Dave,
I've been through all this with my 60 Sprite before. You need to
use a mix of 30% anti-freeze to water and mix in Water Wetter. Remove
the electric fan as it blocks the air flow through the radiator. Use a
6 bladed plastic fan on the water pump. I changed to a high capacity
water pump from APT, this also helped. My radiator is a three row core
that is an Austin Healey replacement, that is to say it is the
horizontal width wise 12 per inch fins like the original 2 row core. A
3 row chevy core would be more effective because of increased fin area,
and it fits. Like others have mentioned, NEVER close your water heater
valve. It creates a hot spot at the number 4 cylinder. A hot spot such
as this will cause a steam barrier between the cylinder wall and the
anti-freeze. You won't get any heat transfer in this area and the rest
of the engine will be that much hotter. A blanking sleeve is not
necessary unless you are racing at high speed all the time. Better to
get a hold of Norman Nock in Stockton, California and order this sliding
sleeve thermostat. The original bellows type thermostat that came with
your early Sprite/Midget had a sleeve that would slide down as the
thermostat opened when the water warmed up. This sleeve covered a
bypass hole in the side of the thermostat hole wall. This hole sent hot
water back to the cylinders to aid in quick warm-up. The sliding sleeve
thermostat would close this off when the engine was sufficiently warm
and the proper cooling was accomplished. A blanking sleeve also covers
this hole so you might try it to see if it helps. I am also running
Evan's NPG+ Waterless Anti-Freeze that has a boiling point of 375 F
degrees. This does not allow the steam barrier to happen and constant
contact of anti-freeze to metal allows correct heat transfer. Even if
your engine goes up to 225F it is O.K. because the NPG is transferring
heat and will not boil at such a low temp. The ambient temps here in
San Bernardino have been over 100 degrees lately. I take my Bugeye out
and it gets up to 220 at a long stop light and then goes down to 190
when I start moving again. High water temps do not bother me anymore.
Mike MacLean-60 Sprite
Dave Yealy wrote:
>I tried 3 different guages, 2 Smiths and 1 Jaeger, plus the little laser
>handheld temp guage. All the guages and the laser read the same thing within
>3 degrees of each other.
>I do have the heater valve shutoff since it got so hot in the footwells. I
>have insulated the footwells recently but never turned the valve back on.
>I'll try this tomorrow.
>I don't remember what plugs I'm running, my british car mechanic said these
>were what I needed. He should know, right ?
>As for an internal fan, all I have is the pressed tin OE one for the
>948/1098 engines. I even tried running it without the OE fan, just the
>electric one, no difference either way.
>Coolant mixture is 50/50 water/anti-freeze, is this too rich?
>Thermostat has been changed 3 times within the past 2 weeks.
>The bugeye radiator shrouds are still in place.
>The electric fan doesn't make any difference as far as blocking air. I put
>it in because the engine was running around 200 degrees and it still runs
>there with the fan in place, it just cools it off quicker after the engine
>is stopped.
>The highest I have seen the guage is 212. The radiator has been tested to 22
>lbs. pressure with no leaks.
>Timing has been checked by the above mechanic.
>Looks like I'm in the market for a bigger water pump pulley and the plastic
>"tropical" fan. Anyone have any available?
>
>Dave
>60 Bugeye
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