Hello Patrick:
I'm driving a Tiger again but I've had numerous Alpines through the years. Most
people forget that Alpines weren't much better in the cooling department, even
when new, than Tigers. I had a brand new Alpine V back in 1967 and when I would
get stuck in traffic in Los Angeles on a hot day, even then the Alpine would
over heat and spit coolant out the overlow tube onto the ground.
I did a couple of things, nothing dramatic, that did dramatically improve my
last Alpine (Series V). Absolutely upgrade the radiator as you suggested. Ditch
that stock factory 4 blade fan and get a six blade plastic fan. The stock fan
barely pulls any air to start with and, in addition, I think they are dangerous.
Here's what happened to mine, and I've heard a similar story from a couple of
other Alpiners. I was pulling into my garage a few years ago, going about 5
miles and hour, if that, and I heard a loud "bang". I got out and the ground
below the Alpine looked like the Exxon Valdez had just been there...oil
everywhere. I turned off the car and pushed it into the garage. Checked the oil
level...way down. I finally figured out what had happened. A blade from the
stock steel fan had flown off with such force that it sliced the oil cooler line
like a razor (the cut was so razor thin there was no evidence of the slice until
I pulled the hose apart, and it had been cut clear through) and gashed into the
cross member about 1/2 inch. If I had been working on the car with and leaning
over the radiator "shroud" and the blade had happened to fly up instead of down,
I probably wouldn't be around to write this. That's the safety part. The cooling
part is that the six blade fan pulls much more serious air through the radiator.
You can immediately feel a big difference and it means better cooling at slow
speeds and idle.
The final tip is to get a radiator overflow tank. I got mine from Pep Boys for
about $7 and just re-installed one in the Tiger. The idea is that you keep the
radiator completely filled, put a little coolant into the overflow tank, and
when things do heat up instead of loosing the coolant on the ground, and you
having to keep filling it up, the hot coolant goes to the overflow tank and the
car refills the radiator for you from the overflow tank when things cool off
again. Also, I am told, and it seems to bear out in my Tiger and the Alpine, by
keeping the raditor completely filled to the top at all times colling is more
efficient.
Good luck.
Steve Sage
(Tiger owner lurking on the Alpine list who likes Alpines almost as much)
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