles
earlier.
I quote the "balanced" because it might have been as little as balanced
piston and connecting rod weights or as much as dynamically balanced
crankshaft . .I don't remember .. and wouldn't have known the difference at
the time.
Anyway .. I ran with no fan and no ill effects for quite a while.
I'm a lead foot and see 4500-5000 RPM quite frequently too.
I'm not sure why you'd need a fan indicator on the dash, maybe mine was much
more noisy than others.
My only gripe with the electric fan was that I still had (have) a generator
in my car which didn't put out much amps at very low (idling) rpm.
The difference in fan speed between 800 and 1200 rpm (engine speed) was
tremendous.
So I found myself sitting still in traffic and holding the idle higher with
my right foot.
I will also admit that my electrical installation was about as poor as could
be.
A thermostatic switch and a relay would have been a much better idea than
what I rigged up for manual only operation.
When I started using my TR4 as a daily driver. . . which means sitting is
traffic in the dark for commutes to work, all the extra load on the
electrical system, (head lights, tail lights, brake lights, turn signals
etc) is more than enough for the stock generator. Adding an electric fan
into the mix was just ridiculous.
Of course your mileage may vary. (probably will)
If your car overheats standing still, but not climbing hills or mountains,
I'd look at the air flow before going to the trouble and expense of recoring
a radiator.
Lastly .. I'll also say that my father bought one of the very last TR4A's in
1968.
My mom still curses about that car constantly overheating in the traffic
jams around Atlanta.
The dealer couldn't seem to do anything to fix it. That's when it was brand
new!
Scott Tilton
1963 TR4 everyday
Leesburg, VA
Nicholas Froome wrote:
> > While sitting (driveway, red lights, city traffic) my 62 TR3B
>> will get hot and overheat. While moving (highway driving, not
>> stop and go) the temp i sfine. I have placed the radiator shroud
>> in, but have not done anything else. My thought is that the
>> radiator needs to be recored as it probably never has been. So I
>> was going to start ripping off the front cowel to get to it. Is
>> there an easier way to determine if it needs to go to the shop?
>> If it doesn't need to go, I can avoid the work and pain of tear down.
>
>Ask your local radiator shop if they can do a flow test with the radiator
>still in the car.
>
>Since it works OK at speed, I'd say the problem is not likely to be the
>radiator ... but a recore that deletes the crank hole is bound to help, no
>matter what the underlying problem is.
See the previous thread about fans for TR4s. Does your car have an
engine-driven fan or
an electric one? If it's the former I suggest installing an electric fan
with a
thermoswitch and a manual override, plus a fan indicator on the dash
Although recoring the rad might be a good idea, installing an electric fan
is
definitely a good idea, IMHO
If you remove the fan and the extension piece on the nose of the crank you
will disturb
the beautifully-balanced nature of the Triumph pig-iron tractor engine
(harumph,
harumph) and should use a harmonic balancer. But I think most people don't
bother...
Just bear in mind that if this overheating is a new phenomenon it may have a
deeper
cause. Check that the car isn't losing water and that the cylinder head
gasket isn't
failing. See my earlier post on this topic
Nick Froome
http://www.bolide.co.uk <http://www.bolide.co.uk>
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