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    • #56534

      Hi all: Susan and I took a 300 mile trip in the Tiger this weekend. The outside temperatures were in the high 90’s, accompanied by winds from 25-30 mph. OK – so why is that important? Well, it was the first trip we have made since I installed both an air dam and horn hole covers. I was quite surprised at the reduction in the amount of air infiltrating into the cockpit. The difference was very noticeable. As a result it was more comfortable driving than I though it might be.

      The engine temps were also reduced, though not as much as I had hoped. Consequently I am going to remove the thermostat and check it to insure it fully opens. A couple of weeks ago I encountered an overheating problem with my Series IV automatic that was caused by a faulty thermostat. In comparing three different thermostats in hot water with a cooking thermometer I found they all three opened at different times and one of the three had quite a bit smaller opening. How ridiculous is that? They were all 180 degree thermostats from three different manufacturers. Anyone else encountered anything like that?

      from sunny South Dakota,

      Paul

    • #59681

      When you say hot how hot is it?
      I just installed a new griffin Rad and a Elec Fan in a stock tiger and the owner is really happy and said one of the reasons he parked the car was because it ran hot all the time, now it won’t run any hotter than 190 and it has a 180 theromstat in it.
      In my car I to have a griffin rad and elec fan but my motor is a 331 with some compression and I drive it out here in New Mexico in the 100 degree weather and it runs around 200 in traffic and 180’s on the road and I just run a restricter instead of the thermostat.

    • #59682

      I’m curious about the electric fans. I did some research and read that electric fans actually work against the belt driven fan, disrupting the air flow. I also saw some formulas governing how much air has to move to cool the radiator and the fan size necessary to move that amount of air with just electric fans would have required a much larger fan(s) than will fit on a Tiger. I haven’t driven my car on the highway yet but when I owned it before, it would overheat in short order if stuck in traffic. The car has an oversized radiator but that never seemed to make much difference. In my current project, I blocked off the horn openings and installed a 160 thermostat, but I’m not optimistic. The car was 600 miles North of here when I owned it before. With Mid-September temps in the 90s here, I’m not optimistic.

    • #59683

      [quote="Fast Tiger"]When you say hot how hot is it?

      The car ran at 210 degrees at 3000 – 3250 rpm’s. If I drive a bit slower – say 2500 rpms the temp will back off to about 200 degrees. The radiator is clean and unrestricted. It is not a Griffin. I will check the thermostat for flow and replace it if necessary.

      At any rate I would prefer that it runs in the 185-190 range, even if the outside temps are in the high 90’s.

    • #59713

      well i cant say i have gone on a 300 mile trip in the tiger, but when we go for like a 75 mile trip, The tiger reads 200-210 everywhere all the time even when we drive 75-80. No matter how hot it is hot side. But we have only driven it in the summer so far, since i got it running. But the tiger is all stock, radiator was just cleaned out b4 i got it running. And we just changed the thermo. like 2 weeks ago. B4 it had a 195, and now we put in a 180. And there isnt a change. Just the time it takes to get to 200- 210.

      Is that good or bad?

      Joey
      Mk1a 260 V8

    • #59716
      russ
      Participant

        Last Summer was the first Summer driving I have ever done in a Tiger. my temp seemed to hang around 185/190 but I noticed at times the faster I would drive down the road the higher the temp would go too…..let off and the temp would go back down to around 185/190 😕 . I thought this is the normal dreaded “Tiger overheating” situations that I had been hearing about all these years and started looking at some of the mods required to get the temp down some. This Spring (as a 2nd thought) while replacing the steering boots I took my radiator down to have it cleaned and that’s when I received the good/bad news 🙁 . A new radiator core (about $300.00) and now my temp. doesn’t get much past 170 regardless of the outside temp 😀 , unless of coarse I get into stop and go traffic. I plan on blocking off the horn holes and under the radiator before I go to an electric fan in an attempt to solve the traffic temp problem. I read the other day………. somewhere………that another owner experienced a noticeable drop in temp in the passenger area after blocking off the horn holes and under the radiator, has anyone else noticed this?
        Russ

      • #59720

        I guess I will add to this.At first my car with the 351 ran so hot the temp gauge thought Florida would be chilly.
        An after market cooling fan with an erratic blade pattern moved back as far as it could go,a Griffin aluminum rad with a full shroud.a high volume water pump, horn holes blocked plus air dam and spoiler as well.These all combined cooled the beast and we run on the highway 160 with a 160 thermostat. On the weekend we hit a hot spot and the temp did go to 180 for about 20 miles or so.Mind you, get into traffic and the temp goes up quite quickly. I still have the capability of running coolant to the grid I made sitting under the trunk but so far so good.
        I sure didn’t put many miles on this year as I will be putting the 5th tankful of gas in today
        8) however its sunny again’
        8) I think so much sun has made me a bit delusional

      • #59773

        Cooling a Tiger means it doesn’t overheat. The word “cool” is a misnomer. It’s OK and perfectly normal for a Tiger to get up to 200F + a little as long as it doesn’t blow it’s cool. Elec fans help at idle only but can adversely affect high speed cooling. Especially the big fans. That is why a smaller fan (10-11″) may be a better choice. Also keep to a low blade count, like a 4 to 7 blade Max fan. Any more blades and you have a loud fan that moves less air. Actually, there should be NO need for a elec fan except for real extreme cases if the car is properly cooled. That is, the following is in place, horn holes blocked, bottom of rad to cross member is blocked, use of virtually any modern core brass (three row max) or Al radiator, a properly aligned fan shroud to fan clearance and a Derale #17015 fan properly clearance is used. There fan may have clearance problems with the belts, hoses and R&P. Fix the problems. DO NOT cut the fan blades.

        Under high ambient days, increase engine idle to approximately 1200 to 1500 for significant cooling improvement at idle.

        Now be Kool.

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