Radiator Shroud

[Bill]

John,
You made reference to getting the runnig temp up to 180-190...my poor baby will not go much over 140-150 when the outside temp. drops below 50.

Ever since the temp dropped below 55 here in central Texas, Sophia has not been happy, and feels all choked up.

This past weekend she ran like the proverbial "scalded cat" on a 220 mile dash to Houston and back in 3 hrs when the temp was in the high 60's and the op.temp was at 180, but now its 34 and she will not warm up!

What to do, what to do....

webers and NO choke, mixture doesn,t change unless you allow for the denser air charge, one more advantage of being a EPA scofflaw, but legal in this state for any car over 25 years old.

[Roadtrip]

Bill - Sounds like your thermostat is bad. Put a new one in and check the stamp on it to make sure it's a 192F (?) one. Assuming the T/A is operating correctly, you need AT LEAST 175F for the mixture to be leaned to running norm.

Don't trust how the old thermostat "looks" because it can look ok and still be bad. Up here recently, the temp has been hovering around 0 deg F. When it gets that cold I have to put winter fronts (piece of cardboard) over the radiators on my jeeps to get decent warmup and barely adequate heater performance. The Alfa, of course, sits in the garage and waits for more civliized temperatures.

BTW, do you have a new compensator return spring in that thing yet?

[Bill]

John,
Thanks for the info, I will try to replace the thermo this weekend ( it has a snapped off bolt head on one wing, PO) I will have to tap it out and replace.

Unfortunately, she is my daily driver and I dont have the option of not driving her no matter what the weather.

No, I have not replaced the spring. I was in contact with Wes and he made a suggestion which works for now. I will have to remove the pump and open it up to make the change to a new spring, after I fish out the old broken one.

Thanks again for your interest and information.

[rbitzer]

Man, if you get 5-7 hp from cutting down to 2 blades, imagine the horsepower gain if you cut out ALL the blades!

electric fan is good for 10 hp, but it weighs much more than a 2 blade fan

[papajam]

Quote:

Originally posted by alfa of-corse ...electric fan is good for 10 hp...

Quote:

Originally posted by papajam No comment.

[Roadtrip]

10 hp gain sounds pretty optimistic to me. I'll bet it's more like 3 hp, and only that at rpm levels that street cars rarely see for more than a few seconds at a time. I think we beat this horse to death on a previous thread, didn't we?

[papajam]

We most certainly did, RT!! For alfa of-corse and those who care for a little hmmmm... entertainment, the above mentioned thread can be found here.

checked out the other threads and this HAS been beaten to death and should be buried, it seems that there are 2 different groups here, One looking to remove as much weight and obtain every HP they possibly can even 2-3 at a time and willing to live with the concessions and another that is content with the stock setup, I think the majority of owners are in the middle, So leave the stock fan on or cut it down to 2 At least they know the options. And HP to weight ratio and way to achieve the best while staying streetable are not what this thread is about, what was the last response that mentioned a shrould? Just wish I could get this level of concern when I ask for "tech" advice.

[MrT]

Quote:

Originally posted by beachmason Thank you for the picture. As Roadtrip mentioned, the'74 is a complete circle. It appears as though I need to follow his steps and completely pull the radiator. Let the fun begin! Greg