JohnFol
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| posted on 23/4/03 at 05:46 PM |
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Fiesta thermostat housing
Ok, the book suggested changing the Escort housing for a Fiesta one as it's the highest point on the cooling. Like a muppet I actually did that,
but now have a hole in the top of the housing. So, laughing and ridicule aside, what screws in the top of it?
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 23/4/03 at 06:06 PM |
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Temperature sensor for the electric fan cut in. You need the fiesta housing to top up the coolant to get rid of any air locks in the cooling system.
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barrie sharp
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| posted on 23/4/03 at 07:05 PM |
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have you tried Burton they do a stat housing with a rad cap in the top and a hole for the fan switch and it not too dear
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JohnFol
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| posted on 25/4/03 at 04:15 PM |
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Thanks for the replies guys. Just saw this on eBay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2
411810253&category=14767
Another bit to the learning curve. .
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Dave Ashurst
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| posted on 25/4/03 at 04:49 PM |
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Ebay price is beginning to look too high.
As Barrie says Check burtons part no FP 610M £15 ex VAT & postage then add a thermo switch and rad cap from your motor factors.
Also I've got a spare one here in leamington if you want. Make me an offer.
Note that if you want add a high level expansion tank this is no use though.
regards
Dave
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bob
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| posted on 25/4/03 at 06:06 PM |
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I've got a fiesta thermo housing with switch i'll exchange at stoneleigh for anything pinto related or maybe just a pint of ale will do
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Deckman001
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| posted on 25/4/03 at 07:17 PM |
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John, apparently Vauxhall Astra expansion tanks are the ones to get !
Jason
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theconrodkid
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| posted on 25/4/03 at 07:36 PM |
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join the astra expansion tank owners club or forever leave your bonnet on
who cares who wins
pass the pork pies
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D Beddows
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| posted on 27/4/03 at 12:20 AM |
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Mmmmmm ok..... firstly expansion tanks and header tanks are two completely different things - the header tank has the pressure cap on it and an
expansion tank is something to contain the coolant from the header tank when the pressure inside the cooling system become so great that the pressure
cap on the header tank is forced open - when the system cools, theoreticaly the pressure drops and the coolant in the expansion tank is returned back
into the cooling system - fair enough for a road car, pointless on a track car. The header tank on the other hand is the part of the system that
pressurises the coolant therefore lowering its boiling point. It can either be integral to the radiator ie the top bit (eg old Fords) or it can be
somewhere else in the engine bay above the highest point of the coolant in the engine (99% of 'modern' cars).
Obviously in a kit car you are almost certain to have the top of the radiator below the highest point in the engine that the coolant reaches so you
have to try something else otherwise you're going to be in airlock hell - and I know it may sound obvious ( I've seen it done a few times
though) but having a pressure cap on top of an Escort rad as well as a presure cap on top of one of those Fiesta 'stat housing thing WILL NOT
WORK.
In my opinion a much easier way to do it (and walk round the paddock at a Locost race meeting and tell me I'm on my own here ) is to get a
radiator which doesn't have a pressure cap, a basic x-flow thermostat housing and a header tank mounted on the scuttle bulkhead above the
highest point of the engine (early XR2/3 ones are my favorite as they use a 'proper' metal cap, but each to their own). Then you need a
length of hose to fit the air bleed pipe on the rad to the air bleed tube on the tank (NB NOT the overflow pipe that you would attach an expansion
tank to!) then you attach the main outlet from the header tank to a point in the plumbing just before the water pump - x-flow water pumps tend to have
a ready tapped hole in the water pump body to make life easy (tell me you've not still got everything plumbed in for the allegedly automatic
Webber choke!?).
The major adavantage of doing this is that when you come to fill the cooling system you have a decent volume of tank to fill - which you wont have
with one of those Fiesta things - the first couple of litres will probably go in fine whatever but after that the coolant tends to sit there for a
while before a sudden gurgling noise as the tank empties into the cooling system. Then the level goes down even further after the engine has run for a
couple of minutes - can't see how you could check this without a 'remote' header tank??!
One last point, whatever header tank you use from whatever vehicle don't fill the coolant above the MAX level marked on the tank - oh and use
lots of antifreeze it works as a coolant as well.
Cheers
Dave
Locost Car 41 - Swansea Institute and Mr Viana (Viagra?) are no longer on mine and Mr Townsends Christmas card list after yesterday at Snetterton
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Dave Ashurst
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| posted on 27/4/03 at 12:23 AM |
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Yes I meant header tank!
Dave
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