Why..Why..Why..Delilah...

[mrzigazaga]

Hi Peeps..Well the fan came about 11.30am..Fitted it in..Set it up to come on as the thermostat opens..Had a bit of a palaver as the indicator wasnt working so i gave the wire a wiggle and it worked again..Thought id take it for a test drive..It then started to miss and want to die as you throttle it..So i pulled over and had a quick look..Couldnt spot anything,Held the revs on at about 3000rpm and it stopped playing up..It actually felt faster..Went for a round trip of about 7 miles..Then when i pulled up outside my place the coolant boiled over and emptied itself yet again?...All of the rad was hot...The bottom hose was hot..The fan is pulling ok..And i have hot air coming out of the heater so i really dont know what the hell is going on..Yet again its made me look a right tt..Ive spoken to the guy that sold me the fan and he said it pulls 1700cfm which should be more than enough..Im going to switch the blades round the other way even though they dont have to be to see if that makes a difference..Perhaps it needs a cowling or something..I dont really know..Cheers..Ziga

[pk500]

I know it may sound stupid but have you put the fan on the right side of the radiator if its boiling up whilst driving along you may have a circulation problem , water pump? thermostat? radiator?

[Chimpafrolic]

Hi Zig, are you sure it wasn't just a pocket of air still trapped somewhere in the system?

[Jonny weggie]

Mark,

Check that all hoses are tight - re-fill engine and rad with water ensuring theres no air pockets, fill exp tank 3/4 full.
Have you set the fans to come on at 85 degrees approx, let the car tick over for about 20mins untill fans come on automatically and go of again.
Thats how i bleed my system and has worked fine ever since.
I know you've probally tried all this.

good luck.

[wooly350i]

Daft question Mark but you have got fan pulling/pushing air through rad the right way as so much has been said about changing polarity,fan blades etc etc,of coarse you have I shouldn't have asked,I'll shut up. Tell you what Mark if you could make it to my place again we could rig up my power flush pump to take place of rad to make sure water ways through engine are clear.john.

[wooly350i]

Wonder if water pump is knackered.

[Druid]

Don't forget pressure. The system will boil sooner without a decent pressure cap on your system.

[mrzigazaga]

Cheers for the info chaps..I think its the new fan that i bought..I have compared the two and you could dry your hair with the old one...I could fart better than the new one..So to all those who advised me to cut out the bodywork as i was going to do a big "I told you so"...The rad is coming out again and the hacksaw is going in..Should of stuck to me guns..After all its had a recore to the rad and had 3x put in instead of staggered..A new thermostat and housing..I bled the system and everything got hot as it should so it seems to point towards the fan being of ste blowage..Cheers..Ziga

[JR]

Chimpafrolic said:

Hi Zig, are you sure it wasn't just a pocket of air still trapped somewhere in the system?

You'll be driving a wedge soon!

Yes, bleed the system was my first thought too.

[JR]

Zig, if you cut the bodywork in the way that you described before it will seriously weaken the fibreglass unless you install a downstand about the same depth as your cut out (20mm?) and extending each side of the cut out about twice the depth of the cut out. To do this simply grind/sand the underneath of the fibreglass to roughen it up and stick on place a cut to size piece of aluminium gauze then glass over with 300g/m2 fibreglass matting.

[mrzigazaga]

Cheers for the advice peeps..The fan...Wait for it..Does fit without cutting the bodywork.. ..I had to put the fan in there first and then the rad..It was a bit of a struggle but the fan is on and connected via the brackets i bought..They are attached to the rad support and the fan sits tight on the rad as before..I turned the fan on and you can really feel the difference..BUT..Because im a clumsy oaf i leant on the fuel pipe which is attached to the WUR and split the pipe....I have already used the spare one i had as the original one was leaking..They are the heat pressed ones and they dont make them anymore..I will have to see if the ford guy has another spare..I really think that the fan i bought was causing the problem as the airflow was so weak in comparison with the old fan, Everything else was hot hot hot so i know the flow was correct..When it cooled enough for me to take the header tank cap off i put the thermometer in there and it went off the scale....Plus the fan was a cheepy...But now i wont know until i can locate another high pressure heat pressed fuel line..Cheers..Ziga

[wooly350i]

Mark your wedge is a he-she,pumps you to up to ecstacy one day and pumps one up you the next!

[jeff m2]

mrzigazaga said:

..Im going to switch the blades round the other way even though they dont have to be to see if that makes a difference..Perhaps it needs a cowling or something..I dont really know..Cheers..Ziga

If it's a puller (engine side of the rad) the convex side if the blade should face the rad.

Mark you need to park next to another 280 and check every hose, because something is wrong.
I suspect you have a hose routing problem.

What is the pressure rating of the cap on your plastic tank?

[JR]

jeff m2 said:

because something is wrong.

I agree and with Mr Tank also. Unless you were stuck in a big jam you shouldn't need the fan at all on a 7 mile run.

[mrzigazaga]

Hi Jeff..The cap pressure is 13lbs..I have one with the lever type operation which is set to 16lbs but thought it might be too high?..The capri manual says..12.1 to 15.6 lbf/in2..
I have plastic welded the pinhole in the fuel line with the same plastc from an old fuel line so if that does the trick then i will be able to test it..I dont really want to put the proper strength coolant in just in case it ends up all over the floor again, But if its ok i dont want to be draining it out again as the bottom rad hose is so tight that i would have to lift the rad up to undo it..Fingers crossed..Cheers..Ziga

[mrzigazaga]

pk500 said:

I know it may sound stupid but have you put the fan on the right side of the radiator if its boiling up whilst driving along you may have a circulation problem , water pump? thermostat? radiator?

Hi Mate..I have had a new water pump..Thermostat..Rear housing and a recored radiator with a 3 core put in..It circulates ok and there is hot air coming out of the heater..Yes i had the fan on the engine side as it was a puller but have put the old one on the nosecone side as it is a pusher..
UPDATE:
I have seem to of stopped the fuel line from leaking with the bit of plastic welding i did and the fan is coming on at temperature..You can feel the draught on the opposite side and its a strong as the fan i bought but that one pulled air and the old one is pushing it through the rad so there is a considerable amount of difference..When i opened the header tank no water bubbled out and the fan switched off at 85 degrees C..It wasnt on long after i switched off so its definitely cooling better..So far so good..Im going to go out in a bit and give it a good run out so everything crossed..Iam touching my wood....Cheers..Ziga

[Mr Tank]

Mark

Not wanting to upset things but let's work out what's wrong. (For the last time I hope)

It appears that you car started overheating for some reason!

So!

You have changed the thermostat! (Plus one of the housings because the threads were sriped)
You have had the rad recored and upgraded! (At some expenses)
You have changed the fan to a new puller type from a pusher! (Again at some expenses)

But it still overheats!

So!

Have you checked the water pump?
Did you put all the hoses back in the correct order?

Andy

[Mr Tank]

Mark

Just seen you last post (That's timming) and you say you have replaced the water pump! Did you do it or was it done before you got the car?

Andy

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

JR said:

Zig, if you cut the bodywork in the way that you described before it will seriously weaken the fibreglass unless you install a downstand about the same depth as your cut out (20mm?) and extending each side of the cut out about twice the depth of the cut out. To do this simply grind/sand the underneath of the fibreglass to roughen it up and stick on place a cut to size piece of aluminium gauze then glass over with 300g/m2 fibreglass matting.

The piece he wanted to cut is way over engineered, I've cut much bigger bits out of mine on the racer to allow easier removal of the exhausts, and I've not restrengthened it, and I've since drop the whole engine on it by mistake and it only did very minor damage. a lot of the racers have removed it completely so it does not do much anyway.

[mrzigazaga]

Mr Tank said:

Mark

Just seen you last post (That's timming) and you say you have replaced the water pump! Did you do it or was it done before you got the car?

Andy

Hi Andy..The ford garage fitted a new water pump around six months ago..I have taken the puller fan off as the airflow was ste compared to the old one..I have managed to squeeze the old fan back in but not without a struggle where i snapped a fuel line from the WUR but have plastic welded it up..I also managed to do it without cutting the bodywork..I ran it up earlier and everything seems to be ok..The draught coming from the engine side from the fan..(Pusher) is considerably more than the one i bought the other day..(Puller) which is being sent back..The rad was definitely blocked as it had a staggered core and has been replaced with a 3x core so it was well worth the dosh..
Im just charging the battery and will take it out for a run down the A roads..(50mph) and see what happens..But so far the fan is kicking in at the right temp and going off at the same temp..The rad is hot all over including the bottom hose so i know the thermostat is opening..And i have set the fan to come on when this happens..So fingers crossed its done..Now i can move onto the next thing......Cheers..Ziga