L&G,
As this covers both transmission and bodywork I've posted here.

Just fitted an oil cooler for the autobox. Cooler is just in front of the rack:


Cooler

The hose is 100R6, not heater hose!

I've cut air entry holes to feed the cooler:


Air inlet

However, this conflicts with the number plate.
So I've wondered about cutting the plate so that, instead of
F576 OTA (linear)
it becomes
F576
OTA
in rectangular form.


Exterior

The aim is to have the F576 as shown with the OTA symmetrically beneath.

Any reason I should not do this?

The other way is to mount it about 1"to 1.5" higher than is was (central). This would slightly restrict air flow to a few more rows of the water radiator, but at least it's the less hot half of the Polo rad.

Another is to fit a stick-on plate on the leading edge of the nosecone, but are these legal in this day and age?

Any other ideas?

Thanks,
John.

do you need one on a pinto ?

quote:

---

Originally posted by graememk
do you need one on a pinto ?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by graememk
do you need one on a pinto ?

---

I'd also go with a smaller plate - to keep it legal though go for the smaller motorbike font size as found on certain Jap import cars at the front.

I didn't think cars could use smaller letters, sure they have to be a minimum size and Font ??

quote:

---

Originally posted by graememk
do you need one on a pinto ?

---

The cooler is for the auto box fluid.
Even though there's about 2 gallons of the dreaded ATF it gets excessively hot after 15-20 miles - this was on the rather warmer days a couple of weeks back. The box is quite a tight fit, even in the wider-than-standard tunnel AND I've fitted a guard under both the engine and autobox sumps; so the pan doesn't get any cooling airflow.

I could fit a smaller no. plate but I think these days you have to use the standard plate/character dimensions. The only exception AFAIK is imported cars that can't accommodate a standard plate.

Cheers,
John.

As a general guide you need about 1/4 the frontal area of the radiator to supply sufficient air. For this to really work you need guides to trap the air in front of the radiator ideally. So in you case maybe simply reducing the height of the number plate a bit. Raising the mounting position sufficiently to allow a slot to be cut in the lower edge of the nose cone will supply enough air flow for the radiator to work.

[Edited on 17-7-09 by bimbleuk]

quote:

---

Originally posted by austin man
I didn't think cars could use smaller letters, sure they have to be a minimum size and Font ??

---

Thanks for all your comments.

I think I'll go for the simple solution and mount the plate centrally, just a bit higher than previously.

You could build a support arm and mount it how it is in you picture, though you'd probably want to reinforce it so it doesn't break off.
Are Sticker number plates legal?

ISTR that sticky plates aren't legal.

Anyway, it's done!

Oil cooler fitted
The no. plate is horizontal (and the floor is!) so it shows up the 'MK' behind the grille is skew. I'd never noticed before!

I put a small deflector below the air inlet to the cooler as a persuader:

Cooler inlet

A few more random pics taken today....

General view of the front:

Front

View down the wider-than-standard tunnel showing the auto box:

Auto box in tunnel

Dashboard:

Dashboard

Now just waiting for the weather to perk up a bit and see how effective the cooler is...

AFAIK stick on plates were never legal - just in olden times the police were more concerned in catching bank robbers than raising revenue by targetting motororists.

The E-type was always pictured with stick on plates, (just been on the bay and of 5 e-types looked at, all are like this.


what you have done should be ok - you could trim a couple mm off the top and bottom of the plate.

I have
XXX
123Y

on front of my land rover and never had issue at MOT time.


if it were me, I would have put stick on plate on the nose cone*

* that is what I have.

[Edited on 18/7/09 by 02GF74]