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Cooling system
craigdiver - 27/9/17 at 07:51 PM

Will be ordering up hoses and fittings to plumb up my cooling system. Never done this before so looking for any hints & tips or common pitfalls?

I was thinking of putting bleed screw on radiator top hose and drain plug on bottom hose. I will be fitting the temperature sender supplied with the Acewell dash in the top hose.

Any advice much appreciated

Nickp - 27/9/17 at 08:37 PM

Have you decided on a rad?

craigdiver - 27/9/17 at 08:40 PM

Hi Nick, yes, got the polo rad, good fit in nose cone, hopefully will be sufficient to cool engine. Bought decent high wattage fan to mount behind the radiator so fingers crossed!

Nickp - 27/9/17 at 08:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by craigdiver
Hi Nick, yes, got the polo rad, good fit in nose cone, hopefully will be sufficient to cool engine. Bought decent high wattage fan to mount behind the radiator so fingers crossed!


OK for road use but I found out last week that it's really not up to hard track use. I'm currently speaking with Coolex in Nottingham. They do 420mm wide 392mm high 70mm thick one based on an Escort design, which looks like it'll be a good fit. You can have the pipes anywhere you want and no filler. Just waiting for a price, but won't be cheap.

craigdiver - 27/9/17 at 08:53 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Nickp
quote:
Originally posted by craigdiver
Hi Nick, yes, got the polo rad, good fit in nose cone, hopefully will be sufficient to cool engine. Bought decent high wattage fan to mount behind the radiator so fingers crossed!


OK for road use but I found out last week that it's really not up to hard track use. I'm currently speaking with Coolex in Nottingham. They do 420mm wide 392mm high 70mm thick one based on an Escort design, which looks like it'll be a good fit. You can have the pipes anywhere you want and no filler. Just waiting for a price, but won't be cheap.


That’s good it is handling road use, can’t see me doing track days or racing - but you never know.

ian locostzx9rc2 - 27/9/17 at 09:03 PM

Plus 1 for coolex radiators had one on my striker .

ste - 27/9/17 at 10:09 PM

Avoid Auto Silicone Hoses, there are plenty of other companies out there that won't bleep you around.

Nickp - 28/9/17 at 04:28 AM

Fit the lowest available 'stat, think mine's 82deg.
Fit the most powerful fan you can, think mine's 220W.
Shroud around rad so air has to go through it, not around.
Make sure the hot air's got somewhere to go, plenty of vents at rear of bonnet.
Run 'water wetter' instead of anti freeze.

Do ALL of the above and you might just might get away with running a std Polo rad with the BMW engine

Nickp - 28/9/17 at 10:52 AM

Coolex 'short' Escort rad, £210 delivered. Pipes (32mm) wherever you want them, fan switch boss, bleed/return pipe, drain bung etc

Description
Description

nick205 - 28/9/17 at 12:51 PM

I used a Polo rad in my Pinto MK Indy - kept it cool enough on the road.

Never bothered with a bottom hose drain plug - worked on the basis that simply releasing the end of the bottom hose from the radiator would let it drain.

Make sure you get the right diameter hoses. Seem to recall the Polo rad had Ø32mm hoses. Engines can obviously be different diameters. Ø38mm on the Pinto IIRC.

rusty nuts - 28/9/17 at 03:59 PM

Water Wetter will not stop coolant freezing and possibly causing major damage to the engine , it is suitable for use with antifreeze and can drop the coolant temperature by as much as 20 degrees.

craigdiver - 28/9/17 at 05:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Nickp
Fit the lowest available 'stat, think mine's 82deg.


Not sure if you are running a different ECU (mine is MS42). The cooling fan is controlled by the ECU and works in conjunction with a heating element in the thermostat housing. If you floor the pedal the ECU uses the heating element to open the thermostat and fires up the cooling fan in anticipation of the forthcoming heat load.

Clever Germans! (and 10/10 for over-complicating a relatively simple tried and tested system!!!)