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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: May 24, 2016, 6:40 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Upstate NY
Thanks Tucker. We'll have to check that out.


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: June 1, 2016, 10:38 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Upstate NY
So I took the car out for a spin this weekend. It was very hot (90°F) but everything seemed to work well. No drama. On my way over to a friend’s house the skies opened up and I got hit by a deluge. I noticed during this downpour that at the front fender’s cutout area is where all the water collected and spewed firehose like into the vehicle. I will be adding some neoprene/ rubber mudguards to these front fenders, as had been suggested earlier.

The storm didn’t last long and the roads dried up pretty quickly in the heat. After demonstrating the attributes of the car to my friend in his neighborhood. It was time for me to return home. On the ride back I noticed that hot air, from the fan pushing through the radiator, and under the hood was pouring out of the speaker area of my console. It was like somebody had turned the heat up on high, and it was scorching my bare legs. This heat can’t be good for the electronics or the under hood area in general.

Anyway, I decided I would try and block the air from going into the console and provide a better exit for the hot air by adding another fan under the hood off to one side (something Tucker had suggested earlier). I positioned the KMJ fan, which I had yanked off the radiator previously, in the area on the frame between the driver’s side A-arms where the hood does not cover. I wired it up with a simple switch, relay, and through an unused spot in the fuse box. Seems to work. Here are some pics. I’ll let you know how well it works in practice this weekend. I plan to take the car to a local car show.


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: June 2, 2016, 8:33 pm 
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My miata used to do that through the rubber surround by the shifter. It was nice because it kept the cold metal shifter warm in the winter. It was crappy because it was almost always annoyingly hot. Its amazing how much hot air will flow through a small space if not given another exit.

It's just like water or electricity, path of least resistance. I hope the fan works, pretty clever idea!

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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: June 5, 2016, 4:35 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Upstate NY
Placing the leftover KMJ fan near the A-arms, to pull the hot air out from under the hood, seems to has done the trick. Much less hot air emanating from the console.

So, feeling confident that the car was running OK, I decided to drive it down to a small local car show yesterday and see what reaction I would get. Apparently, it was well rec'd. When I pulled in, they asked my to park the car right up front, where it would get a bit of foot traffic. People were pouring over the car asking questions, giving the two thumbs up, and offering advice. Fun day! I actually won a car cover too. And am happy that everything on the car worked fine. Here are some pics of the car at the show.


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: June 5, 2016, 4:40 pm 
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Glad to see you got it sorted out. :cheers:

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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: June 5, 2016, 5:14 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
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Location: Upstate NY
Thanks MV8. Wouldn't have been there w/o your support! Thx again!


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: June 6, 2016, 9:48 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Upstate NY
Tonight I mocked up some front rubber mud flaps and tacked it on with gorilla tape on the inside of the fender. Want to test these out in practice before I go riveting or bolting into place. Looks like they could work to keep the water from funneling into the car. I may want to find some darker and more plain vinyl rubber, but for now we'll try this.....

I also bought myself a cheap battery disconnect switch and attached it to the negative terminal. Why I didn't think of doing this before I'll never know. Could have saved myself some aggravation. Now I can quickly disconnect when working on the electrical system or use as a cutoff when out in public.


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: June 15, 2016, 11:00 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Upstate NY
Hi folks,
The TR-82 coolant system apparently still needs some enhancement. I have been experiencing some minor coolant loss each time I take the vehicle out due to fluid expansion without the subsequent recovery (despite the presence of a recovery tank). There is no over heating yet, but I don’t want to continue topping off the system prior to each road trip.

I have decided to add in an expansion tank into the system. http://static.speedwaymotors.com/RS/SR/Product/91015710_L.jpg

These are often used when the radiator is lower than the engine, which is certainly the case on this car.

The expansion tank will be mounted as the high point in the system and connected to the:
1. lower hose (low pressure side) via a “T” just prior to the water pump inlet,
2. the heater port on the intake (top of engine), and
3. to a recovery tank (to allow recovery and overflow if necessary)

The expansion tank will be capped with the lower pressure 16 PSI cap to facilitate release if needed. The radiator will be capped with a higher pressure cap to prevent release.

Parts are on order. Here is a schematic of my plan.

My primary concern is how the connection to the heater port would affect the system when the thermostat is closed and the bypass is fully active. Would coolant be exiting the engine block without returning during this period?

Your thoughts are appreciated.


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: June 15, 2016, 11:48 pm 
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Joined: April 12, 2010, 5:40 pm
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Location: san francisco bay area
Closed thermostat, shouldn't be a problem. No path for the water to circulate.

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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: June 16, 2016, 9:19 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Upstate NY
OK Great! Thanks Jack! For some reason I was envisioning the coolant being pumped out of the engine block via the heater port and having no way to return when the TSTAT was closed. I'll rest easier tonight knowing this won't happen!

Parts should arrive tomorrow. :D


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: July 6, 2016, 9:22 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Upstate NY
The new and enhanced coolant system has been added to the TR-82, in accordance with the diagram above. The expansion tank is connected to the lower return hose and intake (with an associated recovery tank). So far it seems to work.

I had tried tying in the radiator (via a no pressure cap and a hose) to the expansion tank as well. That didn't work out so well due to the inability of the rad cap itself to seal well under pressure and making a mess. So I have gone back to the original strategy of a high pressure cap at the radiator.

I also added ball valves in a couple of places to control the flow (e.g., between the intake and expansion tank).

The advantage of the current cooling system design is that I can add coolant at the accessible high points above and near the engine and hopefully minimize trapped air.

Keeping fingers crossed.


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: July 10, 2016, 10:09 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
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Location: Upstate NY
The new coolant system enhancements seem to work. Drove the TR-82 to a car show over 20 miles away today, and experienced no overheating /pressurization issues. Some other minor issues became apparent but nothing I can't handle (brake lights failed, carpet came up, fuse holders damaged).

The car garnered a lot of attention, and I was there for hours answering questions. Fun!


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: July 20, 2016, 10:40 am 
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Joined: March 30, 2011, 7:18 am
Posts: 1615
Location: central Arkansas
badermatic wrote:
Here is a schematic of my plan.


That's the same layout I used on my 302-powered RX7. I mounted the tank on the firewall, quite a bit higher than the radiator.

I also made the system "self bleeding" by drilling a hole in the top of the water pump and installing a -4AN fitting, and soldering a 4 JIC fitting into the top of the radiator tank. A JIC is the farm/industrial equivalent of AN; they are available in brass, so it was easy to solder it to the tank. I used premade Speedway AN lines to go to the bung on the side of the expansion tank. Though they were technically short circuits, the actual flow was quite small.

After that I didn't have to add a gallon or more or coolant while burping after draining the system. And after adding the bypass lines I never had any overheating problems again.

Lots of newer (well, post-80s) vehicle have some kind of air bleed fitting on the thermostat housing; usually just a screw, sometimes a fancier valve. They'll work fine for getting the air out, but they're a bit messy.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that OEM cooling systems are often fairly primitive, and most of them have very little "headroom" and can fail to keep temperatures under control on a hot day, even when the engine is being "normally" driven at well under its rated power output.


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: July 20, 2016, 7:05 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Upstate NY
I liked the idea of tying into the radiator to remove trapped air. I had tried a no pressure cap and a connection from the overflow pipe to the expansion tank, but it just didn't work out. If I experience problems with my current setup, I may just have somebody weld in a bung on the radiator, and run a hose to the expansion tank. So far though it seems to be working out. Tomorrow I am taking it on a 60 mile journey, so that will be a true test.

BTW - All the minor problems mentioned previously (brake lights failed, carpet came up, fuse holders damaged) have been resolved.

My next project will probably be to install hood louvers to help reduce the heat under the hood.


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 Post subject: Re: TR-82 Exo
PostPosted: August 23, 2016, 6:28 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2011, 9:11 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Upstate NY
OK so here is an interesting story you folks might enjoy. A few weeks weeks ago, I experienced some electrical issues in the vehicle upon a long excursion. The fan had died on my way to work (leading to a rather warm coolant issue). Anyway, two hours later after arrival at work, I just happened to look out into the parking lot and noticed my car’s running lights were on. This is interesting because the car was off, the light switch was off, and I actually have no wires attached to the running lights (just wiring to lo & hi beams). I then discovered that my fan switch was activating the running lights. Hmmmm…I also noticed that my right turn signal wasn’t working.

I suspected I had a cross connection or short located in my console where the wiring for the switches and relays for these devices are located. Because it was a rat’s nest of wires in the console (see before pic) I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and clean up the console area by creating a relay station (after pics) to organize the wires and reduce possibility of cross feed. The effort took about a week and a half, but the relay station looks great, and should work well in its new location. :D

After reconnecting everything, however, I flicked on the fan and the running lights came on, again, instead of the fan! I also tested the headlights, and the Lo & Hi beams on the right side were nonexistent. I rechecked all wiring and tested all wiring for power and grounding. There was nothing obvious connecting the fan to the headlights. :BH:

I do, however, have a common ground bus bar (terminal block) for the grounds on this side of the vehicle (which hosts the fan and headlight’s ground wires). When tested with a test light the negative grounds off the bar appeared to be good. But I wasn’t so sure, since this is the only place these devices now had in common. I decided to temporarily connect the ground wire from the fan directly to the battery. Lo & behold the fan worked. This definitely pointed to a ground issue. I cleaned up the ground point on the chassis where I have this bus bar attached, and reattached the fan wire. Everything now works: Fan, headlights and turn signal! :mrgreen:

I could have resolved my initial problem in 5 minutes simply by cleaning up the chassis ground point rather than the week and a half it took. I did however, truly learn something in the process about relays and continuity testing; ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK THE GROUNDS! Anyway, any new wiring issues in the future should be easier to detect with the new layout.

Next up: Install some hood louvers


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