[xj-s] Anybody install Be cool Radiator(62082) single inlet?

Hi, I’m reading the new version of ‘‘The Book’’ as well as looking at
some of the sites about converting to the single inlet system
radiator. Be Cool has a radiator made for this and is available
through Summit Racing for 635.26, was 599.00 a couple of months
ago. Anway…I have the 88 engine and 700R4 trans in the 87 XJS,
with a 3,54:1 rear (thanks Chad) and I’m in the process of starting
on the upper end. All new wiring, AJ6 throttle bodies and 16ECU,
etc. I’m thinking about doing something different with the cooling
system. When the engine was in the 88 I installed two Derale fans
(4000cfm) wired into the Jag system so the one runs for cool down
and A/C like the factory setup…But I’m thinking since I have
gone to all this time and trouble, why not upgrade if the single
inlet arrangement is in fact REALLY an improvement. All thoughts as
always are appreciated, but I would really like to hear from
somebody who is running this kind of setup to find out ‘‘The good,
The bad, and The Ugly’’ ;-). Like how hard to make up inlet pipes
and what kinds of hoses, etc. Thanks in advance, Regards, Jim–
Jim xjs
Sierra Vista, AZ., United States
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Jim,

Funny you should ask.

http://www.georgiajag.com/Documents/BeCool%20Radiator/Be%20Cool.html

Best regards,

Gregory Wells 800-331-2193 x103
Coventry West, Inc. Atlanta, GA
Jaguar & Land Rover Parts
(New, Rebuilt & Used) www.coventrywest.com

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In reply to a message from Jim xjs sent Mon 15 Jan 2007:

I installed the BeCool on my 91 XJS convertible last winter. You
should search the forum and the Book for the entire discussion
about single versus double pass radiators and determine your own
strategy.
There are other decisions you may want to consider such as
electric fans, coolant filters, and routing the crossover. I
installed the BeCool for several reasons, not least was the drain
so that I could clean the coolant filters routinely. The OEM Jag.
has no drain.
I bought the BeCool ‘‘T’’ pipe for the right side connector
although it was hideously expensive. Kirby mentions that a Y pipe
would be better. I agree but space is a problem. Making up
crossover pipes was not difficult. I went to the local auto store
and mixed and matched.
The web picture looks to me that both intakes are aimed at each
other on his T pipe. Would this make a difference in circulation?
I installed my T similar to the other forum pictures, that is
straight through for the right side with the left feed entering on
the T.
The fan shroud needs some adjustments and cutting for the drain
plug clearance. You will need to plumb for the smaller hose to the
header tank on the bottom inlet pipe. I also brazed the vent pipes
as detailed in the Book. Another question from that picture web
site: I thought the banjo bolt and vent needed to be reversed to
the left side and the photos showed no vent at all.
The major problem for me was plumbing the auto transmission
pipes. The BeCool has standard female SAE fittings inside the
radiator. Who knows what the Jag has? Metric or BSP or whatever.
I cut the old Jag female fittings off my old radiator and brazed
them to SAE brass fittings for the BeCool. I suppose you could
replace the OEM lines and connectors or some other more elegant
solution.
In running, the radiator was fine. I drove it through 98-100F
summer Interstate driving with my AC running and some idling and it
was within the N on the gauge and dropped below N at highway
speeds. This fall and winter it was running at the thermostats
temps. Very satisfied with it. I installed one coolant filter and
am still cleaning a gooey film from it 12 months later. Maybe old
Barrs?
The BeCool came from the factory and had aluminium chips in it.
I think from the extra vent holes drilled and tapped. I flushed it
several times before installation and still picked up lots of chips
in the filter. See my report last year.
Good luck.
George Goodridge–
The original message included these comments:

and A/C like the factory setup…But I’m thinking since I have
gone to all this time and trouble, why not upgrade if the single
inlet arrangement is in fact REALLY an improvement. All thoughts as
always are appreciated, but I would really like to hear from
somebody who is running this kind of setup to find out ‘‘The good,
The bad, and The Ugly’’ ;-). Like how hard to make up inlet pipes
and what kinds of hoses, etc. Thanks in advance, Regards, Jim


ggoodrid
Durham, NC, United States
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In reply to a message from ggoodrid sent Wed 17 Jan 2007:

The web picture looks to me that both intakes are aimed at each
other on his T pipe. Would this make a difference in circulation?
** Does not seem to make a difference as it cools more than
adequately**
Another question from that picture web
site: I thought the banjo bolt and vent needed to be reversed to
the left side and the photos showed no vent at all.
The early non HE’s used a vent on the left side, the HE’s did not
and just blanked off the hole.

The major problem for me was plumbing the auto transmission
pipes.
**The transmission lines on the non overdrive auto transmissions
have very little pressure in the lines. Regular brass barb fittings
with hose clamps should be adequate. I have a 6 speed so the
transmission cooler was not an issue.–
Dick Maury , Rebuild Dept., Coventry West, Inc.
Lithonia, GA, United States
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You should search the forum and the Book for the entire discussion
about single versus double pass radiators and determine your own
strategy.
There are other decisions you may want to consider such as
electric fans, coolant filters, and routing the crossover. I
installed the BeCool for several reasons, not least was the drain
so that I could clean the coolant filters routinely. The OEM Jag.
has no drain.

Good luck.
George Goodridge

For anyone who is interested my personal opinions on the single
versus dual pass radiator is on my website at.

http://bernardembden.com/xjs/radconvert/index.htm

You may or may not agree with my opinions, however I believe it’s
worthwhile reading for anyone considering a single pass radiator.

Bernard Embden
bernardembden.com

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Dick Maury wrote:

I thought the banjo bolt and vent needed to be reversed to the
left side and the photos showed no vent at all.
The early non HE’s used a vent on the left side, the HE’s did not
and just blanked off the hole.

Well, no. The pre-H.E. had a manual valve on the left side so you
could readily open it to vent while filling the cooling system. The
H.E. had the exact same vent in the exact same place except that it
was a simple plug that you had to remove while filling.

The issue about reversal is that the air purge connection must be on
the downstream side of the cross flow. In the OEM 1-1/2 pass
radiator, the flow across the top is left-to-right, so the air purge
connection is at the top right. Once you convert to single pass, you
usually end up with flow right-to-left, which means the air purge
optimally should be at the top left. Since the air purge banjo bolt
and the vent (either valve or plug) are the same thread, it’s a
fairly simple matter to swap sides – but you’ll have to modify the
air purge manifold to make it work right.

– Kirbert

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In reply to a message from Kirbert sent Mon 22 Jan 2007:

In reference to coolant filling and the bleeder valves, it is
correct that the non-HE’s had a bleeder on the top left of the
radiator. Jaguar redesigned the cooling system on the HE’s and put
piping to bleed the air out of the system. This way the excess air
would bleed out of the pipes to the secondary radiator cap housing
without a need for opening the bleeder which is why it was left
off. I just looked up in the 5 volume Jaguar shop manual and there
is no mention about removing the left plug during service or at any
other time. I have also been working on these long before the XJS
was introduced and cannot believe that if you were supposed to
remove the left plug to fill the cooling system, either a lot (or
at least one) car would have been low on coolant after I worked on
it. This would also mean that the shop manual had left out an
important step in the coolant filling process. As far as the
location of the side of the purge valve, air rises to the top of
the cooling system and does not move so fast when filling the
system that it would not bleed out of either side. Why add
complication of redoing all of the piping when it works fine as is?
You are correct that the flow is from right to left. It was from
left to right on the earlier non-HE’s and the bleeder was on the
left or inlet side of the radiator.–
The original message included these comments:

I thought the banjo bolt and vent needed to be reversed to the
left side and the photos showed no vent at all.
The early non HE’s used a vent on the left side, the HE’s did not
and just blanked off the hole.

Well, no. The pre-H.E. had a manual valve on the left side so you
could readily open it to vent while filling the cooling system. The
H.E. had the exact same vent in the exact same place except that it
was a simple plug that you had to remove while filling.
The issue about reversal is that the air purge connection must be on
the downstream side of the cross flow. In the OEM 1-1/2 pass
radiator, the flow across the top is left-to-right, so the air purge


Dick Maury , Rebuild Dept., Coventry West, Inc.
Lithonia, GA, United States
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Dick,

In reference to coolant filling and the bleeder valves, it is
correct that the non-HE’s had a bleeder on the top left of the
radiator. Jaguar redesigned the cooling system on the HE’s and put
piping to bleed the air out of the system. This way the excess air
would bleed out of the pipes to the secondary radiator cap housing
without a need for opening the bleeder which is why it was left
off.

The non-HE (which I assume to be the same as a preHe) also has an
air bleed system. It goes from the right top of the radiator to the
remote header tank.

You are correct that the flow is from right to left. It was from
left to right on the earlier non-HE’s and the bleeder was on the
left or inlet side of the radiator.

Are you saying the coolant flow direction in the preHE is different
from that in an HE?

Ed Sowell
1976 XJ-S
http://www.efsowell.us/ed/myJag.html

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In reply to a message from Ed Sowell sent Tue 23 Jan 2007:

Hi Ed, all of the V12’s have the same flow direction from the
factory. Mine is backwards on the top side of the radiator as it
now has a single pass radiator and the only inlet is on the right.
Originally the upper 1/3 of the radiator is fed by the left side of
the engine so the flow is from left to right.–
The original message included these comments:

Are you saying the coolant flow direction in the preHE is different
from that in an HE?


Dick Maury , Rebuild Dept., Coventry West, Inc.
Lithonia, GA, United States
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In reply to a message from Bernard Embden sent Fri 19 Jan 2007:

I have read the book from cover to cover and that is why I
decided to convert to the single pass. Problem is it doesn’t
work–
codemanusa
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In reply to a message from codemanusa sent Tue 31 Jul 2007:

I installed a single pass BeCool in my 91 XJS convertilbe, 5.3, and
I posted my experience about May, 05 or thereabouts. I bought
the ‘‘T’’ connector pipe from BeCool also. I have been very
satisfied. In 90 degrees F here in North Carolina, the car runs
about 1 needle below ‘‘N’’ on the gauge. It will heat into the N
range when stopped in traffic but then the secondary fan cycles
on. I did not install electric fans but that might help also.
Your response is not clear, but follow the forums threads or
search forums and there is lots of installation advice. As I
recall the major obstacles were revising the top vent pipes and
finding threaded adapters for the transmission cooler tubes.
While I had my radiator removed I should have replaced the
harmonic balancer. If yours is suspect, I would recommend it.
Good luck.

George Goodridge
91 XJS convertible–
The original message included these comments:

In reply to a message from Bernard Embden sent Fri 19 Jan 2007:
I have read the book from cover to cover and that is why I
decided to convert to the single pass. Problem is it doesn’t
work


ggoodrid
Durham, NC, United States
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I’m installing a be-cool radiator in my 84xjs Got too good of a deal to pass up. I used copper for the tee fitting. I tried cast iron pipe at 1st but it was too bulky to get close enough to the radiator and could not make it to fit. My question is that the old radiator had a wire connected on the right side of the radiator near the inlet. Temp sensor? The becool one doesn’t have that. Did you add a sensor to the inlet? Also by adding copper to the mix I was wondering if I would be causing electrolysis that will corrode the radiator. Has anyone experienced that? I know you can buy a anode that will screw into the drain cock at the bottom to prevent corrosion but don’t know if that is needed. I will measure the voltage from battery ground to the water when I get done. They say anything more than 0.3v is a problem.

I fitted an aluminium radiator 5 years ago and also replaced the ? mark pipe with copper (l zinc plated that) and have had no problem.
My radiator was originally fitted with a single wire thermo fan temp sensor and l did change that to a two wire sensor in order to keep the radiator isolated.
There seems to be two schools of thought on the subject, isolate or ground it securely.

So your saying that wire on the right side of the radiator controls when the fan comes on? I thought it might be a low coolent sensor. Does anyone have a recommendation on where to put a sensor for the be-cool radiator? In the hose? Are the two wires off of the water pump for the temperature gauge and don’t control the fan?

The single wire on the right front of the rad, a couple inches down from the top, is the coolant level sensor. On later models it was moved to the header tank. Perhaps worth noting that the header tank is securely grounded while the radiator is largely electrically isolated from the chassis. Might not make any difference if we can presume that the sensor can detect coolant via a circuit through the coolant all the way back to the block.

The fan control switch is on the front of the water pump inlet elbow. It has two connectors, and the switch closing a connection between the two causes the fan to run. The water pump elbow is most definitely not electrically isolated, as it is firmly bolted to the block.

Thanks Kirbert. I was thinking that looks like the level sensor and I was able to pull it out and it is a little rod. So with my new radiator in order to have a level sensor I would need to get a new header tank that has the hole for the level sensor I guess. Searching it looks like the neck angle changed on later models that have the pressure sensor. (88 and later I think) Will that fit the 84 ok? I have access to a 90 xjs parts car that still has it. Or maybe I could drill a hole and mount the one from the radiator. But not sure how to seal it from the pressure. Does the expansion tank have the same pressure as the radiator or is it like the plastic ones in a lot of cars that aren’t pressurized.

I was not commenting on your wiring Ron. I was just pointing out the fact isolation is not possible while using a single wire sensor

Or you could break out your drill.

The OEM sensor, in both the rad and the header tank, was sealed with a small top hat seal. Just jam it in the hole. Some of us don’t trust it, but it usually doesn’t blow out until somebody fiddles with it.

@baxtor
If you use a two wire sensor do you connect one side the the existing wire and the other side to ground?
one like this looks like it might just screw in to a hole if I drilled one