I finally got all the parts back to do my cooling upgrade…

  1. Upgrade radiator with performance 4-rod, 2-pass core.
  2. 170 degree f thermostat (same as a 1981 Jaguar XJ6).
  3. New thermostat gasket.
  4. New radiator hoses.
  5. Thermostatic fan sensor.
  6. Sensor grommet.

Now, the upper radiator hose is the wrong one. The ones for the 1980 model year TR7 and later are different from early models. Advanced Auto online sucks. Need to return that.

I swapped in a 170 degree thermostat instead of the recommended 180 or 195. Many folks freak out if one of these very cool thermostats are installed. I am not so much of a purist. My main goal is to keep the engine running cool. My goal is to have the car as a daily driver, and that means stop and go traffic in the brutal heat of the American South. So I cleaned the housing and the head surface, gooed up the gasket and surfaces and closed the thermostat up and bolted down the housing.

I inserted into the new sensor into the radiator, wrangled the whole thing into the car, hooked up all hoses, poured in a bottle of Water Wetter, filled the system with coolant and started the engine.

The last part of this process is to star the car with the coolant filler cap off until the car heats up and the thermostat opens. There may be trapped air in the system and once the car heats up the coolant can flow and the trapped air is flushed out. Just keep fill the reservoir tank with coolant until the system is full.

I got the car cranked and it purred. Love the sound of a British car engine. but then I smelled gas. I looked around and thought it may be just from where the car has sat for weeks. But after looking around I saw some wet surfaces. “Damn, I must have a coolant leak somewhere.”

Then I saw it, gas shooting out from a pinhole in the fuel line.

A few mosre days before I am drivable.