Results tagged “cooling” from Pantera #2245

Ok so if you want to go faster then 140mph at Silver State what do you do? First you get your self one of them their "oil to water" heat exchangers. I bought off of Ebay a Laminova unit repackaged and sold by Ford for the 95-00 series Crown Victoria police cars. The unit cost me only $30 used. I cleaned up and its as good as new. With the Laminova units they come complete apart and you can clean them thoroughly.

I also found a oil sandwich adapter that is "high flow" with dash 12 input and outputs which match nicely with the oil cooler. So far I have plumbed the cooler into the return line that comes from the radiator. Now I need to bolt on the sandwich adapter and plumb the unit up.

The real test will be at the track in Vegas and Nevada Open Road Race in May!

After the several overheating issues I have been having, I decided to
convert my cooling system to a "low pressure" system as Mike Trusty and
John Taphorn. This weekend I removed the swirl tank and plumbed in a new
tank with a 3/8 inlet to the suction side of the water pump. I replaced the
swirl tank with a line that joins the thermostat housing to the under car
coolant tube. I have one small bleed line to install yet. I should finish
it up this weekend and test it out.

I finished the drivers side front suspension and I must say the car feels
tighter with the new suspension. I also noticed a significant improvement
in "turn in". It maybe the settings, but if I got it right the 2 degrees
camber may be into the "oversteer" mode rather then understeer. Time will
tell on that one.

On other fronts I rebuilt my front end cooling tubes. Since I installed the
new bypass thermostat, I have had leaking problems with the front of the
car. I also blew a hose at the vegas track event. So I fixed it once and
for all armed with large selection of 1 and 1/4 inch copper fittings and
pipe. I removed about four hose connections. I soldered the cooper together
in method that only neccesitates three hose connections for the thermostat
itself. I painted the copper with high temp paint and clearcoat. I also
used copper wire to create "barbs" so the hose would not slide off the end
of the pipes.

I filled the car with coolant and went for a test drive. I had one
hose I forgot to tighten but other then that she is dry as a desert. She
was running really cool so I may have licked my cooling issue as well. Time
will tell.

It's been awhile since my last update. I have done some work mostly
cosmetic. I am still waiting for my weatherstripping for the windows so I
can install them. Windows would make things warmer in the car during these
winter months.

Taking John Taphorns article in the PI magazine, I installed the BMW
thermostat into my Pantera. This thermostat is a better design and seems to
keep my car running cooler by about 20 degrees. I also installed the felt
in the front trunk of the car.