RE: electric fan and rad switch for 1750 GTV

[Hirsch <Catenary@domain.elided>]

Warren Reid asks:
>> ... The thought crossed my mind that I might as well get a
thermo switch put in it whilst I was getting it cleaned just
in case I want to rip out the belt driven fan and put in a
thermatic fan... Can anyone suggest the optimum position to
put this in the radiator? <<

Warren, you may want to read the article "Installing an
Electric Cooling Fan in a Spider" at the i Saluti website:

   http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/3837/fancool.html

On installing the thermo switch, quoting from the article:

"It is important that an electric cooling fan be turned on
automatically when coolant temperature reaches a predetermined
level. On cars that come from the factory with an electric fan
(Alfas at least), the fan thermostat is mounted very close to
the water outlet at the bottom of the radiator. This makes sense
since you really want to control the temperature of the coolant
as it enters the engine block. The temperature of the water
entering the radiator is really unimportant. So, the fan
thermostat should be mounted as close to the radiator's
outlet as possible. But surface-mounting the fan thermostat
on the metal next to the outlet seems like a poor idea, since
the radiator's skin temperature will only roughly reflect
coolant temperature. It seems that the only method of accurately
measuring coolant temperature is to cut the radiator and mount
the fan thermostat so the thermal sensor is in direct contact
with the coolant. A radiator shop, when asked about adding a
thermal switch fitting to the bottom tank of a radiator, said
that it would not be difficult and cost about $20. This seems
to me to be the best way to go, to do it as the manufacturers
do."

Good Luck,

Rich Hirsch
'87 Milano
'78 Spider  <-thermostatically-controlled fan
'67 Duetto  <-thermostatically-controlled fan
'66 Sprint GTV
Editor, i Saluti, St Louis AROC
Website: http://www.catenary.com/victor/isaluti

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