Life’s a breeze
Sadly, the electric fan that I inherited with the Gentry, and subsequently fitted instead of the old engine driven item, proved inadequate. Apart from the fan diameter being rather small, the shroud in which it was mounted took up so much space; it blanked off far too much of the radiator’s frontal surface. There was only one answer; I had to get a decent quality item capable of doing the job properly. I called Moss Europe and, after chatting about what they had in stock that would be suitable, I ordered
13” thermostatically controlled Kenlowe. Knowing I wanted to get on with the job, they delivered my nice new fan the very next day – brilliant service.
To fit the Kenlowe, of course I had to first remove the radiator and unbolt the old electric fan. After draining the coolant and disconnecting the top and bottom radiator hoses, the retaining bolts were then undone. However, the thermostat housing was still in the way, so I took that off and was then able to carefully lift the rad’ clear. After the old fan was unbolted from the front of the radiator I had to find a way to attach the new Kenlowe. Fortunately it came with a very comprehensive fitting kit and a large selection of alternative fixings. Following a certain amount of head scratching, it appeared that the simplest way was to use the special plastic cable ties they supplied to pass through holes in the outer rim of the fan assembly, then through the sides of the radiator. Although a tight fit, the radiator was then relatively easy to slide back into place, complete with the new fan attached.
However, getting the four bolts securing the radiator to the frame back in and lined up was not that easy. Undoing them had not been too bad, but when the old fan was removed from the front of the radiator, the mounting brackets had been moved and were now apparently out of line. Eventually, by bending two of the brackets, I was able to locate the securing bolts once again, but it was very fiddly getting my hands down by the side of the radiator to get the nuts on the ends of the bolts. With that done, everything else eventually went back together and then it was just a question of tightening up.
The radiator hoses went back easily and fortunately I remembered to refit the Kenlowe thermostat sensor in the top hose before the thermostat housing was replaced. The coolant, which had been previously drained off, was then replaced and the level topped up with fresh antifreeze.
I connected the fan so that it ran through the original
I was relieved to see the fan cutting in and out appropriately
Kenlowe electronic thermostat I had used with the old fan, then started the Gentry and ran it up to temperature. After the fan thermostat was adjusted correctly, I was extremely relieved to see the fan cutting in and out appropriately and the temperature staying under control. After the car had run for some time and the extra antifreeze had time to mix in, I checked the antifreeze condition (with a simple, inexpensive hydrometer) and that was that. Mental note – water murky, need to flush and replace.
I have now lined the glove box I’ve made for the Gentry with British Racing Green vinyl from Woolies. I used Alpha AF178 contact adhesive to stick the material to the plastic shell, plus a couple of dabs of Super Glue to a tiny area that I’d missed. Using the pre-formed plastic container, I can be sure that anything placed within it will remain dry, which is rather important since, apart from a tonneau, the Gentry has absolutely no weather gear at all.
Thanks to
Moss Europe moss-europe.co.uk
Woolies www.woolies-trim.co.uk