Coolant Pipe Routing

Jim Dewar · 11-16-06, 03:07 PM

I am in the process of routing my radiator overflow tank pipe (hard line) from front to rear. I would like to route it through the center tunnel with the main radiator tubes instead of around the outside of the sills but fear its to low in the system and may trap air.
I'm interested to know if anyone has done this with success?

Mark Worthington · 11-16-06, 03:44 PM

I'm pretty sure Pat Barry ran his line in the center tunnel. Hopefully he'll chime in.

Peter Olliviere · 11-16-06, 03:53 PM

Jim,
I did not run my pipe through the center but I don't think that it would make much of a differance. I say this because in both cases you are still feeding from the top of the radiator going down to a level in the frame that is fairly close in hight, with the center tube route being a couple of inches lower than the frame rail route. Both tubes would end at the expansion tank that is mounted almost at the highest point of the car. If the system is bled correctly I don't think you would have an issue and by bleeding correctly I mean elevating the rear of the car when filling to allow all the trapped air to move to the highest point the expansion tank and engine.

Peter

Dan Weilacher · 11-16-06, 04:03 PM

Hi Guys, I did mine also through the center , and from Pats previous post he said about 3 "cycles" of starting the engine up and letting heat so much then shutting it down and topping off, bled the system out .

Paul · 11-17-06, 12:02 AM

I have done mine through the center tunnel with no major problems. I did take a tube off of the top of the return pipe near the engine to the header tank to bleed off any air bubbles that can ocur in the return pipe. I have also done away with the mechanical water pump and put in an Craig Davis electric pump that keeps the temperatures nice and stable.

Regards

Jim Dewar · 11-17-06, 06:27 AM

Thanks guys for your replies, I think its up the center console!!

Ian Anderson · 11-17-06, 06:39 AM

Guys

Paul Walton put in a permanent bleed but ran it from the radiator to the return of the heater matrix pipe and worked on the principle that if that bled then so would the radiator.

He's away for the weekend but I'm sure will chime in

Ian

Simon · 11-17-06, 09:49 AM

Jim, I also ran mine down the center and have had no problems.

Paul · 11-17-06, 12:07 PM

In total I have 3 bleeds one off of the return pipe one off of the top of the radiator and one off of the front of the inlet manifold.

Regards

Paul · 11-17-06, 12:09 PM

Sorry I forgot to mention they all go in to the header tank.

Regards

Dave S · 11-19-06, 07:35 AM

Hey Paul
I'm planning on using a Davies Craig EWP aswell, I've fitted my pump up front
and blanked off the orginal water pump housing. I'm wondering how your
car copes inregards to engine temp when your at a track day?
Did you remove the thermostate? and are you using the DC pump controller
or just running the pump flat out with a thermostate??

Oh and I ran a bleed pipe from the top of the radiator to a high mounted header tank which runs through the centre tunnel.

Paul · 11-19-06, 12:19 PM

Hi Dave

My pump is mounted up front on the radiator return and I just took out the impeller from the mechanical water pump. The thermostat is removed and I used the DC controller. I do not race the car but the temperatures in South Africa where I live get hot and the car seems to stay cool at about 95 Deg C. The pump is not turned off with the ignition as this prevents heat soak and it does not take long for the pump stop running. Having said all this I have not done a great deal of milage since I put the pump in as I am still sorting out other minor problems with her but when I had the mechanical pump running the temperature on the gauge was much higher. My header tanks are also high up. The one thing I would do differently would be to line the inside of the central tunnel to keep the heat down in the interior. I would use surgical neoprene as the lining as this has excellent heat insulating properties and I have used it on the inside of the front wall to reduce the radiator heat to great effect. It is quite expensive though at $70 US for a half meter square.

Regards

Bill Musarra · 11-19-06, 08:16 PM

Paul,
You want to be real careful with the fan setup on the BAT circuit like that. Production cars several years ago were built that way, and have since stopped when there were some related fires from over heating. I originally wired mine that way but was advised not to do it from the wiring manufacturer. I was checking with them to make sure I had the wiring done correctly. His exact words were to the effect that unless I was willing to stand there with the car while the fan was running, to not wire it that way. That from American Autowire.
It weems that the fan only cools the water in the radiator and has little to no effect on the water in the block. You would have to run the fan AND the pump to affect the water in the block. The original GT40s street cars were not wired that way and never had a problem with heat.

Bill

Paul · 11-19-06, 11:34 PM

Hi Bill

My fans only run when the ignition is on, it is only the water pump that runs with the ignition off but it does not run for long. I then have a battery disconnect that disconnects everything when leaving the car. I agree with you leaving just the fans running does nothing to cool the block.

Ross Nicol · 11-20-06, 12:49 AM

My radiator bleed tube runs down through the centre console. I have a thermostat bypass from the rear of the manifold which may be of interest. I have a -6 fitting plumbed into the manifold to mate to the water inlet/outlet at the rear of each head.A pipe runs between them and a tee on one side connects a pipe from the thermostat housing. To bleed the air out of the heads I just crack the tee fitting until water flows and retighten.That's it and
no raising the rear of the car or any worries with overheating, in fact sometimes it's hard to get it up to operating temp. If you haven't fitted this bypass I strongly suggest you think about it.
Ross