Re: Engine cooling

["Peter Herrmann" <herrmann_peter@domain.elided>]

As the temprature of my 72 GTV exceeded 225 I decided to flush the
radiator.That didn't improve in any way. The radiator was clogged
totally.After exchanging the radiator with a new one and the thermostat
thetemprature is back to normal. >From: "Douglas R. and Julia R. Harris"
>Reply-To: "Douglas R. and Julia R. Harris" >To: Alfa Digest >Subject:
Engine cooling >Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 21:11:26 -0400 > > Having decided
that I'd cover the basics before making an >improvement regarding my '77
Spider that runs a wee bit on the hot >side, I decided to have my
existing radiator flushed and rodded. (Last >summer, I flushed the
cooling system and installed a new 180 degree >thermostat; everything
else checks out fine.) The radiator work has >brought the temperature
down in stop-and-go creeping on a hot day (we're >having August in April
here in Virginia) from just under 212 degrees to >about 200. At cruising
speed, or under most any conditions on a cooler >day, it stays around 185
to 195. > I'm thinking that part of the problem might be the air
conditioning >condenser in front of the grill and the generally
restrictive air flow >through the front of the Series 2a spider. I still
intend to replace >the mechanical fan with an electric puller fan, but
that's for another >day. > But all this has me wondering about the
genesis of my car's air >conditioning and whether anyone can shed some
light. As far as I can >tell from available literature, all non-catalytic
'77 Spiders (like >mine) had air pumps. Mine doesn't. With the air
conditioner compressor >above and to the driver's side of the water pump,
where would the air >pump go? (I've read on the Digest that some Alfettas
had the air pump >outboard of the SPICA pump, but I don't see how that
could be on a >Spider.) My exhaust manifold has plugs in the holes where
I presume the >air pump would connect. My guess is that the New Jersey
dealer that >first sold the car, in the days of performance-minded denial
when folks >still thought they could modify away emission controls,
removed the air >pump and installed the air conditioning compressor. (It
does appear to >be an Alfa Romeo rig, and the car came with a boatload of
literature, >including an Alfa booket on maintaining the air conditioning
system, >when I bought it last Summer.) > Does anyone have a Series 2a
Spider with air conditioning? If so, >does it show signs of the air pump
having been removed to make room? >Oh, and does anyone have any other
ideas on keeping the temp down >(again, I'm still planning on upgrading
to an electric fan soon -- just >haven't decided on the details). > >Doug
>77 Spider >Richmond, Virginia > >[demime 0.98e removed an attachment of
type text/x-vcard which had a name of dharris.vcf] > >-- >to be removed
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