Andrew Sutherland Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Hi Folks, New to this forum, but not to Spitfires (first at 17 yrs old, now 57 and on my 4th). Whiling away the lockdown Easter weekend fitting a Revotec fan which has been sitting in a box in the garage for ages. I have the wide rad on a MkIV Spit. Has anyone does this? Its a 9" suction fan so I presume goes on engine-side of rad, in which case existing engine fan gets in the way. I must be losing my mind! Revotec are just round the corner from me in Wallingford, but (i) round the corner these days might as well be a million miles away (ii) they are shut anyway. Any guidance very gratefully received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johny Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Haven't done it on your model but think 9" a bit small and also better to fit on other side of rad, blowing, as on a Spitfire there should be plenty of room.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Sutherland Posted April 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Ok thanks johny. Yes loads of room on the front for a blower - have to replace the kit now - these things aren't cheap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Cooper Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Hi Andrew, I have the Revotec fan on my Mk2 with the full width radiator and I am very happy with it. The installation kit is neat, with the fan behind the radiator, the fan seems to be correctly spec'ed for the job as it never stays on for long, even on the hottest days. I did remove the engine driven fan as I expected that it wouldn't be needed. I did change the location of the temperature sensor from the bottom hose to a tapped hole on the thermostat housing; it didn't make any difference to the operation but just looked a little neater. I would be very interested to hear your reasons for your advice Johny as I always find your posts to be spot-on. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Harris Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 I have done it on a 1500 spitfire, wide radiator, I replaced a blower Kenlow fan so no original fan to remove. Initially you might think it will not fit, it is so finely engineered, but it does and it works every well. I flushed out the cooling system, prior to installing, with a flushing agent and then hosed through. The car went to the south of France two years ago in the middle of summer, no issues with cooling on the motorways or up alpine passes. In fact the fan only came on when stationary after a long run, but returned quickly to normal. The car kept a steady 70MPH on the motorway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johny Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 18 minutes ago, Adrian Cooper said: Hi Andrew, I have the Revotec fan on my Mk2 with the full width radiator and I am very happy with it. The installation kit is neat, with the fan behind the radiator, the fan seems to be correctly spec'ed for the job as it never stays on for long, even on the hottest days. I did remove the engine driven fan as I expected that it wouldn't be needed. I did change the location of the temperature sensor from the bottom hose to a tapped hole on the thermostat housing; it didn't make any difference to the operation but just looked a little neater. I would be very interested to hear your reasons for your advice Johny as I always find your posts to be spot-on. Adrian Blimey thanks Adrian! As I say no experience on a Spit only Vitesse and obviously the bigger the diameter the fan the greater the cooling effect and possibly less powerful fan (narrower) you can get away with. I don't see much difference between in front or behind rad (had to be behind on mine) and it just comes down to space/ease of fitting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Sutherland Posted April 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Aha - so it does indeed need the existing fan to be removed in order for the revotec to be fitted? I did wonder. I've taken a wee photo of the set-up (attached). I did wonder if it would fit if I swapped the engine fan for an old 4-blade I have from a Mark 3, but best simply to remove the existing fan altogether? It will indeed fit snugly then. Thanks Adrian, I spent all day yesterday removing the broken Thermostat housing bolt (4 spitfires, 4 broken thermostat bolts over the years!) so to get a good ROI on that effort a tapped hole for the sensor sounds good. Thanks John - dreaming of being allowed to take mine further than Sainbury's just now 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 I have a revotec on my mk3 spit with wide rad. Looks similar size, and cools effectively when it comes on (rarely). Engine driven fan removed. I use a switch in the bottom hose. 88/82 possibly. (car in a lockup, so can't check easily) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlubikey Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Andrew, I take it it's not possible to remove the blades and reverse them, changing the fan to a blower (swap polarity as well)? If you can then you can fit revotec to the front and retain your engine fan. Cheers, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Sutherland Posted April 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Hi Richard - I don't think so. Revotec use a Comex fan (Italian) which seems to be a sealed unit. I'll remove the existing engine fan and give it a go as it sounds like it should be able top do the job. Thanks to all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Hello All This is how I did Spitty and the sensor is in the bottom of the radiator and is has 2 temperature settings all driven through relays The high temperature fan only comes on when messing in the garage or once in a blue moon in Spain! Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Cooper Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Here is a picture of the fan in my Spitfire and the switch, which came from a Triumph Acclaim I think, in the thermostat housing. I'm not sure if the later Spitfires have the flat bit on the housing though. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Truman Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Roger neat set up similar to daughters Mk2, with sensor switch is same as Adrians using the earlier thermos housing, but I have to ask what are the two oil coolers for? used to the lower type, but being nosy what is the top one off. Peter T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 Hello Peter The bottom one is a normal oil cooler but the top one is a fuel cooler! I fitted this because Spitty runs Microsquirt and ITB's so the fuel is always circulating and tends to get hot when the tank is low and we are touring Spain in 25/30degs I think it is off a BMW or Merc but was cheap and well made. Whether it makes a lot of difference is hard to tell but I like tinkering! but it would do no harm as warm fuel is not what you want (I am told!) Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Flinn Posted April 14, 2020 Report Share Posted April 14, 2020 9 hours ago, rogerguzzi said: Hello Peter The bottom one is a normal oil cooler but the top one is a fuel cooler! I fitted this because Spitty runs Microsquirt and ITB's so the fuel is always circulating and tends to get hot when the tank is low and we are touring Spain in 25/30degs I think it is off a BMW or Merc but was cheap and well made. Whether it makes a lot of difference is hard to tell but I like tinkering! but it would do no harm as warm fuel is not what you want (I am told!) Roger Roger Excellent idea with the Fuel cooler, I was going to fit one on the Low Pressure return side of the fuel system on my TR5 but ended up selling the car before I got round to it! Fuel vaporization on the Lucas PI System is a common problem, I ran the standard Lucas Pump on my car and couldn't believe how hot the Lucas pump got? On a trip to the TSSC Santa pod event a few years ago on one of the Hottest days of the year I could hardly touch the casing of the pump, it was too hot! I'm sure the fuel cooler will help with smooth running? Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted April 14, 2020 Report Share Posted April 14, 2020 Interestingly the factory did the opposite of a fuel cooler. On some later PI cars they coiled the fuel return around the body of the pump motor, thus using the motor to boil the fuel fuel to cool the motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Truman Posted April 14, 2020 Report Share Posted April 14, 2020 If I remember a XJ 6 Series 3 we had in the early 80’s had the high pressure fuel supply routed with the air con supply line thro a common tube to col the fuel before injection. Thanks Roger for the info re top cooler Peter T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted April 14, 2020 Report Share Posted April 14, 2020 Hello Peter I think the cooler maybe a high pressure one but I fitted into the low pressure return line! The reasoning being (as told by others!) the fuel coming from the tank probably not to warm but the fuel going back has picked up a lot of heat in the engine bay. Plus depending were in the tank it is discharged it may just keep going around and get hotter especially when the tank is getting low! I fitted my pump into the tank from the top n/s ( I did not fancy a pump one on the outside and it keeps the pump cool)and used the standard Spitfire feed pipe as the return and that also points towards the N/S I fitted a high pressure filter at the bottom of the tank behind the covering board I fitted a Range Rover type with screw fixings as I could make a plate to braze onto the tank top plus I thought if the gasket leaks/weeps it will only smell(the better option!) The only downside I would have to remove the tank to change it!!! (but I bought a genuine NOS Land Rover one not a chinses copy) more money but safer. Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Clark Posted April 14, 2020 Report Share Posted April 14, 2020 On 13/04/2020 at 12:24, Andrew Sutherland said: Aha - so it does indeed need the existing fan to be removed in order for the revotec to be fitted? I did wonder. I've taken a wee photo of the set-up (attached). I did wonder if it would fit if I swapped the engine fan for an old 4-blade I have from a Mark 3, but best simply to remove the existing fan altogether? It will indeed fit snugly then. Thanks Adrian, I spent all day yesterday removing the broken Thermostat housing bolt (4 spitfires, 4 broken thermostat bolts over the years!) so to get a good ROI on that effort a tapped hole for the sensor sounds good. Thanks John - dreaming of being allowed to take mine further than Sainbury's just now 🙂 I was glad to see this as I did mine last week and wondered if I had it right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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