France, Spain & Overheating

[skip]

Guys - I know this has been a topic before - apologies, but I can't find the right threads.

I'm driving down thru France to Northern Spain & ferry back to Blighty, late Aug/early Sept. I have a 4.0 Griff with twin fans. I'm worried about overheating. I've read the Bible, which says fit a fan override switch - and I will be ringing Modwise later, although I'm no engineer. Can any garage fit this? - it's difficult to get to nearest TVR dealer tho I'll go if necessary. Also carry spare 40 amp fuses - apparently you can only get these from dealers?

Any other tips? How about draining system & just plain water instead?

Really grateful for your help on this, as my nervousness is spoiling anticipation of trip.

Cheers

[WindsorRob]

I've just driven 3000 miles through France, Switzerland and Italy in a Chim 4.0. I'm not sure if the cooling characteristics of a Grif are different to my car, but all I can say is that I never had any issues with overheating and my car is completely standard. At one point I got stuck in traffic in Rome in the middle of the afternoon (foolish I know !) and although the motor was clearly getting hot - it coped. Every where else - autoroute, fast main roads it held between 70 and 90 on the temp gauge. Before my trip I was a little nervous of this, but certainly wouldn't be second time around.

[FunkyGibbon]

skip said:

I've read the Bible, which says fit a fan override switch - and I will be ringing Modwise later, although I'm no engineer. Can any garage fit this? -

The override kit comes complete with comprehensive instructions. I'm no engineer either, but I fitted it myself no problems.

The only remotely tricky bit is routing the wire round in the dash so the switch replaces the instrument lights switch (on my chim anyway). This is made much easier with a bit of wire coat hanger and gaffer tape!

Took about 2 mins to swap the relay and plug the earth lead in and 10-15 to route the wires around.

[Le TVR]

I used to worry too but if the cooling system is well maintained it should cope. Have even taked an S (notorious cooling!) around Andalousia in August. Saw air temperatures up to 52° and a little coolant loss, quite acceptable IMO.

[burriana500]

Hi Keith... if you look at my profile you'll see three handy threads - "Taking Griff abroad" - "2-speed fans" - "Taking TVR to France".

I'm driving through France to Spain mid August and all I have done is have the cooling system thoroughly checked at it's last service and had a 2-stage cooling kit from Mod-wise fitted, which has made the car run between 80 & 88 instead of 90 & 100.

I'm also taking a 74 degree thermostat (as opposed to the standard 82) with me as a spare - if you don't fit anything else, I would suggest fitting one of these before you go. Easy and cheap!

Have fun

[trefor]

If you've got no problems with the cooling system at the moment (for instance, how did it fare in the 33deg weather earlier this week?) then you should be OK. Fit an override switch like you suggest - good safety measure. Avoid big cities in the rush hour too! Saves you getting too hot as well as the car!

I've driven many miles in Europe in my Chimaera and found the biggest heat related issue is heatsoak up through the clutch pedal - it gets really hot and hurts if you're wearing pumps or similar 'summer shoes'.

Enjoy.


Trefor/.

[griffman]

have a 92 griff aswell and took it to southern spain last year in temps well over 30 degrees. has twin fans and overide aswell. had no probs at all. infact car loved being driven and not stuck in traffic. have a good one.

[Skip]

Thanks for this excellent & reassuring advice. I have spoken to Dave @ modwise - so keen & helpful! - and am going to see him for certainly fan over-ride and poss 2-stage cooling.

Thanks again guys

[burriana500]

griffman said:

have a 92 griff aswell and took it to southern spain last year in temps well over 30 degrees.

And i thought my red griff would be the first for the Costa del Sol

What route did you take? and how long?

[John Taylor]

Have a 4litre Chimaera and have been in France since late April. Had a cool running kit fitted by Peninsular and she very rarely runs over 80 degrees. Suggest some flexible tube like a hoover tube to introduce cooler air into you foot wells.

[burriana500]

John Taylor said:

Suggest some flexible tube like a hoover tube to introduce cooler air into you foot wells.

Am intrigued - from where and via where
presuming you don't mean just straight in over the door sill

[John Taylor]

I'm afriad it is and wedged between the wing mirror. Highly recomended and bing flexible opens with the door

[tamago]

John Taylor said:

I'm afriad it is and wedged between the wing mirror. Highly recomended and bing flexible opens with the door

eh, are you serious? Got a pic? And does it actually work??? When the car is moving the transmission tunnel gets cooler anyway, when it is stuck in traffic having a snake between the legs won't make the footwell cooler? will it??

[burriana500]

tamago said:

eh, are you serious? having a snake between the legs won't make the footwell cooler? will it??

FNARR FNARR

sorry

>> Edited by burriana500 on Tuesday 22 July 09:08

[Skip]

Well I'm back - fantastic trip, will give details separately - but just HAVE to give a big to David Beer - Mr Modwise. The 2-stage cooling worked an absolute and the gauge NEVER went above horizontal, even sitting in traffic at 39C in the Auvergne, or 25 minute ferry queue at Santander.

If you have any worries about overheating - JFDI!!!

[sgrimshaw]

Hi Skip,

Glad the trip went well.

? about the modwise kit.

Did you find it easy to fit?

My mech ability is severely limited, though I expect it to improve exponentially since I have a 99 Chimaera 4.0 (my first TVR) arriving on Friday

Thanks

Si

[burriana500]

Si - see my post...
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=13&h=&t=54500

entitled 4000 miles in 110 degrees - easy!

that'll give you some idea of the 2-stage cooling kit.

Skip - am mightily impressed with your temp needle never going above horizontal - that's a cool car in th extreme

Glad to hear you had a good trip - isn't Spain ace!

[Skip]

Si - have to fess up that David Beer fitted it for me as I live close to his place & went to collect it. However anyone who is not colour blind and has two hands can do it. To fit the 2-stage unit you do not need any tools apart from a knife to cut tape, cable ties etc. Get some self-adhesive velcro to secure the control unit. All it involves is taping 2 copper sensors to the radiator outlet and reorganising the fan connectors and otter switch spade fittings to accomodate the unit and extra wiring provided.

There is an additional option which involves running a wire to the starter motor, to ease the load on the 40-amp fuse (I think ) which merely involves disconnecting the battery (vital) and unscrewing a nut on the starter - however this is a cow to get to, even with axle stands, I have have not done this yet.

Burriana - my first trip to Spain, but not my last! We don't get much in the way of tapas in Wiltshire, so San Sebastian was a real treat. Scenery in N Spain wonderful, look forward to seeing more of the rest - in the cool Griff of course!

[burriana500]

The trip next March as publicised in this months Sprint and on here looks interesting. Ten TVRs all in a row... the locals 'd have a fit

[david beer]

Iam told its a bit "naff" to discuss or plug your own stuff, so i will. The cable is to halve the demand on the poor ole fuse box, give fan run on after ignition off(just one cycle) and in most cases give a healthy increase in fan performance.