GT6 thermostats

[heraldcoupe]

What problems were you experiencing with the original system, before making your modifications?

Cheers,
Bill.

[smithy]

timbancroft61 wrote:

I still believe that a std GT6 will cope with the std radiator....

Quite right, as mine does.  :X

[black6osprey]

My car is clearly the devils spawn but works no probs.

Standard rad, 13” Kenlowe blower mounted on brackets in front of rad (heretic!!) & no cowls of any type (burn him!).

Last week my company car was suddenly ill and I had no choice but to use my GT6 as the coolest rep mobile in the country 8)

Did 2 hours on motorway averaging around 75 - 80mph and never got above halfway on the gauge, same as ever. Wouldn't exactly recommend this to a friend as it all seems quite wrong but its worked like this a long while and has never had any overheating issues since its installation by the previous owner.

[firebobby]

4196 wrote:

My car is clearly the devils spawn but works no probs.

Standard rad, 13” Kenlowe blower mounted on brackets in front of rad (heretic!!) & no cowls of any type (burn him!).

Last week my company car was suddenly ill and I had no choice but to use my GT6 as the coolest rep mobile in the country 8)

Did 2 hours on motorway averaging around 75 - 80mph and never got above halfway on the gauge, same as ever. Wouldn't exactly recommend this to a friend as it all seems quite wrong but its worked like this a long while and has never had any overheating issues since its installation by the previous owner.

My car is set up exactly the same as yours BO, and although I have never driven it, when I have it running in the garage for long periods (not smoothly), the gauge never goes near the half way mark, the Kenlowe kicks in once up to temperature.

[hymodyne]

Bought it as a non-runner in 2009, went to Africa for 5 months, came back, started it once, and began a frame off rebuild, so I don't know how it performed before.

James

heraldcoupe wrote:

What problems were you experiencing with the original system, before making your modifications?

Cheers,
Bill.

[heraldcoupe]

2572 wrote:

Bought it as a non-runner in 2009, went to Africa for 5 months, came back, started it once, and began a frame off rebuild, so I don't know how it performed before.

I'd assumed you were trying to fix a cooling problem.

Why don't you revert to the standard system?

Cheers,
Bill.

[Nick Jones]

Question has been asked several times but not seen it answered.

What makes you think it's overheating?  A gauge in the red is one thing, could be overheating, could be the gauge lying to you.  Steam and hot water blowing out of the overflow - that's overheating!

That looks like a nice rad but I see a major problem with the install.  Unless you have a header tank somewhere that I can't  see, you are never going to get enough water in the system as the fill point is well below the thermostat housing and also below the waterways in the head.  If the system isn't full it won't flow properly or transfer heat properly.

The original system does work when in good condition and when completely full.  There are also some nice modernisations been done using Golf and Peugeot 205 radiators (cheap, effective and they fit).  These all use header tanks (usually mounted back on the bulkhead) and tend to have the top of the rad angled forward.

Roy Laceys is a nice example and I thing Tim Ward has done something similar too.

Lean mixture and retarded ignition also cause overheating......

Nick

[Bradley1500]

Talking of gauges lying, Dad had a Capri 2.8 Special last year.

We were coming back from Luton (going home to Hemel) after buying some compound to mop the car. The car had performed fine all the way there and had been given a fair bit of stick, kept an eye on the worry gauges but all bang on where they should be (except the fuel which was going down pretty quick). Around 5 mins from home we came off a roundabout and up a fairly steep but short bit of hill when the car lost all power and the engine really started knocking.

Dad nursed the car home as we weren't far away. Opened the bonnet and there was a bloody great hole rad! But still the temp gauge read fine. We thought it was smelling a bit hot on the way home but assumed this was from all the fun we were having. Don't trust what a gauge reads!

We let it cool down, record the rad and all was well but think we were bloody lucky!

Bradley.

Bradley.

[hymodyne]

The changes were made to the original system in an effort to prepare the car for other types of driving beside back and forth to work. I wanted to provide a compensation for issues with heat and this car that I have read and heard about and experienced with a 64 spit and a 68 gt6 I have previously owned. Research led me to understand that the fiero rad, the one I have in this car, was also a viable replacement like the Peugeot and the Golf  rad. When I got the rad, I knew I was going to have trouble, but I decided to take it as a challenge and see if I couldn't resolve some of the issues the position creates through more efficient capture of the air. The shrouds are right next to the side tanks on the radiator, and the top hump matches with the underside of the hood. With the addition of a bleeder valve I hope to make my unnecessary changes to the original design a little more worth while ;).
Cheers,
James