Vitesse 2 litre rad height

[griffipaul]

It occurred to me just now that the top of the rad is lower than the thermostat housing. Such that the thermostat housing has no water in it when the rad is full.

As the system expands when it gets hot this will naturally filL with water, then contract as it cools .It will never pull any in to fill this from the overflow bottle as the equilibrium pressure point is with air in the system. cooling is marginal on these cars so would it be beneficial to fill the top area through the thermo housing. Is this normal. Sign of another issue or am I worrying unnecessarily?

[Pete Lewis]

Many trucks have bleed caps to let air out of hight problem areas often inserted in a hose.

I think you will find it all levels out ok if you fill up with engine running

 

the pump is realy a circulator if theres a air gap it may as your concerns fail to work

as they tend to rely on the suck being the same as the push. Same as central heating circulator.

 

but when you have driiled a hole in it and found coolant you could fit a nice plug

 

 

Pete

[griffipaul]

If it's good enough for you Pete .......it,s good enough for me .

Could be a song me thinks ..............Cheers

[Pete Lewis]

Ive not given it a thought, but so long as the stat has a jiggle pin to let any air out and fill with it running

I never cooked my Vit6 and with danny hopkins of PC confirming he wasnt expecting that when he drove mine back from stafford I wont print the speed we got up to she never got above N on the gauge ever

whether there was any in the stat hsg will remain lifes mystery

 

just stick to brakes ha !!

 

pete

[Steve P]

I changed mine to a closed system with an alloy expansion tank next to the master cylinders,It has a pipe running along the edge of the rocker cover to the thermostat housing and a brass inlet tapped into it.Also an alloy rad.

 

Never gets hot even in 30 degree heat last year stuck on the M6.

Steve

[JohnD]

An excellent point, and an idea I have long toyed with, but there is so little clearance above the thermostat housing that any sort of tap would be difficult, and I wouldn't trust a threaded plug in the thin alloy of the housing.     Split the hose and insert a connector tube with a tap, perhaps.

 

But procedure can overcome poor design.   When you refill the engine, warm it up as long as possible with no radiator cap, topping it up as the air is driven around (Remember - it comes out of the engine into the top of the rad - reverse thermosyphon) and caught in the top tank of the radiator.   

 

John

[Peter Truman]

I had a Renault8 which incorporated a bleed screw in the high point of the heater core, I always thought it was a great idea and incorporated the same in my Vitesse Mk2 after noticing how much higher the heater is than the rad and engine. The old girl has got a bit close to boiling here in Oz when the temp was over 38C (it has been as high as 45 once) Also she got hot when in a 2hour traffic jam outside Lyon France in 1972 on a hot summers day, sat with the engine at 1500rpm + to get more air flow as the fixed fan is on the slowest moving part the engine crank, at least the Spit is on a smaller pulley on the water pump so spins faster.

I spent 80% of my working life as a Water Supply Ops Engineer in the UK & here in Melbourne and when recharging a large trunk or any water main air will always rise to the highest point and it is important to get all the air out as it can be held in suspension causing all sorts of problems.

So when restoring the Vitesse I incorporated a 1/4in bleed screw in the top heater hose at the heater using a 1/2in Yorkshire Tee with a brass nut soldered into the offtake with it pointing up for final refilling and air bleeding.

The Sprint has the header tank notionally below the brass filling plug in the thermostat cover in the head so I have a temp header pipe/tube that I fit over the plug housing and I overfill the system and run the engine until warm and the level in the tube drops, then install the plug and remove tube.

Peter T