Thread: Radiator replacement, etc

Originally Posted by Frontier1

Totally excellent Dave, I have kept a copy of what you have here to one side and will keep following how it goes and costs involved.

Prior to dismantling, did you know what the compressions were for each of the pistons?

I am thinking that since mine has not had a rebuild in it's history unlike Hobies, I would like to know your thoughts on costs of head work as I imagine that mine will need it?


Pete'

sorry forgot to mention this in the last lot.

AS I was dealing with a suspected head gasket/head failure requiring that both heads be removed I only did the spark plug check to work out which was the leaking side and as time was of the essence during the inital stage anything that could be skipped and checked later was skipped.

Aside from that with a known head/gasket leak a compression check is relatively pointless.

Originally Posted by PhilipA

...BUT the expensive bit is that the rockers and rocker shafts in mine were pretty cactus...

Some people fit Holden rockers. Main reason to improve performance (more lift from different lever ratio), but may be cost effective from what you are saying.

Hi Philip, mine is actually the auto but having checked the EL against it, I can't see any reason why it wont work.
The only thing I have noticed so far ( and I will be detailing it in the project page that I have a link to), is that there is an extra water line going from the top RH side of the original rad' (see pic on link page), to under the plennum(?) chamber. I remember that this is only to divert hot water across for fuel/air mixture reasons when in really cold weather and not needed here in OZ, so I will be blocking that hose off at the chamber end.

I also ran the Disco' around today with it blocked off but still with the current rad' in just to make sure and there was no difference.

Re. the heads, rockers, etc. I had in my head a much higher budget than the $1500 that Blacknight has mentioned so far and if he wasn't so far away, I'd convince myself to take a week or two off and drive up there and hassle him to do mine (hope he drinks bourbon and not just beer!), anyway, I am going to see what Hobies total comes to and then work out what to do. Not that money's no object but I had budgeted around $5K for this so....

Like the idea of the Holden rockers as long as I can hear from someone that has actually done it in a '93 Disco' so that I know it will work.


With the rad' today I have only progressed half as far as I had to find different fittings for the oil lines to fit onto as the ones shown that came with the EL were not BSP at the end where the lock nut on the oil lines needs to join.

However BWIP was able to supply me with adaptors to suit for $11 each so I'm going good for tomorrow.

Pete'

The extra water line is not needed as you say. I have not had mine connected at all on the Thor manifold , and never have a problem. It is only a problem in high humidity and temp around freezing, eg snowing, when icing of the throttle blade could occur.
Your Disco being a 3.5 must not have the engine oil cooler that 3.9s have in the other header tank.

Holden Rockers? I don't think any modern Holden has rockers on shafts. I think they all have pressed rockers on ball studs like a P76.But I could be wrong. Yella Terra sell hideously expensive aftermarket high ratio rockers, but I do not think they are on your agenda.

$5k will get you a complete rebuild and balance of the engine providing your crank, block, heads + rods are reusable there will probabley be room in that budget for an upgrade or 3 as some of the parts that you would be replacing have better parts available.

IE If your going to replace the pistons to suit the new 10 tho over size bores that you get done why not get the high compression jobbies?

If your going that route spec the engine from the bottom up as if you run short on money near the end you can have the engine running on stock or old parts untill you can afford the performance bits

IE do the crank, cam and pistons in favor of the custom exhaust (unless you already have it) its easy to do the exhaust with the engine in place and not so easy to do the pistons and cam. (tho its achievable without lifting the engine).

Well the new radiator is on now and I have taken it for a run and then some to make sure it is working.

While I haven't uploaded the pics yet, I did encounter a couple of things that took a while to sort out.

First, the bottom RH water inlet pipe from the EL rad' points in a different direction that the original. It will still fit with a slight kink in the hose although nothing to worry about. You could always fit a "lazy S" to the fitting and it would then match up perfectly but mine runs fine as it is.

You will also need to drill some new holes in the bracket that runs along the top of the EL rad so that you can re-mount your cowling. No drama there.

After careful consideration and keeping in mind that not everyone has access to alloy welders ( or someone that knows how to use them), I decided on a different solution to the bottom mounts for the EL so that it sits the same way as the original.

I found a set of large and thick rubber rings ( in fact they are my old shock absorber mount rubbers ), and they are a squeeze fit into the bottom bracket that runs along the bottom of the EL rad.
I simply found two bolts of same length and diameter that would still slot inside the locater holes in the chassis for the Disco' rad and then made sure that the bolts sat inside the rings in a verticle position. I then filled all the space around the bolt and inside the old rubber shock mount with silicon so that when dry, it becomes a solid but flexible mount. I put a small galvanised rubber pad between this new rubber mount and the EL so that the bolt head could never wear its way through into the radiator.

Due to these rubber rings being quite thick, the EL sits a little higher than the original rad' but the bonnet still closes without effort.

The Disco now runs just below half way on the heat meter whereas before it always ran at around 3/4 whether I was towing the boat or not.

Anyway, so far so good, I'll take the boat for a tow tomorrow just to make sure but I suspect it will go weel.

Pete'

Originally Posted by Frontier1

Well the new radiator is on now and I have taken it for a run and then some to make sure it is working.

While I haven't uploaded the pics yet, I did encounter a couple of things that took a while to sort out.

First, the bottom RH water inlet pipe from the EL rad' points in a different direction that the original. It will still fit with a slight kink in the hose although nothing to worry about. You could always fit a "lazy S" to the fitting and it would then match up perfectly but mine runs fine as it is.

You will also need to drill some new holes in the bracket that runs along the top of the EL rad so that you can re-mount your cowling. No drama there.

After careful consideration and keeping in mind that not everyone has access to alloy welders ( or someone that knows how to use them), I decided on a different solution to the bottom mounts for the EL so that it sits the same way as the original.

I found a set of large and thick rubber rings ( in fact they are my old shock absorber mount rubbers ), and they are a squeeze fit into the bottom bracket that runs along the bottom of the EL rad.
I simply found two bolts of same length and diameter that would still slot inside the locater holes in the chassis for the Disco' rad and then made sure that the bolts sat inside the rings in a verticle position. I then filled all the space around the bolt and inside the old rubber shock mount with silicon so that when dry, it becomes a solid but flexible mount. I put a small galvanised rubber pad between this new rubber mount and the EL so that the bolt head could never wear its way through into the radiator.

Due to these rubber rings being quite thick, the EL sits a little higher than the original rad' but the bonnet still closes without effort.

The Disco now runs just below half way on the heat meter whereas before it always ran at around 3/4 whether I was towing the boat or not.

Anyway, so far so good, I'll take the boat for a tow tomorrow just to make sure but I suspect it will go weel.

Pete'

Hi Pete, good to see you got it sorted.
Could you post a pic of the new rad installation so we can see how it looks.
Cheers,
Mario

Finally got a chance to try out the new EL Ford radiator in the Disco' whilst towing the boat (1.8tons with no additional camping gear, etc).

Took it up Killcare hill road which in the past made the girl overheat. Happy to report that the EL kept her cool ( just slightly over halfway on the gauge ).

So a $130 radiator with $11 extra for fittings, has worked out great. A lot less that the $655 for a Natrad recore.

Got the Melbourne trip on Thursday, 2000k's round trip which should be a might easier on the engine now.

While I think of it, does anyone know the running pressure of the oil lines? Are they all different? Why is the line running from the top oil filter mount to the top radiator mount so long when one half the length would do?

Cheers,
Pete'