Last November I posted a thread with regard to adding more cooling capacity to my X1/9.
Well, as Tony Natoli has indicated on several occasions, I've been tied up, "shut in", (whatever!)
from time to time this winter and have been thinking about doing something about this.
You might remember this picture I drew showing an additional auxiliary pump somewhere
in the line, something that can help the coolant flow when stuck in traffic or going nowhere.
Well, I finally got around to finishing up the pieces I started last winter and decided to
spend today to see if I could actually fit it in. The following photo shows the pieces I've collected.
The stainless piece was something I made during the winter months and spent several hours in
doing it. I'm not much of a welder but I can stick weld pretty good, so I used Nickel-silver to
weld the inlet and outlets on. It's all stainless (since I have a passion for stainless!) so the result came
out looking pretty good. It'll out last the car anyway.
The pump was an Italian-made unit designed as a turbo inter-cooler. I found it on Italian eBay
sometime last winter. It's a $100 pump and has a very high MTBF rating and is magnetically
coupled internally, so no leaks at high temperatures.
The hose was something I found today actually, in my quest to get this thing installed.
Here's a photo of the built assembly. The design was to "hopefully" fit into the radiator hose up
front. My desire was to try and tap into the coolant return line, but there's simply no room. Too bad,
as the coolant would be of a lower temperature and be better for the pump. But the pump was built to
take it anyway, so no matter...
The worst part about this "experiment" is that I had to cut into the nice brand-new hoses I
just installed, but no guts, no glory! Ha!
Shown here is the assembly installed into the coolant feed line to the radiator. The radiator doesn't
show but is connected directly to the top left hose in the photo. The pump assembly fits perfectly
within the original coolant line. The pump doesn't touch anywhere inside, although it's close!
It clears everything, including my air conditioning setup. (which I think is why I overheat so easily
when going slow or not moving) That loop in the top is the coolant draw from the line. I'm hoping
this doesn't become a hassle to purge the air from. I'll find out soon enough. However, there's enough
force and volume of coolant that I believe this should not be a problem. This photo was taken
before re-installing the cooling fan...
And finally, a photo with the fan installed. Tomorrow, I'll start the engine and clear all the air
out of the lines. Hopefully, this will all be good news. Wish me luck!
Left to do: Wire in the new engine temperature sensor and control the fans and pump. This new
pump only draws a couple amps, so I'll be running it with the fans -which makes sense. (to me... )
More on this as I progress... ( like, "will it work!" ) I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
Hope you've enjoyed today's show and tell.
Well, as Tony Natoli has indicated on several occasions, I've been tied up, "shut in", (whatever!)
from time to time this winter and have been thinking about doing something about this.
You might remember this picture I drew showing an additional auxiliary pump somewhere
in the line, something that can help the coolant flow when stuck in traffic or going nowhere.
Well, I finally got around to finishing up the pieces I started last winter and decided to
spend today to see if I could actually fit it in. The following photo shows the pieces I've collected.
The stainless piece was something I made during the winter months and spent several hours in
doing it. I'm not much of a welder but I can stick weld pretty good, so I used Nickel-silver to
weld the inlet and outlets on. It's all stainless (since I have a passion for stainless!) so the result came
out looking pretty good. It'll out last the car anyway.
The pump was an Italian-made unit designed as a turbo inter-cooler. I found it on Italian eBay
sometime last winter. It's a $100 pump and has a very high MTBF rating and is magnetically
coupled internally, so no leaks at high temperatures.
The hose was something I found today actually, in my quest to get this thing installed.
Here's a photo of the built assembly. The design was to "hopefully" fit into the radiator hose up
front. My desire was to try and tap into the coolant return line, but there's simply no room. Too bad,
as the coolant would be of a lower temperature and be better for the pump. But the pump was built to
take it anyway, so no matter...
The worst part about this "experiment" is that I had to cut into the nice brand-new hoses I
just installed, but no guts, no glory! Ha!
Shown here is the assembly installed into the coolant feed line to the radiator. The radiator doesn't
show but is connected directly to the top left hose in the photo. The pump assembly fits perfectly
within the original coolant line. The pump doesn't touch anywhere inside, although it's close!
It clears everything, including my air conditioning setup. (which I think is why I overheat so easily
when going slow or not moving) That loop in the top is the coolant draw from the line. I'm hoping
this doesn't become a hassle to purge the air from. I'll find out soon enough. However, there's enough
force and volume of coolant that I believe this should not be a problem. This photo was taken
before re-installing the cooling fan...
And finally, a photo with the fan installed. Tomorrow, I'll start the engine and clear all the air
out of the lines. Hopefully, this will all be good news. Wish me luck!
Left to do: Wire in the new engine temperature sensor and control the fans and pump. This new
pump only draws a couple amps, so I'll be running it with the fans -which makes sense. (to me... )
More on this as I progress... ( like, "will it work!" ) I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
Hope you've enjoyed today's show and tell.