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Triumph TR6 - electric cooling fans

I'm looking for info from folks that have installed an aux cooling fan. What brand, size, success they've had. I looked at moss hayden model, just think it's a little moss pricey for a fan.
My 70 TR6 runs fine just gets a little hot in stop go traffic, think that's normal. Just looking for what appears to be a relatively simple mod to get me thru drive thru on a hot day : )))
Ian Kinaid

Ian- I installed a fan. The car has not been staerted since as I took on a larger project. I will check my invoices ,but I suggest another supplier. I think I got mine from Summit Racing. Moss is just to expensive on this type of supplies. Do a web search. There is
suprisingly quite a number of TR6 sites that mention electric fans. That is how I made my decision.
Don K.
DON KELLY

Ian-Try this site:www.hottr6.com/triumph/tr6fan.html
It uses a fan available from Jegs.
Berry

continuing my thunkin on this subject.
Anyone had extra rows added to radiator? experience?

how about 160 thermostat?

Seems like radiator mod is cleanest permanent fix, but I kinda like the option of on demand cooling.

Ian Kinaid

My 30 year old rad was shot and had it rebuilt with a tripple core.

I installed an electric fan on the inside in "puller mode" and rigged it up using a temperature switch from the junkyard. I can't remember at what temp it turns on but it works even if a bit late in coming on.

I'm running a 160 degree thermostat.

I use distilled water, a bit of antifreeze and some water wetter.

After doing all that, the thing heats up and pisses all it's contents into the overflow bottle and all over me and my garage.

So I take the ignorance and brute force approach and buy a rad cap with a bigger stronger spring keep the sucker closed. (16 psi)

Well now it's better behaved with the big bandaid on there but still running hotter than firecracker.

So I sit back and think.... why so hot. Oh, yes, she's running a lot lean... so after a couple carb adjustments and test and tune drives, she runs nice and cool. About the 1/4 mark on the highway and the 1/2 mark idling all day.

I guess the original cooling system was properly engineered to provide cooling to the stock engine and really should not need to be upgraded unless the engine has been uprated?

But the engine sounds so much sweeter getting rid of that fan and some say it reduces the stress on the crankshaft as well.

I think a mod that will make things even cooler is to put one of those high flow impellers in the water pump. That apparenly brings the temp down by about 15 to 20%

John Parfitt
73 5 speed.




John Parfitt

Ian,
I have added an electric fan (Hayden brand from Canadian Tire - any brand will do and you might want to add a thermostatic control also - you can buy them way cheaper than Moss!)Well worth it in my opinion. The fan will improve cooling and will free up some horsepower without a doubt. You can mount them as pushers or pullers with pullers being more efficient but requires that you remove the fan extension from the end of the crank and cut it down. At a later date I have also replaced my standard radiator with a modern performance aluminum radiator -this significantly keeps the operating temperature lower too. The incentive to all this work being greater reliability and more power - the cooler the temp the more power! I will add that you dont have to have overheating problems to do this work - there is a lot of room here for reengineering these fine cars!
Michael

John - Going to a 16 psi rad cap will only vent off at 16 psi. You will blow the oval tubes in your rad to a round shape at this pressure and your fins will no longer be in full intimate contact and everything will overheat. Then you'll need a new rad too.

Don Elliott, 1958 TR3A
Don Elliott

Ian,

I had a good radiator & a "puller" fan, but still had overheating problems. Consider the following as a cheap fix:

• Drain some coolant out and pull the water pump. It's probably ok, but check it out for a loose impeller. While you've got it out see if 2 of the 3 studs protrude into the outer area where coolant flows after being accelerated by the impeller. Remove them and cut them down to be flush so they don't hinder coolant flow.

• Pull the thermostat and look down into the water pump housing - you should see a coolant by-pass hole. While it helps the engine warm up faster, it hurts if you've an overheating problem. I cut some threads in it with either a 3/8" or 5/16" tap (can't believe I didn't write that down) and sealed it with an Allen screw. Drill an 1/8" hole in the thermostat "flange" so there is a minimum flow through the pump when the thermostat is closed.

• Install a valve or a hose pinch in the coolant line going to the intake manifold. You'll want that in the winter, but now it's just another by-pass around the radiator. If you don't throttle this flow, the 1/8" hole described above is not needed.

Without these mods my '73 would easily hit the 3/4 mark on the temp gauge when it was 85F outside. Now in 95F it barely goes above 1/2.

Brent B

No need to cut the fan extension down if you use an electric fan . Get rid of it and install a new bolt.
Don K.
DON KELLY

Don-Good point. It is better to fabricate a washer and use another bolt than to butcher the fan extension. Some future owner might want to revert to the original fan. A good idea for any modification, never do what you can't undo.
Berry

Don- thanks for information on the 16 psi cap. I have a new, modern tripple core radiator; does your comment about damaging the core still apply?

Thanks,

John Parfitt
73 5 speed.
John Parfitt

I have a 5 row core in my TR3A and a pusher fan to cool it off in slow traffic. It runs hotter at 80 mph than before because the 10 blades block some air going into the rad. But only 5 or 10 F degrees warmer.

My manual says to use a 4 psi cap so I stick to that. I don't want to blow my core or my hoses at 16 psi. I know many TR racers use a 15 psi cap, but then they are never more than a tow truck away at the end on a race. And they use modern high pressure aluminium rads designed for high pressures. I have no overflow bottle to collect any overflow. It has never overflowed in 13 summers. Even in traffic at 104 deg. F in Boise Idaho on my way to Oregon.

Water boils at 212 F at sea level. At 4 psi, it boils at 225 deg F or so. With a 50/50 antifreese mix, it'll only boil if it gets up to 245 F (if I remember correctly). Use the P1V1/T1 = P2V2/T2 law where 4 psi = 18.7 psi absolute, T is in deg. Rankine (add 460 deg.) and V1 = V2 because the volume is constant. It's all from grade 11 physics.

I don't feel a 16 psi cap gains you anything.

Don Elliott, 1958 TR3A, Montreal
Don Elliott

Today I dropped a 160 thermostat in and richened mixture a little. seems better behaved. 90 muggy degrees today. A lot less creep while static and cools almost immeidiately with short run.
Hot day and it keeps gauge about a dot left of center during run and very slow creep at a long stop (5 mins).
Ian Kinaid

This thread was discussed between 05/07/2003 and 08/07/2003

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