[Healeys] Overheating

Michael Salter michaelsalter at gmail.com
Sun Mar 7 19:58:39 MST 2021


Oops my bad ..
The circulation is as Bob described.
The outlet  from the radiator is the bottom hose.

M

On Sat., Mar. 6, 2021, 5:51 p.m. Michael Salter, <michaelsalter at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks for all that Bob.
> One comment regarding increasing the cooling system pressure.
> I rebuild quite a few Healey water pumps and can say unequivocally that
> the seal type used in both the early and late style of 6 cylinder pump will
> not handle much more than 7 p.s.i.
> I would not recommend trying that approach.
>
> M
>
> On Sat., Mar. 6, 2021, 4:58 p.m. , <rfbegani at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Bob & Mike:
>>
>>
>>
>> You both may have seen my requests on overheating of my BJ8 and the
>> response from the group.  As a result, I purchased an infrared thermometer
>> to determine if my water gauge was giving accurate readings.  The
>> thermometer gun told me that my water gauge was 30 degrees higher than the
>> temperature of the sensor attached to the block.  At the same time, I
>> noticed my gauge will show 120 degrees at rest instead of going down to 90
>> degrees which would indicate a 30-degree high reading.  In May when I leave
>> for cool Michigan, I will send the gauge to Nisonger to be rebuilt.
>>
>>
>>
>> I began to test the temperature of the water going through the cooling
>> system at the inlet to and outlet from the block, inlet and outlet to the
>> radiator and the upper and lower hoses while the engine is running at idle
>> and at 2-3 Thousand rpm.  The chart I created to record these temperatures
>> allowed me to produce observations or averages because the flow of the
>> water is dependent upon the rpms of the engine.  The engine has overheated
>> all of the 40 years I have owned it and has only 1000 miles on the new
>> speedo since rebuilding to 20 over.
>>
>>
>>
>> At the radiator inlet 134 outlet 85 at high rpms with electric fan
>> operating.
>>
>>                         inlet 103 outlet 94 at idle rpms with electric
>> fan operating.
>>
>>
>>
>> The above temperatures are recorded at the inlet and all along the hoses.
>>
>>
>>
>> These temperatures indicate the pump is circulating water with sufficient
>> gallons to cool the engine only when the engine is at high rpms.  At idle
>> the pump does not circulate sufficient water to keep the engine cool.  This
>> is especially true when you have been operating the engine at high speed
>> and come down to 30 – 40 mph and stop and go traffic.  Maybe the real
>> answer is to install an electric pump for constant cooling water?
>>
>>
>>
>> In the past week, I have installed a large Dorman coolant recovery tank
>> and a new 7 psi 1 inch radiator cap because I learned that our radiators
>> have a long neck.  Both those changes have reduced my problem of very high
>> overheating and resulting boiling over.  In addition, when my water gauge
>> shows 212 degrees the water temperature is actually 30 degrees less or
>> approximately 185 degrees.  Also, I am not boiling over and loosing
>> coolant.  Nevertheless, the engine water temperature is still spiking to
>> 210 plus degrees true when coming off highway speeds.
>>
>>
>>
>> In my review of various sites, the radiator equipment suppliers and
>> others are recommending increasing the pressure in the classic car systems
>> to 15 psi plus, and coolant recovery tanks “if your coolant system,
>> radiator, hoses etc. is new” and therefore can hold the pressure.
>> Unfortunately, I have not found any maker of a 1 inch depth x 2.33 inch
>> diameter radiator cap except our 7 psi cap so I can try such a pressurized
>> system.
>>
>>
>>
>> Another suggestion on an older discussion at the British Car Forum
>> indicated some of the Ontario car owners had switched to Evans Waterless
>> Coolant rather than 50/50 coolant water mixture.
>>
>>
>>
>> I still have no idea why a minority of our group has overheating
>> problems.  More ideas?
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>
>>
>> Bob Begani 67 BJ8
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Healeys <healeys-bounces at autox.team.net> *On Behalf Of *Michael
>> Salter via Healeys
>> *Sent:* Saturday, March 6, 2021 12:20 PM
>> *To:* Bob Spidell <bspidell at comcast.net>
>> *Cc:* healeys at autox.team.net
>> *Subject:* Re: [Healeys] 100 water pumps
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes Bob, there is something wrong with our assumptions regarding the
>> cooling system not being "large" enough.
>>
>> My wifes Maxima is around 300 HP and the radiator has less area than the
>> 100. Certainly it has a couple of very effective electric fans but they
>> really don't cut in very often unless you have the AC on.
>>
>> I'm suspicious of the rate of circulation but I've talked to Larry Varley
>> about this subject and he indicated that increasing the size of the water
>> pump annular orifice didn't make much difference when he tried it.
>>
>>
>>
>> M
>>
>>
>>
>> M
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 6, 2021 at 11:42 AM Bob Spidell <bspidell at comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> I sold my late father's 1955 Thunderbird to my BFF. These cars have a
>> very similar problem to Healeys overheating, esp. at idle. When Ford
>> stuffed the 292ci Y-Block into the T-Bird, they found the engine was
>> (essentially) too short for the long-hooded car, so they 'engineered'--I
>> use the term loosely--a cast iron spacer to move the fan closer to the
>> radiator. The spacer had the added 'benefit' of severely limiting coolant
>> flow through the pump and radiator; there are some aftermarket fixes and my
>> friend, after doing the usual radiator re-core, better fan, etc. installed
>> both a better pump (larger vanes) and a re-engineered spacer. Attached pic
>> is not of the spacer he used--I can't find the link to it--but it shows the
>> general idea (Ford basically put a 'dam' in the cooling system to block
>> flow, and the improved spacers mostly remove it). It appears this approach
>> has improved cooling, though the engine probably still gets warm if it has
>> to sit too long at idle. Link is to one of the improved pumps:
>>
>>
>> https://www.classictbird.com/Water-Pump-Modified-for-Higher-Output-1-Per-car/productinfo/8501HO/
>>
>> Anyways, after doing all the usual stuff to increase cooling, esp. on my
>> BJ8, I've wondered if a similar approach would work on Healeys. Their pumps
>> have very small vanes, and the cavity in which the vanes operate seems
>> pretty small for such a large lump of cast iron (I'm guessing an uprated
>> radiator core won't help much if the coolant flow is still hampered; at
>> least, that's what I've found). This is probably not an option as, of
>> course, our engines don't have a similar spacer to be improved upon, and it
>> would be a major task to increase both the cavity's size and the pump (but
>> I can dream).
>>
>> ps. The overheating issue with Healeys is usually attributed to too big
>> of an engine in too small of an engine compartment, and too little airflow.
>> But, the engine bay in an old T-Bird is huge by comparison--and the engine
>> not terribly larger in displacement--and still suffers the same problem.
>>
>> Bob
>>
>>
>>
>>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/healeys/attachments/20210307/5687fc58/attachment.htm>


More information about the Healeys mailing list