Chim 500 with Air Con

[chim500nj]

What are the normal temperature running characteristics of a 5 ltr Chim with Air Con? Mine is running at 75 on the motorway rising to 95 in traffic...I am thinking that when summer comes this will rise to 100 in traffic and 80 on the motorway....This seems a bit hot although my Garage told me Air Con models run about 5 hotter than non air con. Is 95-100 okay?

Anyone else with a serpentine 5ltr with air con so I can compare?

[GarryM]

Griff 500 with air con. Runs at 70-90 only ever above 90 once or twice on a mid summer scorcher with air con blasting.

Attended a track day the other day and when checking the water afterwards I heard it gurgle away until there was nothing left in the expansion tank. Filling it up obviously caused an air gap but I drove it anyway - temp up to 90 and stayed there. If it hadn't been a cold day I dare say it would have overheated. You might just check you have not got an air gap in the system as it makes such a difference.

[headlights]

My early Chim 500 has aircon and it runs quite hot as well, it has the later rad on it but in traffic last summer +30C it would go above 90 with the fans running continuously, I have a manual fan override switch which is very useful, I put some water wetter in the rad and fitted a lower temp otter switch, which def made a diff. Just had Mark Adams chip the car, we could compare the Temp gauge reading with the ECU temp reading, and my gauge was spot on when reading 90C. When on the rolling road, it did get hot; Mark would stop the run if the temp got to 98C. He thought it did tend to heat up quicker than others but was not to concerned about it, it was producing very good power & torque (279 & 358)

I've had the car 3 years, it’s never actually overheated and I've never had to
'Pull over' to let it cool down.
Just remembered, Mark said that the best RPM for the water pump is about 1100-1200 rpm, at normal idle; 700-900 the pump is not pumping much water.
The water wetter, otter switch and override are worth having.(from peninsula)
Hope this helps.

[over_the_hill]

Has anyone had AC retro fitted. Not TVR spec. Just a
standard AC kit fitted by an independent ?
Can this be done even. How much should you expect
to pay.

[R4MON]

I have a Chim 500 with A/C (2001) and I found that the temp guage went up to 90 quite quickly last summer - especially in traffic. Fans worked overtime, but it didn't really go over the 90 mark.

[chim500nj]

Thanks guys, I also have a fan override switch I sat it on my drive stationary after a drive today for 10 mins to watch the temp...got to 95 but not any higher when staionary for this time....I put the fan overide on after a bit and this brought the temp down to 90 after a minute or two...

THis seems pretty normal but it runs hotter than my old Chim 4ltr with no Air Con..this hardly ever went above 90...

[mongoose]

i have a 5litre griff which didnt used to have air-con,but now has the std factory air-con which has been retro fitted.i havent noticed any difference in running temperature whatsoever,in any conditions.