Hello, I have a 1966 XKE series 1 4.2 roadster, I want to remove the heater box, since I do not drive it in the colder weather. My question is should I just cap off the outlets that come from the fire wall or run a circular hose from one outlet to the other?
Secondly should I run a summer thermostat or remove it to reduce water temperature? I have had the engine rebuilt in the near past and have a new larger capacity radiator.


What should be the normal driving and in traffic temperature? My work shop manual does not address this point. On my Celsius gauge what reading?
Thanks so very much for reading this tread.

 

not sure about some of your questions, but:


no need to remove the thermostat, You could switch out for a summer stat if your engine temps are heading high before coolant starts to flow to the rad.


"normal" temp varies depending on ambient temp and driving speed, stop and go traffic is the worst of course. Expect 70 - 85 C while motoring along a highway and maybe up to low 90s in slow traffic.

 

I don't see any point in removing the heater box, it'll make no difference to the running temp of the engine. You'd also need to make a blanking plate for the hole in the firewall. The heater box also supplies fresh air to the inside of the car by the vents under the dash. The first thing I did when I bought my Series 2 coupe was to remove the heater box and renovate it so it works. It's a fairly easy job. Now I have either fresh cool air or warm air any time.


You don't say what temperature the engine is running at presently. I don't know about the S1 cars but on the S2 cars the electric cooling fans turn on at 92C (197F) and turn off at 87C (189F). So the car is running around 195F most of the time.


Andy

 

last summer on hot days mine would run 95 - 100 C on the highway. I bought a cool cat rad and now it is running right at 80 and hits 85 in traffic.


hope those numbers help.

 

Has the cooling system been flushed and renewed? Do you have the proper thermostat? Has the radiator been check, flushed, cleaned? Is the engine up to tune? All of these lead to overheating. A clean system and perfect tune can let the car run without overheating. Have you tried the waterless coolant? Removing the thermostat can increase overheating by not regulating the flow of coolant and can also ruin the engine by not letting it get to the proper temperature. My overheating problems in the 50s-60s era were from system neglect and coolant or mechanical breakdowns. the newer better radiators help, and silicone hoses that do not collapse with age.