Any ethylene glycol coolant will do. Doesn't have to be expensive OAT stuff, any bog standard glycol coolant is fine. The design of the engine is from the 1950's when coolant was just coolant!

My manifolds smoked like crazy the first time, but I wrapped them with heat wrap stuff, and that smokes a LOT the first time it gets hot. The tappets should quieten down once the oil has got round.

This is great stuff!
 
nothing wrong with running it for a while with water & always getting ot properly warmed up so you can find any leaks. Then after sorting those, drain & replace with proper coolant.
 
I'm assuming there'll be plenty of air in the system that needs bleeding, I'll drive the front wheels up on my small ramps - hopefully that'll be a good angle to get the trapped air out.
My heat wrap hasn't arrived for the exhaust manifolds yet - is there any harm in running the car without any heat shield for a while?
 
blue_cheese said:
I'm assuming there'll be plenty of air in the system that needs bleeding, I'll drive the front wheels up on my small ramps - hopefully that'll be a good angle to get the trapped air out.
My heat wrap hasn't arrived for the exhaust manifolds yet - is there any harm in running the car without any heat shield for a while?
Click to expand...
Maybe not a good idea, don't forget they put it there for a reason.. Although your choice 🤔
 
Update:
Left it running with the radiator cap off, but coolant starting gushing out after a few minutes. Not sure if that's expected?
Put the radiator cap back on and let it run again, temp needle went in to the red 🔴.
In terms of leaks, found this tiny hiss from the radiator top hose:

Not sure what that small wire is for, it leads to this unknown device:
20250403_164351.jpg20250403_164355.jpg.
Only other thing I noticed was blowers were quite cool even though they were set to max temp.

Any ideas what could be causing the temp to spike?
 
blue_cheese said:
Update:
Left it running with the radiator cap off, but coolant starting gushing out after a few minutes. Not sure if that's expected?
Put the radiator cap back on and let it run again, temp needle went in to the red 🔴.
In terms of leaks, found this tiny hiss from the radiator top hose:

Not sure what that small wire is for, it leads to this unknown device:
View attachment 338339View attachment 338340.
Only other thing I noticed was blowers were quite cool even though they were set to max temp.

Any ideas what could be causing the temp to spike?
Click to expand...

Sounds like the system is airlocked.
It looks like there is a mod to use the aircon fans or an additional electric fan for cooling. The first photo shows what looks like an adjustable thermostat.
 
blue_cheese said:
Update:
Left it running with the radiator cap off, but coolant starting gushing out after a few minutes. Not sure if that's expected?
Put the radiator cap back on and let it run again, temp needle went in to the red 🔴.
In terms of leaks, found this tiny hiss from the radiator top hose:

Not sure what that small wire is for, it leads to this unknown device:
View attachment 338339View attachment 338340.
Only other thing I noticed was blowers were quite cool even though they were set to max temp.

Any ideas what could be causing the temp to spike?
Click to expand...

That doesn't look standard and, the wire has deformed the hose causing the leak, could also be drawing in air.
 
Let's hope it is an airlock then.
Are they a pain to clear? I don't want to let it idle for too long if the temp keeps spiking.

As for that device - there aren't any extra fans that I can see (around the rad anyway), I'll have to try and follow the wiring
 
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