What is your ceiling height?
I you figure out my overheat problem, Iâll fly you around until you puke. Rick.
My ceiling height is 8 feet and the configuration without some extensive modification would make using a lift with side posts problematic. I may do the garage mod at some point but might try one like Rickâs first to see if it suits my needs well enough.
David
68 E-type FHC
Sorry Rick. I do not know anything about the V12 except that they are wonderful running engines when everything is working properly. When I bought my '68 it would have some of your symptoms on 90F days where gauge would creep up toward the red and puke out some coolant on shutdown. Tried Engine flush, new thermostat, rebuilt water pump and new brass radiator with 7 extra rows without much improvement. The Coolcat fans turned out to be my solution. My original square motors with 4 blade fans seemed to be flowing lots of air but maybe they were tired or the 7 blade design and motors on my Coolcats are that much better for my 6 cyl. Now 10+ years later in the same conditions the gauge hangs out between MA in NORMAL and no more coolant overflows ever. My '68 has 2 âradiatorâ caps. A 7lb pressure cap on the overflow tank on the firewall and a non-pressure cap on the radiator. I have heard of folks switching positions by mistake and having strange cooling problems. Just some of my 6 cyl thoughts.
David
68 E-type FHC
With a MaxJax you can get an E-type about 3â to 3-1/3â above the floor with an 8â ceiling. Thatâs assuming you donât have any lights or garage door openers above the car.
I didnât have the ceiling height for a 4 post lift so I purchase a Bend Pak (made in China) scissor lift which lifts the car about 4 feet. Works good unless you need to access the center of the car.
Rich
Another beautiful day gave her a wash and put the spit up for sale. Going to be a tough had her for 32 years.
4 Likes
Sold my MkII spit many years ago and would still love to have it back. I miss all the rattles and leaks!
The Jag roars but the Spit screams!!!
1 Like
Iâm getting there. I drove the car around for first time after making several adjustments. Advancing the timing seems to have helped a lot. With the fans running she is staying in the AL portion of normal! I had to use an override switch to force the fan when the relay became dicey. More, I did add washers to the thermostats to force the by pass closed at 180 F. I need to work on tuning. Idling is fast after warm up and it is drinking fuel so fast you can see the fuel gauge moving. But dang it was fun to drive!! Rick.
These two pics show the rubber washer I added to the thermostats AFTER I used them for half hour. The âwitnessâ mark clearly shows the outline of the bypass opening solidly embedded in the rubber, validating that it was tightly closed. This mod, along with the fans running kept the car in the normal temp range. I am testing a few more Gates thermostats. Without the washers, the bypass was not being completely closed at 180f.
2 Likes
The thick washer may close the bypass, but itâs also preventing the main valve from fully opening. You need to try new thermostats. If the gauge is calibrated, AL is not where you should be. I donât understand the fan issueâŚwhat do you mean by the ârelay became dicey?â What sort of temperatures are you seeing at the otter switch?
Just returned from a two days tour throu Slovenia . All together about 672 kms . It was my first longer drive after the winter break . During the last 4 month , I fitted an EZ-Powersteering , a Mangoletsi throttle
cable conversion and a wiper interval switching unit . There was no need for the wipers , because the weather was wonderful . The first day of the year with 27 ° C ( 81 ° F ) .
The most impressive part of the trip is always the Vrsic Pass with not less than 50 hairpin bends .
Up to now this was an eerily beautiful adventure . This year for the first time were no blisters on my fingers .
I love the EZ Powersteering ( no affiliation at all ) !! Please understand but I was a 30 years E-Type purist
who loves now the comfort .
12 Likes
Michael, I truly appreciate your taking the time to write. Everything I have been learning about this beast has been interesting and worth the effort. Basically, I can tell you that a âmechanicâ got hold of the car to put it in running condition for sale. It had sat in a garage for many many years. Car only has 15,000 miles. Whoever was working on it was not very talented. The first thing I noticed was that the wrong plugs were installed. They were only 3/8 inch long and brand new. . As you may know they need to be at least 3/4 inch to reach the combustion chamber. They changed the radiator ( aluminum) and added the high output fans and shrouds. This installation included wiring for the new fans that was piggybacked onto the engine. The installation was incorrect. I had to remove and repair the original wiring, relays, etc. Got them working pretty well. Ottter Switch was set correctly. Learned that the Thermostats had been replaced. They do not close completely when full hot. They replaced the Dizzy with SNBarret upgrade. It was not set correctly.( surprise?) They replaced the entire fuel system and worked on the carbs. There was debris in the new lines, incorrrect float valves were installed AND they were not set to correct height. Leaking like sieves, I am lucky I did not set the car on fire. I rebuilt them. This entire excercies has had the overheating issue in the backround. I finally got the car to run cooler when I reset the timing on the DIzzy to a much larger advance, got the thermostats to fully close the bypass when hot AND the fan remains ON when the car is running at operating temps⌠180 F and up. I am not done. I am further working on the FAN issue and the otter switch to be sure they are going on and off as required. I have burned out two fan relays. Loss of a relay is loss of the fan and leads immediately to overheat. The termostat issue is a work in process. I have three different thermostats to try so far. If I can get one to operate correctly, I will publish the make model and whatever modification it required, if any. More, I am reverting the car to Euro Configuration. No air pump, no gulp valve. Removal of a small pile of vacuum lines and controls related to the removed emissions equipment is under way. . Even though the car is set to Manual Spec, I can tell the carbs are running too rich. I will reset them. That will also lower temps if I can get the car to lean, but useful settings. That may slow the amout of fuel she is guzzling. This is all interesting to me. I am only frustrated by what I have not learned, yet. Rick
1 Like
ALSO, The thermostat DOES open fully when the lower foot ( with washer) is seated⌠The plunger in the middle is on a spring and it goes deeper into the bypass than the washer, thus allowing the upper end to FULLY open. This was tested before it was installed by heating it up in sauce pad to full open temp, then pushing the lower âfootâ up. The upper opening remained fully open. Rick
Hi Martin, can you please show pictures how the unit was installed, thanksâŚ
I entered a local car show, first time ever and won a trophy, the car got a lot of attention. leaving the event the speedo dropped to zero and stayed there. So back to the grind
1 Like
Hi Willinda ,
I dried to do my best . Unfortunately I didnât make
pictures during the installation .
Garth, which unit? Radiator, Fans, Thermostats, Distributor? Each of these items had been worked on and had to be reinstalled making needed adjustments. Anything you are interested in, I can photo.
Rick Martin
Hi Rick, wrong person. I just needed pixâs for the power steering installation. The install was awesome 
