Keep Your Classic Mini Cool as a Cucumber 

simple way to remember the right way to install the fan "Rough to Rad!"

Thanks for saying that the fan will work better when it's installed the right way. Not that it will blow the wrong way. I can't even guess how many people only get part of that right. They shake their heads and insist that a backwards installed fan will blow air in the wrong direction. Nope. Can't happen. Doesn't work that way. It will still blow in the same direction, just not as effectively.

My fan was installed in the wrong way, thanks for the awesome vide, now it is ice cold.

One thing I noticed about the fan on my SPI is that it has the words "ENGINE SIDE" embossed on the proper side of the fan to get it right. Excellent cooling coverage.

i love watching all of your videos, very informative and you guys are very helpful!

Informative video. Thanks. Really interesting that the plastic fan goes with the smooth side in, which feels counterintuitive

Another great video, thank you

Another great video SMCO crew! Getting stoked now to import my 1988 Mini City with ported head to California in November this year.

Only other garage I have seen with Mini's and Skylines. Great mix

Phillip, another great and informative session. Excellent advice around the rad size and type.. as my build goes, i will now keep the plastic fan with the aluminum rad. Keep up the excellent video's

Very good video. Useful information. Keep making those videos. 😊

Important info on the MINI Thanks again for Vidio!

Great video again and super helpful. You guys are one of the biggest reasons I’m trying to get a Mini. You make it seem fun and somewhat easy to work on them. All the best! Love the Spectre cars, too!

awesome tips bro !!!

nice summary

regarding the coolant, another thing is to use DISTILLED water to diluted concentrated coolant. or get a good pre-mixed 50/50 green coolant fluid. never use tap water as the dissolved minerals can promote rust formation and sediment formation

The value info u give 😢❤ Thanks a lot bro Must respect from 🇸🇦

You taught me something new. I knew about radiator caps but not the real reason behind faulty ones contributing to overheating. The lower the pressure the lower the boiling point of the water. It all makes sense. Thanks again❤❤Rwgards from south africa

I can’t help but think an opportunity was missed to make the radiator replace there ‘O’ in STOP for your thumbnail 😂

I think our mini made a cameo appearance in this vid. Thanks for fixing our car again :D Now I can unleash the fire and fury of the 70hp with peace of mind.

Great video! If you want to go properly nuts with your cooling system (although as you say, you shouldn't have to if all is working well!), you could convert to an electric water pump & fan setup, with an electronic controller set to your desired temperature which dictates the speed of both the fan and the pump at any given time. However to make it all fit you'll either need to dry deck the engine and mount the pump on the UK driver/US passenger side, convert to a front-mount rad, or butcher your inner wing on the factory rad side to make more clearance. That's getting into proper race car territory but it has a couple of advantages, one being that you can wire it up to continue cooling the engine whilst it's not running, and another being that it gets up to temp much more quickly so you don't run it too cold, then it will hold the set temperature really nicely. You do also get a couple of HP advantage if you're seeking max power, as you no longer have the power-robbing mechanical fan and water pump being driven directly by the engine :)

Thanks bro

Our Carrera mini we have an electric fan pulling with the mechanical fan, RadTec alum rad,front mounted Ford Festa rad, oil cooler is mounted in the right side inner wing with an electric fan. The key to the whole system working is an expansion tank mounted in the left side inner fender above and behind the tire. Plumbed into the suction side of the pump. A must for Texas and Mexico.

That was a really good vid thanks.. ive been contemplating waterless coolent as I'm changing radiator to aluminium new hoses heater matrix as leaking & water pump. Was going to flush engine block out & dry out first, but I may stay with water

Great video, I think you should have talked about different type of temperature sensors, regulators and electric gauges. Sometimes it’s a head ache to understand which goes with each type or find a problem that can trick your electric temperature gauge measurement.

Owned a 1967 Mini Cooper for years , son has it now. Early on had overheating. Took radiator to an old-time radiator shop that took the top and bottom tanks off and ran rods through all the passages to clean them . Found a couple that wouldn't clear, but worked much better. Also ran an expansion tank and used a metal fan. What's a little more noise in a Mini.

Another great vid thanks. I have a classic mini race car, and I do struggle with overheating here in Australia. Are you saying the 4 bladed steel fan is the most powerful 'wind' producer?

Very interesting video. How about protecting the heat going from the engine bay to the drivers cabin? Are there any good solutions? Especially in city traffic (slow moving, traffic lights) with the normal fan moving at a slower rate, the drivers cabin gets heated up. To prevent that, my idea at the moment is to install an electric fan with a switch, so i can turn it on when needed in these situations. I heard that having the electric fan running all the time decreases the cooling performance when driving at higher speeds. Can you confirm that? Is it really better to control it yourself or would you have it just run all the time?

Great video, Steve. Mini question : I would like to know which type radiator coolant are you using now. Normally 50:50 anti freeze coolent fluid only, any overheat issue in your powered mini ?? or do you have any expereice of waterless coolent ? worth for change ?

Worth remembering that most anti freeze / anti boil coolants are not as good as transferring the heat from your engine to your radiator as plain water. Some synthetic “waterless” coolants can be a better option IMO. Not only better thermal transfer, but also can eliminate “vapour blanketing” i.e. when an engine is operating continually above its normal running temperature, the coolants heat quenching process (nucleate boiling) is reduced or stoped. The coolant itself is kept away from the hot metal surface of the engines internal water jacket by a layer of vapour (‘vapour blanket’). When vapour blanketing occurs, the hot metal surface becomes insulated from the surrounding liquid coolant, thus significantly elevating the actual temperature of your engine. Just a heads up though, not all synthetic waterless coolants are the same.

Your engine oil will end up circa 100°c, it is designed to run at this temperature and running viscosity is based on it. If it's running at 70-85, isn't ideal and is being over cooled. Oil coolers are no good on road cars 👍🏽

What about Waterless Coolant ? Here in the UK we have a popular brand. With the absence of water there is no boiling & no pressure stress. And no water to cause corrosion within the engine. Unless you are doing a full rebuild & have all the old coolant completely removed from the system, you must use a Prep Fluid before installing as there must be no trace of water present in the system.

A lot of Information abaut cooling!! Reale Cooooool Video ;) Thx for that! But one Question is still open... What is the best way, to get the rust out of the system? Greeting´s from Germany :)

Hey, I'm new to the mini scene and bought a 1990 Austin Mini 1000 (carbed) it wasn't run in a while so I got it running after changing plugs and let it idle for about 30 minutes, all was good, then I drove it about 10km and the gauge went all the way to the red, discovered after that there was a leak in the rad (discovered when topping up coolant) so I know I need a new rad, looking at a Fletcher aluminium rad, but my question is, after the car boiled over, what other damage could I have done?

Can you guys do a step by step video about replacing the rubber cones?

So, on my 1275, Ive noticed when I take the drain plug off (near cyl 4), nothing comes out. Ive poked, and prodded with all sorts of stuff. Have any advice on getting that and the whole coioling system really cleaned out?

I have that issue with my 2004 mini Cooper when I stop the temperature skyrocket but I can hear the fan kick on and even when I shut the car off I can hear the fan for like two minutes when I start driving temperature goes down but I can hear the fan working any ideas?

Hey Steve I have a small doubt… I live in srilankan where the temperature is arround 27’c to 30 degree c. Is it okay if run my mini without a thermostat? My mini mostly run is in between 80 and 70 very rarely rises to 85 and 90… do u thing this will cause and engine wear out?

The engine doesnt overheat when driving with no fan, for example if you had a fan failure and it lost the blades you can still cruise ok, its only when you lose that air coming through the grille the temperature rockets..so as soon as you slow down its bad news. (but thats where the underwing fan comes into play) Made for an interesting trip out though....

Hey Steve. Kindly provide links to the books you mentioned in this cool video

I have a 1979 mini 1000cc with original Radiator Is it time for replacement? Rad fluid is fairly new

My 94 mini . Starts heating up when I'm waiting in a red light. But goes back to normal when I'm driving. What could that be ?

What if the fan is on the right way and you still don’t feel much air coming out from the front side of the car?

This might be a bit of an oddball question, but I was wondering if it's at all common to go up a tire size or two in order to gain some extra final gearing? I'd love to lower my RPMs even just a little bit for highway cruising.

VERY OFTEN I NEED TO REFILL THE RADIATOR. WHERE SHOULD I LOOK AT ?? TO FIND THE COOLANT LOSS ?

Hey Does the ignition timing effects the cooling of a classic mini?

Blanking sleeve…interesting. Where can I get one of these? Dino Australia

What system should I go for since I live in Florida?

Great video,just what i"m looking for.Have been working on trying to stop my 67 Mk1 998 cooper from pushing water out after i come back from a ride.Replaced the the thermo, the cap.Before i go out for a ride i make sure the antifr is about 1/2 in above the core.Went out yesterday,70 degrees out side,drove about 2 hours,temp guage never got above half,when i got home,got out of car to open garage door and the rad push out about a 18" puddly of water.This has been going on for the last few months.What do you think the problem is?

I must be mad. I don't even own a mini 🙂: but I do like finding out how they are constructed and how they should be maintained.

my uncles mini got flooded in new jersey last week if you heard about the storm :( so upset was a 73 i think right hand drive

I can never remember the way the fan is meant to go. Needless to say, its currently on backwards! 😆

I n Ed a new radiator soon

...............Just going to check my fan....brb

I'm considering upgrading to the 4 blade hot climate fan (I live in Kansas), but I'm worried about it being too loud. What kind of increase in noise is to be expected?

Do not put any other coolant type in your Mini engine different than INorganic coolant. Moderns organic type will destroy soft metals and specially heater matrix. Mixed 50% all year. As you say, Minis shouldn't overheat unless there is some other problem to solve.

The cooling fan does not take 40hp - that would stall a stand 998 engine.

First

"Steel radiator"? AFAIK the radiators are made of brass chambers and copper core, not steel. What a joke.