Guy, A stock 1600 radiator in good working order can be barely adequate for even a stock L20B. You can get away with using a 10" electric thermo fan or a L18 a/cond water pump and 7 blade fan (these fans are noisy when locked in but they are very good at cooling, the thermo coupling often has failed on 2nd hand items and fairly exy to replace as it is integral with the water pump). Where you will get problems with the stock solid drive fan is with a 4 speed and 3.7 diff (or lower) in hot weather at sustained highway speeds. 5 spds help but you'll warm things up very easily going across mountainous roads in 30+ temps even at modest throttle openings. Around town/city driving and traffic jams etc will never be much of a problem no matter what fan you use.
The popular option for something much better is to have your radiator modified to triple core - these are bullet proof on just about any engine you care to shove in a 1600 and it still uses the existing mounts - I recommend an electric 10" fan set to around 190 degrees (88 C) as about the starting point. This is what I've used for over 20 years and the fan basically never comes on (not L20B, but a LZ1889/webers/66 cam engine with 5 spd and I must make sure that it still works one day). Last w/end I towed my box trailer with camping gear overflowing, full boot etc, 3 adults & a child over the Clyde Mountain (Batemans Bay to Braidwood in southern NSW) in 30 odd degrees and the temp gauge moved up to 85C (+3 over normal) just at the top - if you don't know the mountain, it has a speed limit of 70kph for the last 5 klms or so and as it's mainly single file the traffic will concertina behind anything that's struggling which is a killer on the cooling system. This mountain is notorious for sorting out your cooling system big time, and it claims many a victim. Pulsar N13 radiators are also a common replacement but mainly used for FJ engines, although with a little work as they are very simple to physically fit into a 1600 they can be used with L series with a combination of hoses and I think I have what the hoses required are filed away if you require. They are an extremely efficient low cost option for a 1600 as they are alloy and usually in very good condition from wreckers. On the Aus 1600 factory fitted shrouds were not used, I think I may have seen one fitted and I haven't a clue what it was off (could have been an import 160J engine) but the RSA 510 models had them with a/cond was fitted and they also had the fluid type coupling water pump & fan which is definitely not necca with a triple core or N13 radiator. Anyway, your engineer would also know that an enclosed shrouded radiator system isn't worth a cracker without the underneath of the bonnet to the top support sealed, possible but it could be a bit of a painful exercise on a 1600 as it wasn't designed to be done in the first place. On the subject of water pumps, the cast impellor type is far superior to the more modern steel type which must be cheaper to make or something. Have fun convincing your engineer unless he's 1600 aware. regards Terry -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 19 March 2003 3:57 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Radiator Hi Everyone, Have a couple of questions. Is the 1600 radiator adequate to keep an L20 cool, I have spoken to the local engineer and he wanted me to use a 200b Radiator but after doing some measuring its too tall. If the standard radiator is'nt adequate what have people used in the past? He also wanted a fan shroud for the fan, which had the 200b radiator fitted would have been simple. Did the 1600 ever have a fan shroud? Thanks Guy --membersozdat------------------------------------------------------- OZDAT Mailing List Please Note:- Send (un)subscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] No unauthorised redistribution of this email http://www.ozdat.com/ozdatonline/index.htm http://www.ozdat.com/ozdatonline/listindex.html http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
