| Author | Message | ||
     Mark Glanville Experienced User Username: mark_glanville Post Number: 30 Registered: 5-2008 |
Does your calorstat work? Its long weekend in Australia and the daytime temperature yesterday was around 40C in the west of Sydney. The calorstat rods/pins on my SW have been disconnected at some point (as are most) as there is very little use for the shutters for at least 9 months of the year. Further, as a point of interest, the same engine on a Bentley MK6 and Dawn have no Calorstat to regulate the grill shutters opening and closing. The backing plate on mine has disappeared, so I had thoughts to fabricate a new plate to make the space look tidy. There is a pin however, protruding from the calorstat making the job a little bit harder. Has anyone ever repaired the calorstat on a SW or removed the calorstate unit from the radiator without damage, and if so, how is it done? | ||
| Mark Glanville Experienced User Username: mark_glanville Post Number: 31 Registered: 5-2008 |
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| John Rowney Experienced User Username: johnrowney Post Number: 48 Registered: 2-2015 |
Mark A couple of years ago I got the calorstat replaced in my 1938 Wraith WXA68. This was part of a lot of other work done by Steve Sparks of NBS Services (Geebung, Queensland, Australia). My calorstat did not work and I always ran with the shutters open. Steve found that someone had used epoxy or some other very hard glue to keep the calorstat in place. He ended up taking the radiator out to get the calorstat out. The reason he had to remove the radiator was that he had to use an oxy torch to heat up the area (and destroy the glue). I bought a calorstat from Fiennes. I can't remember what I paid, but I noticed today that Fiennes have calorstats for post war cars for the tidy sum of GBP432.35. Not cheap. My radiator was found to be shot at well, so I got a new core from a mob in NZ. Not cheap either! The original radiator shell was in good condition and took the new calorstat and the new core easily. Others tell me that the calorstat is never easy to extract, but Steve's experience is that it can be done. The car (with new calorstat) is now running well. If you get the RROCA magazine Praeclarum, you might have read my article in the December issue about coolants. Living on the Gold Coast, we don't get 40 deg days, but I took WXA68 a couple of days ago on a 33 deg day and the coolant temp kept at about 78 to 79 deg C. I have had a day at 40 deg C in South Australia last year, and all was OK. | ||
| Mark Glanville Experienced User Username: mark_glanville Post Number: 32 Registered: 5-2008 |
Thanks John for your reply. I rather suspected the reply, calorstat is never easy to extract. I will consider my next move. Thanks for the tip on where to buy,as it doesn't appear for Introcar or FS. Both sites don't offer the backing plate for sale either. Happy to hear of a success story such as yours and car is running well in the heat. Cheers. |
