Cooling problems all gone!!!!!!
Discussion
I just finished installing my radiator I got from JAE. All I have to say is this baby really works. It has 2 rows of 1" tubes making the overall area twice as big as stock and the additional benefit of all aluminum construction. It is 11 pounds lighter and has 3-11" Spal fans. Cruising, I now have a 10 deg drop from before. In traffic, it never goes above 83 even in the hot Cali weather. I thought about recores and all but it didn't make sense given the stock design problems.
If I were to buy another esprit, I would do this mod right away to never worry of overheating our very expensive motors! Give Jeff at JAE a call he can tell you all about it! It was a direct bolt-in with not one mod.
Cheeers from a supercooled esprit owner,
Dindo
PS: go to kato's site and see my mod in my webshots file under my car
>>> Edited by d didit on Thursday 23 October 19:46
>>> Edited by d didit on Thursday 23 October 19:47
If I were to buy another esprit, I would do this mod right away to never worry of overheating our very expensive motors! Give Jeff at JAE a call he can tell you all about it! It was a direct bolt-in with not one mod.
Cheeers from a supercooled esprit owner,
Dindo
PS: go to kato's site and see my mod in my webshots file under my car
>>> Edited by d didit on Thursday 23 October 19:46
>>> Edited by d didit on Thursday 23 October 19:47
With the 3 spal fans, the total came out to $1200.00. A good price to me since it bolted right in with no hassles at all. I'm not sure how much it will cost for shipping since JAE is just a city away from me. I guess the best thing to do is contact Jeff and he can give you all the details.
Dindo
Dindo
Hmmm... sounds very interesting. I can get Spal fans for reasonable prices... does JAE sell just the aluminum radiator by itself? I plan to replace the original radiator on the V8 as it's simply inadequate for the power it generates now. Adding intercoolers would easily lead to cooling problems.
Regards, KM
2000 V8
Regards, KM
2000 V8
Yes, they do sell the radiator by itself. I don't know what the price was since I wanted to replace my fans and not worry about problems and noise in the future. If you look at my site webshots "d didit" you can see that a nice plate was made to shroud the fans. Also, it had waterproof AMP connectors for secure watertight connection.
Dindo,
Just hit your website... wow, very nice. This is exactly what I've been looking to design since I had my radiator develop a leak earlier this year... and I would add that the quality of the original is quite poor. I was able to resolder the endtank and it's been fine ever since, but I'm just not happy with the stock setup. It's probably worth the extra $$ just to save me some design and fabrication time on the fans and mounting. Thanks for the post and info on this... I'm a happy camper.
Regards, KM
2000 V8
Just hit your website... wow, very nice. This is exactly what I've been looking to design since I had my radiator develop a leak earlier this year... and I would add that the quality of the original is quite poor. I was able to resolder the endtank and it's been fine ever since, but I'm just not happy with the stock setup. It's probably worth the extra $$ just to save me some design and fabrication time on the fans and mounting. Thanks for the post and info on this... I'm a happy camper.
Regards, KM
2000 V8
Although I don't seem to be having any problems with my current radiator, I am definatly keeping this in mind being that I live in the south with hot summers. Did you install it yourself? How difficult was it? I imagine the worst part would be purging all the air out of the system after the install.
On a related note, what is the minimum "acceptable" operating temp for an S4? With my last "hotrod" a 347 supercharged Mustang, it had mixture problems because it wasn't getting up to temp.
By the way Dindo, every time I pull up picts of your S4, I have to go through every shot. That is a good looking Esprit. I think the wheels add soo much to the look. Have you looked into some Lotus emblems for the center caps on the wheels? I have been considering finding some for mine.
John
94 S4
http://24.25.100.254/
On a related note, what is the minimum "acceptable" operating temp for an S4? With my last "hotrod" a 347 supercharged Mustang, it had mixture problems because it wasn't getting up to temp.
By the way Dindo, every time I pull up picts of your S4, I have to go through every shot. That is a good looking Esprit. I think the wheels add soo much to the look. Have you looked into some Lotus emblems for the center caps on the wheels? I have been considering finding some for mine.
John
94 S4
http://24.25.100.254/
Hi everyone,
The install, for now I have to say it was very easy. The hardest part was the radiator duct mounting bolts on the driver side. Kinda hard to get to but I was able to squeeze my arm in so that I did not have to loosen any of the powermaster components. If it is a V8, I would say it would take about 5 hours for the total job. It took me 3.5 hours to take off, didn't know everything, then it took me only 3 to put the new one in. The hardest part was the wait for the radiator. Purging is so easy since all you have to do is open the petcock to relieve the pressure and repeat after you have driven the car for a few miles. I like that I can now open it without the worry of the old pipe plug coming completely off and coolant gushing out.
So, from a scale of 1-10, 10 hardest, I have to say this is about a 4. Kinda like a timing belt change without any worries like positons, tension.
I am much happier now so the only thing I have to do next to make my car worthy of a cross country is change the clutch!
Cheers!
Dindo
The install, for now I have to say it was very easy. The hardest part was the radiator duct mounting bolts on the driver side. Kinda hard to get to but I was able to squeeze my arm in so that I did not have to loosen any of the powermaster components. If it is a V8, I would say it would take about 5 hours for the total job. It took me 3.5 hours to take off, didn't know everything, then it took me only 3 to put the new one in. The hardest part was the wait for the radiator. Purging is so easy since all you have to do is open the petcock to relieve the pressure and repeat after you have driven the car for a few miles. I like that I can now open it without the worry of the old pipe plug coming completely off and coolant gushing out.
So, from a scale of 1-10, 10 hardest, I have to say this is about a 4. Kinda like a timing belt change without any worries like positons, tension.
I am much happier now so the only thing I have to do next to make my car worthy of a cross country is change the clutch!
Cheers!
Dindo
I recently had the entire front end down on a 2000 V8. I also wound up taking the oil coolers (bridge line goes thru the radiator duct), horns, etc. down did some other maintenance as well (in addition to repairing the radiator). I did not find any of it very difficult, then again having a lift helps immensely. In addition to the new raditor/fan assembly, I plan to adding fans for the oil coolers and some additional control circuitry to vary the fans on low speed based on outlet water temperature to resolve the temp swings in stop&go traffic. Anyway, I'd agree with Dindo's estimate on time... about right.
Regards, KM
2000 V8
Regards, KM
2000 V8
Well, if the Spal fans aren't running, their effect is zero. Considering that the fans are only engaged for A/C or when the engine water temp rises above 100 C, they won't add anything until that happens. As a result I would think most of the benefit would come from the new radiator. However, the Spal fans will certainly move more air and with a better shroud (which wouldn't be difficult considering the original) will be much more effective.
You are correct however, that there is more power required to keep the car rolling along at 70mph vs 20mph, but the amount of air flow at 70mph is considerably higher so you really shouldn't expect cooling problems at higher speeds.
I have found on the V8 that the cooling system is inadequate. On a hot South Florida day (90+ F) with the A/C engaged, the temperature will creep above 90 C in stop&go traffic. Note that the 3 fans are running continuously and the thermostat is an 82 C unit. The simple fact that it (temp) creeps proves that there is more heat being generated than the cooling system can handle. This is why I plan to replace the radiator and fans and add fans for the oil coolers as well (every bit helps).
Even with the new improved radiator, the temperature will creep in stop&go traffic (with no A/C running) until the ECM engages the fans when the temp goes above 100 C due to lack of air flow. This is why I will also add some additional control circuitry to maintain a narrow output temperature from the radiator. This will allow the thermostat to work normally and the end result should be near-perfect temperature regulation regardless of ambient temperatures and traffic conditions, with or without the A/C.
Regards, KM
2000 V8
You are correct however, that there is more power required to keep the car rolling along at 70mph vs 20mph, but the amount of air flow at 70mph is considerably higher so you really shouldn't expect cooling problems at higher speeds.
I have found on the V8 that the cooling system is inadequate. On a hot South Florida day (90+ F) with the A/C engaged, the temperature will creep above 90 C in stop&go traffic. Note that the 3 fans are running continuously and the thermostat is an 82 C unit. The simple fact that it (temp) creeps proves that there is more heat being generated than the cooling system can handle. This is why I plan to replace the radiator and fans and add fans for the oil coolers as well (every bit helps).
Even with the new improved radiator, the temperature will creep in stop&go traffic (with no A/C running) until the ECM engages the fans when the temp goes above 100 C due to lack of air flow. This is why I will also add some additional control circuitry to maintain a narrow output temperature from the radiator. This will allow the thermostat to work normally and the end result should be near-perfect temperature regulation regardless of ambient temperatures and traffic conditions, with or without the A/C.
Regards, KM
2000 V8
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