Cooling swirl pot question

[Electron]

I have a TVR 5000M - a 3000M with a 302 Mustang V8 which I've been sprinting this year. Unfortunately I have had on going problems with it boiling and spitting out over 1 litre of coolant.

The car has a brand new oversize alloy radiator and an electric thermostatically controlled water pump as well as electric fans.

I've just pulled the engine apart to fit new head gaskets, inlet gaskets (the Offenhauser manifold has water passages that can leak)and reseat the water pump.

One of my sprint colleagues has noticed my cooling swirl pot has the feed from the water pump going into the top and the exit to the radiator out the bottom. This is the reverse of a V8 Griffith we compared it with.

Is my swirl pot extracting air and pushing it into the radiator ??

Guidance from the panel would be appreciated before it all goes back together.....

Chris

[brummiewedge]

Get rid and fit an expansion tank at the highest point.

[Electron]

One other thing I forgot to mention ... it has an expansion tank and three air bleeds - one at the top of the radiatior, one at the back of the inlet manifold and one on the top of the swirl pot ...

[The AJP Griff]

Electron said:

One of my sprint colleagues has noticed my cooling swirl pot has the feed from the water pump going into the top and the exit to the radiator out the bottom. This is the reverse of a V8 Griffith we compared it with.......


Chris

Thats the same way around as my griff.

[Electron]

Thanks for the replies.

I've also read up on a De Tomaso that had similar problems and got some more hints.

A little more fundamental and tricky to track down was both my Windsor heads were found to be porous between the water jacket and the exhaust ports. Water was leaking and being pushed out as steam.

The trouble was a compression test worked, the oil wasn't going milky and no obvious traces of oil or anything in the coolantappeared.

The hotter the engine got the more water was pushed through the porosity. My big electric pump probably made things worse !

Hopefully the new heads will fix the basics but I'll also re engineer the swirlpot and move the header tank up and back to make sure it's as high up as possible.

Chris

[heightswitch]

On the Racing Griff We feed the bottom of the radiator to the top and run an air bleed to a swirl pot and back to the inlet.

We also gear down the water pump rotation speed by using a bigger pulley. When racing at sustained high revs with the mechanical pump the pump is known to cavitate on the small block.

Neil.

[Electron]

Neil,

I guess I put my question in the wrong forum :-)

The heads were porous between the water jacket and the exhaust ports on my Windsor heads. Water blew out down the exhaust looking like a blown head gasket but without a failed compression test or emulsified oil.

I use the elecric pump with the middle size restrictor plate - I hadn't thought about pumping too much water and getting cavitation.

I'll move the header tank up to avoid airlocks and see how we go ..

Thanks

Chris

[GreenV8S]

What's the flow rate of your EWP at (say) 2 bar back pressure?

[Electron]

Sorry the only detail on the pump is a flow rate of 19 gallons a minute. The instructions suggested inserting the medium size restrictor to ensure there is some back pressure.

The pump is a moroso ....

http://www.moroso.com/catalog/categorydisplay.asp?...

I think I may drop down to the small restrictor in the plan ...

ps sorry reread my last couple of replies and realised a bit of repetition .... must be old age :-)