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Radiator, part #2
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| During the last weekend it was finally time to install
new radiator to my Explorer. |
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| New radiator will be bigger than the one i originally installed
and most of all it will be installed to slightly different location. It'll
be now installed just front of other of the two Multi-Wing fans inside
of fan bay. Also it'll be located lower than original radiator. |
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| New unit comes from old Volvo 240 series and it has separate
expansion tank and hose connections just about the size of Subaru EA-71.
With separate expansion tank the new placement is not a problem as filling
the system can still be done easily. |
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| During the week i had already prepared a new frame for
radiator of AL-angle and modified the support for expansion tank that i
had also taken from wrecked Volvo (am i eligible for DDP's ?). We started
the installation on Saturday afternoon by first removing left fan from
Explorer so i could crawl inside the fan bay. I ended up spending rest
of the day there since i had few pairs of extra hands passing me tools
and bringing me stuff so i didn't have to make that rather difficult transition
several times. |
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| I started by draining the coolant which was done quite
easily with plastic bucket and a lid for the bucket. Most of the coolant
was neatly captured to bucket and i could use it as a chair after lid was
put on. I emptied the whole system since i knew i'd be switching hoses
back and forth later on. Then i removed old radiator and i noticed some
fatigue failures in it. All this was done quite quickly since i'm good
at taking thins apart. |
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| We fitted left half of the frame to same bolt that had
held right side of original radiator frame and also lowered it for some
10cm (4"). Then new holes were drilled through fan bay front wall to hold
right side of new frame. I had to make hardpoints for these new bolt holes,
but before mixing a batch of glassfiber putty we also marked and drilled
places for expansion tank support. According to my instructions (via little
4" access hole) catalyst and putty were mixed for the 4 holes and i'd say
it was right on the money : i could just fill the holes but there wasn't
any extra left. Perhaps more catalyst would have been better since now
i had to wait 5-10min before we could redrill the holes and proceed with
installation. It was quite quick after curing and in no time new radiator
was in place and we started to fit in hoses. It was soon realized that
longer hoses are needed even though we had some spares and we tried to
switch them back and forth. It was decided to check the inventory and get
back the next day to finish it. |
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| Saturday was warm and sunny day with just enough breeze
not to turn to too hat day. Sunday started as sunny but turned into cloudy
day with zero wind and high humidity. And boy did that mean we had plenty
of mosquitos at the hoverport too - YES IT DID!. If i had known or even
thought of this possibility i would have left if there and continued some
other day. But since we were there and all the materials needed to finish
the job were found at our carage i crawled inside the fan bay. |
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| Inside the fan bay mosquitos didn't bother me too much.
We had to do little bit of swapping hoses but soon we were ready to fill
the system and i checked that there wasn't any leaks. Much more coolant
was put back in the system than i had removed so volume is now bigger.
Of course i spilled some of it when draining the system, but it still is
bigger now. My father still strongly suspect that routing hoses so low
and then back up is not a good thing for water circulation. And
after test drive i tend to finally believe him. Engine ran cooler than
with old radiator, but effect wasn't so big as i thought. Instead of 100C
it was now at 90C, but i wanted it to be 85C or little bit lower. |
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| I'll let it be like this for now, but going to keep a track
of temperature regularly and see if i should change hose routing for more
effective circulation of coolant. I also have oil temperature gauge installed
and it doesn't seem to report any high temps. Maybe i have just a defective
sensor at either of them ? |