cooling v8

[derrick]

hi guys. need some advise please am fitting a alloy rad with twin fans to keep my series 3 sd1 on su cool as had it all wrong 1st time round. with this i will be putting on a alloy expansion bottle with 3 outlets. 1 under preasure cap which is just blow of to ground. 2 second highest point on tank which will be from bleed pipe between carbs to rad teeded to expansion tank. and 3rd one which is 18 mm to bottom rad hose. will this be ok or is there a better way thanks to all in advance del

[Team Idris]

That sounds wrong. Bleed point is between the carbs as you say, but the other one is in the top of the rad?

It doesn't matter if the two bleed connections are in the bottom of the expansion tank. (or at least, its never bothered mine)

My Theory; Having the end of both bleed lines imersed stops the engine sucking in air as it cools down.

[derrick]

hi thanks for the reply but would that then mean the ex tank would have to sit above the rad or will it be ok at the same level thanks...del

[mickeyw]

Del, and what was your problem first time? I had a 3.5 in my 88, I just had a standard Series 3 rad and expansion bottle and saw no cooling trouble at all. The truck worked hard with heavy trailers and still kept its cool.

[derrick]

Hi mickey ill try and go through it with out making it to long. you can see in my gallery quite well i am running a rad out of a 2.5 na truck no rad cap blowing into series over spill bottle and at the time told not to worry about the one between carbs just blank it of (big mistake) as it was it was not a presuriesed system so didnt move coolant around ran to hot and blew both head gaskets. had them all tested skimend and all back together now.. i dont realy want to go through all that again so have been doing some reserch.. a good move a lot of kit car builders use is to use a seirra high performance rad (ebay shop 130 quid) with two 12" fans and expansion bottle.. this sounded good to me as havnt got thr room for next ad on with the big rad i have now which will be power steering.. the expasion bottle i was thinking of buying has 3 outlets on 1x10mm 1x8mm and out the bottom 1x18mm and was realy hoping some one could tell me the best way to plumb it in. thanks del

[sussex-landy]

Have to say I am with Mickey I have a 3.5 V8 on twin carbs and standard S3 rad stayed in but took the fan off the engine and have a kenlowe sat on the front of mine in front of the rad mainly because the V8 with fan wouldnt fit and was too close to the rad but never had cooling issues and have the one bleed/overflow pipe of the S3 rad into the bottle on the side.

All sounds over the top for a standard v8 in an S3.

[FridgeFreezer]

What they said... but if you've bought the shiny new rad you may as well use it!

Posting a picture of the various bits / system diagram may help people work out exactly what you've got.

[task]

I manage to cool a 3.9 EFi in a 88" with a standard radiator and a kenlowe fan.

[Team Idris]

"hi thanks for the reply but would that then mean the ex tank would have to sit above the rad or will it be ok at the same level thanks...del"

With a rad top-tank bleed and a manifold-bleed the expansion tank will need to be above the fittings for an easy life. But the theory says it doesn't have to be that way, as the rad cap makes it a sealed system once it is bled. Reality is that the bleed hoses make a gradual climb to the tank so they self bleed.

My Ford Pinto engine expansion-tank has a 15mm to the bottom hose and a 'power bleed' squrting into the tank. The tank is way above the rad and engine. I guess the pump sucks from the tank, while the engine bleed line is pumped into it. It works okay, but it isn't much like a RRC set up? Maybe your's will be better in the long run?