The charge cooler system on our Gipsy has worked
quite well but we had some problems with air getting into the system and
impairing the flow of water. This was due to the position of the top up bottle
which was located behind the front headlamp, the highest point achievable.
I was using a Papmahl radiator which sandwiched in front of the main T25
radiator which is the same length, so the topping up bottle didn't have much
head of water.
We decided to do a complete re-design by making it a full pressure system.
Various connectors and T pieces were made, the filler pipe at the rear was
connected to a 2m length of 16mm ID hose and the cooling system header tank from
the donor car fitted at the end of the hose.
The intercooler pump was taken from the bulkhead mounting and put on the lowest
point on the rear chassis. Special brackets were fabricated and welded onto the
right hand back bumper cross bars, which enabled the header tank and hose to be
easily detached without removing the rear bumper.
The header tank can be lifted right up, primed with water until it flows out of
the bleed valve in the front, the cap then tightened down sealing the system,
the hose coiled up, the bottle fixed on the brackets, all neatly tucked away.
There are no worries now about air locking, the system is completely sealed and
can be forgotten.
The problem with the Gipsy when fitting a water intercooler is that there is
nowhere to gain the height. when these systems are fitted on a normal T25 the
back pillar and vents are an ideal space to fit and access the top up bottle.
The radiator HA-Projekt supply for their system is more oblong in shape than the
Papmahl and fits lower down in front of the radiator allowing a bit more head
for the top up bottle.
But if you are going down this route with a Gipsy and you have the donor car
header tank the pressurised system is the most reliable.
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