Now that we've got rid of my screeching fan belt noises, here's a new
question for the list.
I've moved to a very hot (in the summer) neighborhood (southern
Arizona). It's been 100-110 degrees out for the last couple of weeks.
With outside temps over 105 or so, the Tiger's water temps. get a bit
higher than I like, hitting 220 or even 230 in stop and go driving. It
goes down a bit at highway speeds. The guage temp. readings are accurate
within about 5 degrees, as I spent a lot of time a couple of years ago
calibrating the guage. The car does not loose a drop of water, but I'd
be a lot happier around 190-200 degrees on the guage. In cooler weather,
by the way, it runs proportionally cooler. The radiator (new last year)
is in perfect condition, and I use a Gano filter with it to keep it clean.
At idle, I notice a pretty good small stream of very hot air coming out
from the drivers side back corner of the hood, where my hood does not
fit quite perfectly. This got me to thinking if propping the hood open
slightly during very hot weather will help the car cool a bit better. I
figure any hot air I can get out of the engine compartment would be a
good thing. I have known that the Rootes factory road racing and rally
cars (Tigers included) often ran with their hoods like this, maybe an
inch or two open. If you have the "Tiger, An Exceptional Motorcar" book
by William Carroll, check out page 102-103 where it shows and describes
exactly that, and on page 104 at the top where it shows a Tiger winning
the Monte Carlo Rally of 1965, also with the hood propped open this way.
So....I'd like to try this with my Tiger. If it helps, great. If not,
not a big deal. It's easy to prop the hood open (rubber blocks, etc.),
but I can't quite figure, and the pictures aren't clear enough to tell,
how they kept the hood in a fixed position so it didn't "float" open at
high speeds, as I know from experience they will do if not latched down.
Does anyone know what setup they used to do this, or anything that would
accomplish this trick?
Steve Sage
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