[Healeys] Thermostat

[HealeyRick]

 Cooling is the bane of any Nasty Boy and I have been trying to get my temps
into liveable zones.  I live in New 
England, but we still get into the 90s in
the summer.  I have an 
upgraded stock radiator with an extra cooling row
installed. I started 
out with a mechanical fan with a Texas Kooler.  It did
ok at speed, but 
would get hot quite quickly at idle or in traffic.  I added
a Maradyne 
14" auxiliary pusher (see the link in my signature for that
installation) but still didn't get me where I wanted to be, with temps 
right
around 220 degrees at idle and 225 on the highway in 85 degree 
weather.  I'm
trying to avoid the expense of an aluminum  radiator, and 
doing some research
read up on surfactants (Water Wetter, Purple Ice, etc.)  They advertise up to
30 
degree drop in temp, which is probably hogwash, but if I could get a 10
degree drop, I'd be happy.  I settled on DEI Radiator Relief
http://www.designengineering.com/category/catalog/thermal-chemicals/radiator-
relief-16oz after looking at a few online tests.  Surfactants work best with
100 percent distilled water or with a small amount of anti-freeze.  DEI
recommends 20 or 30 
anti-freeze to water mixture.  If you run straight water,
you'll need an additive to lubricate your water pump and for anti=corrision
protection. I installed the DEI this morning with a 20 percent 
antifreeze/
distilled water mix.  Outside temps were about 90 degrees.  I let the car idle
for a 1/2 hr and it never went over 210 degrees ( the 
Maradyne aux fan is set
to kick on at 190 degrees,  The car has a 180 
degree thermostat).  On the
highway It continued to remain at 210 degrees.  Small block Fords run hot and
this is an acceptable 
range.  

If I had a stock Healey, I'd probably make
the following improvements to 
the cooling system.  Try the DEI product with
distilled water and a 
small amount of anti freeze.  The stuff is $10 a
bottle, so you're 
not risking much.  Try to find a Texas Kooler equivalent, I
know they 
are still out there and are still relatively inexpensive.  Making
your 
own radiator shroud could also be helpful, see here for example; 
http://www.cadvision.com/blanchas/54pontiac/FanShroud.html  but it's not going
to look original.  After that, you're looking into an upgraded or aluminum
radiator.  
 
Rick


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