Cool bits
My Herald usually coped with New Zealand summers, except in traffic on warm days. While we don't have much traffic in Moranbah, it gets hotter than Triumph imagined - usually high 30s, sometimes into the low 40s. To deal with this, I've been upgrading the cooling as much as possible. The first modification was to construct a shroud to mount two electric fans behind the radiator. The shroud is just a sheet of steel with holes for the fans, and rolled edges to seal against the radiator. The radiator is protected from the steel edges by fuel pipe with a lengthwise slit.
The fans are controlled by two thermostatic switches. The left fan uses a switch in the top tank which kicks in around 75 degrees, and the right hand fan is controlled by a Revotec adjustable switch in the bottom hose. The fans are wired via relays, and each has an indicator light and over-ride switch in the dashboard.
So far so good, a long blast on the open road showed temperatures between 60 and 75 degrees, depending on speed. Still, it's only Spring... I've bought an early Spitfire or Vitesse header tank to increase coolant volume. It needs cleaning up (and has a small dent to remove), and will sit above the distributor. There really isn't any other place for it. Apparently they were deleted from later Spitifres due to 'over-cooling'.
The tank came from Jon Wolfe of Wolfitt Motorsport, who also made these rose-jointed anti roll bar drop links:
They're a considerable improvement on the original links, which here have urethane bushes. I also bought alloy rack mounts from Canleys. Some people have advised against them, but then some advised against 450,b/in springs, and they're almost downright comfortable!
Wiring in the fans took ages due to an attack of shipwright's disease. To mount the relays I had to reposition the headlight relays, and then the loom was recovered in modern spiro-wrap, then the overdrive relay was replaced, then the dashboard wiring needed altering...
Right, off for a test drive!
The fans are controlled by two thermostatic switches. The left fan uses a switch in the top tank which kicks in around 75 degrees, and the right hand fan is controlled by a Revotec adjustable switch in the bottom hose. The fans are wired via relays, and each has an indicator light and over-ride switch in the dashboard.
So far so good, a long blast on the open road showed temperatures between 60 and 75 degrees, depending on speed. Still, it's only Spring... I've bought an early Spitfire or Vitesse header tank to increase coolant volume. It needs cleaning up (and has a small dent to remove), and will sit above the distributor. There really isn't any other place for it. Apparently they were deleted from later Spitifres due to 'over-cooling'.
The tank came from Jon Wolfe of Wolfitt Motorsport, who also made these rose-jointed anti roll bar drop links:
They're a considerable improvement on the original links, which here have urethane bushes. I also bought alloy rack mounts from Canleys. Some people have advised against them, but then some advised against 450,b/in springs, and they're almost downright comfortable!
Wiring in the fans took ages due to an attack of shipwright's disease. To mount the relays I had to reposition the headlight relays, and then the loom was recovered in modern spiro-wrap, then the overdrive relay was replaced, then the dashboard wiring needed altering...
Right, off for a test drive!
posted by Nick Moore at 4:24 pm
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