Radiator trouble

[stevie_a]

<font color="teal"><b>This is more of a warning than anything else

When fitting an electric fan to a car is a great modification

I did this and I have never looked back until now

the fan its self is fantastic( forgive the pun)

when you buy a fan you get the fan the fittings and sometimes a variable thermostat which is fine

my warning is about the fittings, To attach the fan to the radiator they give you four plastic ties that go right threw the radiator

and tighten up which is great and easy to fit

like this



BUT the reality is with the cords going threw the radiator

act as a saw with the vibration of the car and fan leading to a leak as i have just found out to my pearl

The radiator with the fan attached



This is the ties that go threw the radiator



I think you can see the fan mount



And the damage caused by the ties sawing threw the radiator

It has went threw at two fixing points



Now I know why I lost the coolant on the way down to billing

Bummer</b></font id="teal">

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<font size="4"><font color="green"><i>If it's not broke don't fix it.</i></font id="green"></font id="size4">

[PeterTR7V8]

I found out the hard way too. This was my solution.





The map: http://tinyurl.com/wedgemap . The blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

[stevie_a]

<font color="teal"><b>Do you have a bigger photo of that ???</b></font id="teal">

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<font size="4"><font color="green"><i>If it's not broke don't fix it.</i></font id="green"></font id="size4">

[bmcecosse]

I've wondered about that Stevie - bad luck. Did you catch it in time to avoid any engine problems ?

[PeterTR7V8]

No, strangely. The original has be lost but here is what it looks like today a little worse for wear & festooned with bees. Basically the fan is bolted to a pair of metal straps that run from the top to the bottom of the radiator & sits 18mm off the surface of the face.





The map: http://tinyurl.com/wedgemap . The blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

[busheytrader]

My V8 fan supplied by S&S also attached through the radiator. It's fixed with slim bolts and rubber washers that protect the core.

Using bolts hopefully provides enough torque to prevent their thread from sawing against the core but not too much to crush it.

I've never felt 100% comfortable fixing the fan directly to the core but there are thousands on the roads that are.

Adam



TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, S/S Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & PolyBushes all round, Anti- Dive, Strut-Top Roller Bearings, Capri Vented Discs & Calipers, Braided Hoses, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AT 5 Spokes and Cruise Lights, S/S Heater Pipes, Replacement Fuel Tank. No Door Stickers. Mine since July 1986, V8 from 1991

[Marsu]

The fixing points on the top of the TR7 radiator for the fan shroud can be used to mount a medium sized electric fan. (Not sure if the TR8 rad has this.) It's a bit agricultural, but effective.

Rubber washers are used to hold the fan a couple of mm from the core.
The bottom of the uprights use cable ties to strap around the bottom rad support.

Of course, if renewing the rad it would be preferable to weld vertical straps, like in Peter's install above.

[John Clancy]

I'm on my third Kenlowe on the car now and they've all been attached by bars that hang completely independent of the radiator. However, I realize Kenlowe's have cheapened a bit over the years and possibly these bars are no longer included. Certainly the essential manual override switch wasn't in my last one purchased about 10 years ago. No TR7 should be without this. Simon at Robsport sourced a second hand switch for our Mini when we put the kit on that.

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphtr7.com/documents/sales/codenamebullet.asp"]Buy the story of the Triumph TR7/8 on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

[windy one]

Ive been beaten to it, and was just about to say...
I always fab up somesort of brackets to mount fans/oil/trans-coolers. Never did like those 'wire-tie' type of mountings. Even small trans-coolers I hard mount in their spots rather than hang them from radiator fins.

Johnny

[Marsu]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by PeterTR7V8</i>

... This was my solution.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Just another piece of advice if you are fitting an electric fan:
- Fit it as high as possible, rather than vertically centred or below centre as the bottom of the rad receives more air flow than the top and the hot water flows from top to bottom cooling along the way.

[UKPhilTR7]

I was lucky with mine that I got from Robsport. The fittings use brackets at the top and bottom of the fan and are secured om with self tapping screws. I did a double check to make sure that the screws were not too long and damaged the vaines in any way. I also had these push through ties and clips which I did not like the look of, for the reason originally highlighted here.

However, the sensor that came with the kit was one that needed to be pushed through the rad like the ties here. I did this on my old radiator and really did not like the fit or look at all. On the new radiator, I decided that I would buy one of the hose sensors that looks a great deal better and I also think it works better. I think it is all down to personal preference, but I really did not want to risk it and now do not have anything that is goes through the radiator.

All I would say is if you go down the same route as me with the sensor on the hose, do not cut the wires to the original sensor too short. I did this and when I thought my sensor was not working, I was unable to fir the old sensor back on as a stop gap because the wires were too short to connect back up.

[Wayne S]

My Kenlowe on the V8 has a set of translucent silicon tubes that you pass through the fins and then the tie cords go through the tubes so they are prtected from sawing through the core as your's has done Stevie. Had the same issue on my 2 litre years ago and so second time round made sure I used these little tubes first. 2.5 years later and all good so far....

<b>Red 4.0 Litre V8 DHC Grinnall (with huuuuuge arches...!)</b>