'NNN' and the overheat saga

[morris_carl]

I can confirm the same issue on mine , but I stuck my digital gauge into the top hose , running around town it sat half way at 88oC, in the bypass the gauge slowly crept towards red but the temp was around 90oC, so under load it went up , but I found when going back to normal driving the temp dropped but the gauge didn't ,not for a long time !

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[mickthefitter]

Okay, well my rad badly needs repairing anyway because of the leak. And general tattyness with the bottom plate off and bits rattling inside it despite the thorough flushing. I used one of those infra red things at my workplace a few times in the late 90s on industrial machinery. No doubt they were hyper expensive then. If there are cheaper versions around now, I'll get one.

[Marinanut]

Laser temp gauges are on ebay. Usually about £15.

(Really good for winding cats up...... not that I'd know........ )

[morris_carl]

I believe its a water flow issue rather then a cooling one ,i think the water just isn't going around quick enough, I have drilled some holes in the stat around the edge and its improved it a fair amount

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[morris_carl]

And just a random one , if you have the fan on the front of the rad , make sure its pushing air into the rad not pulling it out otherwise it will make things worse when it's on !

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[mickthefitter]

And just a random one , if you have the fan on the front of the rad , make sure its pushing air into the rad not pulling it out otherwise it will make things worse when it's on !

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It's pushing - everyone says it shouldn't be needed and I agree. I think they are useful for big traffic jams in hot weather though - last year I attended a vintage hill climb speed trial and some immaculate 1920s vintage tourers had rather discretely mounted electric fans fitted for such eventualities!

[mickthefitter]

I collected this yesterday (no, it isn't on yet!) Looks good like this - I hope it works. For the record, £160 + VAT = £192. Possibly more expensive than some Morris Marinas. This is my first big spend. More to come I suspect. A Gunsons Carbalancer is due for delivery from Amazon today too, So I can start having fun with twin SUs when I've only ever meddled with one before.

[marinabuoy]

Sure what else would you rather be spending your money on!


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[jiversteve]

Ok, sticking my neck out again with a slightly odd suggestion.
Why not drop a couple of dishwasher tablets into the rad!
I have read both good and bad about the idea, but I have cast iron pans, aluminium pans and all sorts none of which have no particularly noticeable damage after several years. It must be rather like Calgon, but most parts in a washing machine are low grade stainless,generally not found in a 70's engine.
If a previous owner has been topping the car up with tap water and no antifreeze, most of the calcium deposits will be invisible without pulling core plugs out.
There may be some differences as car engines generally run a lot hotter than a dishwasher or washing machine.

This idea has been at the back of my mind for some time, but until now has not gone into print. Don't shoot the messenger but I would be interested in your thoughts.

[Morris McKinnon]

I've used washing powder and does a good job. I put a cup of powder in and run the car for a week then changed it and did the same four or five times until the water drained clean, water was filthy the first few changes and loads of deposits in the water. The engine in TDT still overheats but worked a treat on my 71 saloon

[MarinaCoupe]

Loking forward to hearing how the new rad works out, from my experience the piece of mind it gave meant that I was prepared to drive it anywhere


Chris

[mickthefitter]

Sure what else would you rather be spending your money on!

LOL! Indeed!

[mickthefitter]

Ok, sticking my neck out again with a slightly odd suggestion.
Why not drop a couple of dishwasher tablets into the rad!

Err....no, I don't fancy that. I have a rather unimaginative and unadventurous approach to altering machinery in most cases. I always remember back to the 1990s when I worked in engineering in a cable making factory, and our 'chief engineer' of the day (an import rather than somebody who'd worked up through the ranks, as in the old days) had bought a new winding take-up machine - a cancelled order for somebody else he'd got on the cheap, I think - and had decided it must be installed at the end of the line at 90 degrees to its designed working axis due to floor space restrictions, and this would entail making floor mounted posts with turnaround pulleys to try to make the cable pay onto the drums that would now be working sideways to the line of travel that was intended, and the way that thousands of metres of electrical cable would now be feeding off - potentially putting twists and bulges in the core and not producing a good product. My foreman - a good man, sadly no longer with us, was always in conflict with this chief engineer over his ideas, but on this occasion was so hacked off he just decided to put the machine in, with me as his assistant, and be blowed when it wouldn't work, it would be Mr. Gamble's fault. (Gamble by name, gamble by nature, we used to say). Ken my foreman was really wazzed off, and was grumbling and moaning all the time about the job. I got a tape measure, measured up the floor space, and the machine would go in how it was meant to. It would mean the control panel was in the wrong aisle, but the machine would function as intended and save us a lot of work making posts and pillars that wouldn't work. I persuaded Ken that's what we should do, and stuff Mr. Gamble's plans. The machine worked fine. Yeah, a non-Marina rambling anecdote, but unless I can see clear advantages for altering a maker's design (such as a more efficient radiator matrix!) I'm not very experimental!

[mickthefitter]

Loking forward to hearing how the new rad works out, from my experience the piece of mind it gave meant that I was prepared to drive it anywhere


Chris

Hopefully i'll be doing it tomorrow and the first stage is binning the Kenlowe now that the radiator is restored to standard fitting. Well, I shan't literally bin it as it is a perfectly good Kenlowe fan, and the wiring will remain for the time being, but the fan and the ironmongery that relocated the rad will be coming off, and fingers crossed that will be one problem I can cross off the list.

[mickthefitter]

By the way I've got my Carbalancer now - what a simple piece of kit that is.

One thing still confuses me though. Sir.

("What's that, Lieutenant? I'm a very busy man, you know...")

Well, you see...I get that the Carbalancer is for matching the throttle butterfly positions between the twin carbs, but I have a Colortune spark plug, and with one SU, it is easy to see how you can check that the fuel mixture is making a blue flame, by winding that brass nut up and down underneath the SU - but what do you do when there are two? How do you get two SUs to put out the same fuel mix by either using a Colortune or even just by listening for uneven running as you turn the nut? Do you simply do each one in turn as if it were a single carb? What if one is way out to start with?