Thread: P38 HSE: Powered by Ford

not bad for idling in 40 deg

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

not bad for idling in 40 deg

What's interesting is that the temp gauge on the dash still showed half way at 111 degrees. I have the LR coolant temp sensor plumbed into the Ford V8. Something for the Thor brigade to think about anyway.

Mission this week is to tackle the thermo fan setup. I'll make a shroud out of alloy sheet for the 16" fan to hopefully keep a lid on the temp. At idle, the stock viscous fan doesn't move enough air. I'll also tackle the hot inlet air temps by adapting a large K&N pod filter that I had on my BA XR8. I'll enclose it in a alloy sheet air box that picks up air behind the LH headlight. Should get a good ram air effect then.

The thermo fan and shroud mod didn't work. There just wasn't enough space between the engine and radiator. Having a gutless fan didn't help.

What I did do that wasn't a fail was the 160deg F thermostat. This along with the LR viscous fan bring temps down to 80 to 90 degrees.

Time now to work on the cold air intake.

What about the ford twin thermo setup that was/is popular with RRC's and D1'S ?

Originally Posted by loanrangie

What about the ford twin thermo setup that was/is popular with RRC's and D1'S ?

P38s have a narrower radiator, ie more of a square than a rectangle. Believe me, if I had a rectangular radiator, the AU Falcon thermo fans would be on there with the donor engine management running them.

I bought some roof racks off another Land Rover enthusiast down Sydney on Saturday. Took the wife and kids down for a test run of sorts being the first sustained motorway high speed run with the new engine.

This engine has transformed this vehicle. The torque on tap when going up hills and effortlessly passing traffic makes it very
enjoyable to drive. Nil vibrations at speed with the conversion bits I've made. Fuel economy is getting better too. I'm down to 16l/100km mixed town and highway use.

Got another update with pics coming up to improve performance.

So far so good but with the hot weather, I've been struggling to get the motor to stay cool while idling. It's good at speed but in traffic or stuck in a drive thru it gets hot. This is with a 16" super poo fan and the stock LR viscous fan.

Enter thermo fan mod number 2. Super poo fan attached to a shroud of sorts.



This was a fail. Motor got hot at speed and at idle. If I had cut slots in the shroud it may have worked.

Enter thermo fan mod number 2. One BF Ford Falcon 18" fan cut and shut to suit the stock radiator.



This is controlled by an eBay digital thermostat that is plugged onto the radiator core. The unit is fully programmable with digital display and warning alarms. It's already saved my engine after a radiator failure.



Tested out the torque of the new engine by lugging around my brothers little Escort. Easy as.



Also had a problem with the HEVAC. Turned out to be a blown IC on the PCB. Ordered a new IC from Germany and fixed it up. HEVAC is now good as gold.



Finally gave the bumpers, grille and D pillars a freshen up with some rustoleum OEM look bumper spray. I reckon it's made the car look 10 years younger for $30.

I did a similar thing with a non turbo nissan 300zx many years back. I converted a viscous hub fan to full electric. Worked well.
I found that a 16" SPAL brand fan was suitable for the task, but there are some other tricks to make it work (assuming your wiring and temp cut in/out points are OK).

- Try and keep an air dam behind the radiator. This allows the fan and it's shroud to pull air across the entire cross section of the radiator core. If the sheet metal is flat against the radiator (can't tell in the pics), then you are effectively getting flow across the same diameter as the fan.

- For highway driving, the theory is that the ram air effect can overcome the flow rate of the fan. In this case, you can utilize flaps on the section of the shroud that are not within the fan diameter... allowing additional air to get thru the core in addition to whatever the fan can pull thru. At slower speeds, the flaps will suck shut, and air will the pulled thru the core.

I'd love to show some pics, but they dropped off the internet many years ago. And the place I had them saved is no longer operational.