Belly Pan... who uses their's????

[datzenmike 30,776]

If you don't, and have some cooling issues under extreme conditions of heat and or hill climbing maybe this is the answer.

 

 

Can't find it in my parts call up so, 'belly pan' will have to do. It's roughly triangle shape and fits with 4 bolts between the two tension rods and the back of the engine cross member. Has a hole (mine does) so you can get at the rad petcock but covers under the oil pump, alternator and crank pulley and distributor. It's always in the way, or when it's in the way, it gets taken off and then as it doesn't seem to do much it often is not put back on.

 

 

I haven had one on forever and the car ran well temperature wise with the clutch fan whirring away. Running full throttle for 10 min up a mountain in 3rd or 4th the gauge would go up a couple of needle widths. I notice that with electric fans (come on at about 2/3) that it will climb to 3/4 and threatens more on long climbs because the low speed doesn't push near enough air through the rad. Was climbing a pass in the Kootenays last summer with a strong tail wind and the temp gauge was near the top of the run range. I had to pull over and let the fans catch up. On cruise, level roads, it's consistently higher than the clutch fan but well below the fans coming on. So I take a good look at how I can force more air through the rad, I've already removed the air con condenser, and sealed around the rad, and the rubber apron on the under side of the hood that closes down on the rad support is there. So what's to stop the air just going under the rad and up behind it? Not much but maybe the belly pan would. I should imagine it keeps road splash off alternator, pulleys, belts and distributor, but most of all forms a low pressure area behind the rad by denying air up from under the front end.

 

I found one, (I should have 3) and put it on. Looking forward to seeing if it has the effect I want.

[thisismatt 6,616]

Splash board, splash pan, protector...

[datzenmike 30,776]

Splash pan, I like that better. I can't find it or the part number. The 510 is U shape. 

[Roadster-ka 76]

Gravel shield

[noramost 56]

Good stuff so true that it cools better with it, also called the snow shield

[datzenmike 30,776]

Snow shield in the winter

Splash shield when it rains

Gravel pan on the back roads.

[thisismatt 6,616]

Skin shield for our Allahu Akbar friends?

[noramost 56]

Cooling tips for Phoenix when it gets up to 130
1. Seal between radiator support and hood
2. Fan shroud and snow shield mandatory
3. Extra blade on fan
4. Foam seals between condenser and radiator all around
5. Sometimes a 195 t-stat would keep the coolant in the radiator longer than a 180 and cool better
6. Electric fans seem to not be sufficient at a 5-way intersection waiting for a train
7. The faster you go the hotter it gets means radiator plugged, happens every 80k, or too small
8. Toyota offered silicone to rebuild fan clutches so added 1 tube to Datsun fan clutch.
9. Copper radiators cool better
10. Parked the Datsun and drove the Ford that day
Has anyone tried the waterless coolant yet, seems like the answer

[Dolomite 2,163]

Splash pan. I left mine off for a while, it’s amazing where water ends up when it isn’t there.

[datzenmike 30,776]

5. Sometimes a 195 t-stat would keep the coolant in the radiator longer than a 180 and cool better

 

This has never ever made any sense to me. The amount of time coolant is in the rad so it can shed heat. On a running engine the thermostat is only closed below it's design limit. Between closed and full open is about 8 degrees. Once they are full open, nothing changes and if the outside air temp goes up or the engine load goes up, the engine temp must go up above the thermostat rating. Restricting the flow through the rad cannot possibly be a good thing. I say the faster it circulates the better, here's why. Heat transfers best and fastest when there is a large difference in temperature between two objects like coolant and ambient air. The top of the rad will transfer more heat than the bottom that has already lost some heat and is cooler. The faster you circulate water, the hotter the rad is overall and the more heat is shed.

 

 

 

 

 

Splash pan. I left mine off for a while, it’s amazing where water ends up when it isn’t there.

 

I've splashed through deep puddles and the charge light comes on for a block. Either belt slippage or brushes wet of both.

[Seeker > 620 KC 421]

Growing up in Riverside CA desert heat, and where few pickup drivers secure their loads...I vote to call it the Alligator shield

(tire scraps, fiberglass body chunks, disintegrated aluminum ladders, etc.)

 

I like Noramost's suggestion, extra fan blade.Standard L20b clutch fan has 7 blades.

 

620 AC clutch fan has 8 blades to increase air flow, exact same as a 1980 200SX L20b a little bit shorter blades, and a little less pitch to reduce noise.

[Seeker > 620 KC 421]

PS,

when I installed AC for Econo Motors Datsun in the desert we always re-installed the gator shields, and foam tape sealed around radiators and between rad and hood.

[INDY510 3,113]

I've never seen one for a 710 or 610 ... I know the 510 one doesn't fit

[tr8er 6,113]

*Indy, where ya been?

[datzenmike 30,776]

I've never seen one for a 710 or 610 ... I know the 510 one doesn't fit

 

I took mine off the goon and the sedan. I had a second goon but don't remember if it had it's. There may be a second one laying around. Like I said, roughly triangle shape, the 510 is U shape. Almost looks like a skid pan, but not, too thin, it only deflects air.

[noramost 56]

in Phoenix if you remove the t-stat you can overheat because the water speed from the pump is increased and the heat exchanger does not have enough time to do it's job but you are rite, 5W oil cools better than 10/30 because it travels through the oil coolers faster, must be one of those 2 and 2 equals 5 things. I'm making my snow shield for my 510 out of 1/8 aluminum, i still have the stock one but I want a bigger shinier one with a cut-out for the KA24DE drain plug

[datzenmike 30,776]

I only ever ran 5w in a B-210 at 20 below. Never in any other condition.

[Seeker > 620 KC 421]

Wouldn't your oil pressure drop if you ran a single weight thin oil in extreme heat??? We always ran thicker oil in our hot environment in the 70's.  

[noramost 56]

You should consider building your belly pan out of wood living on an island and all, with raising sea levels you might need the buoyancy. But seriously fans and shrouds are low speed solutions, above 30 air speed cools and your fan clutch cycles because of heat but is not necessary at highway speeds. I would suspect your radiator is partially plugged. We used to flush @ 80k and re-core @160k with a larger core because old engines run hotter. I used to use the metal edge off a whipper insert and push it in one of the 6 tubes you can see from the radiator cap hole. It plugs in the bottom 4" of the core and you can't see it but the steel edge will feel the restriction and when you pull it back out the white milky crud comes up with it. You can also use a temp gun and check for cold spots in the core or wait for 20 below, that aught to do it.

[noramost 56]

I switched to 5/30 in my non-diesel cars with a pt of BG-MOA for insurance. It probably is not good logic but I figured if the million $ Indy cars use it-it might be good enough for me, my OP seems to be the same.

[datzenmike 30,776]

Car is at 60K. Ran fine when I had the clutch fan which was screaming all the time. Now just electric fans on demand. Never a problem with it, but as I said only on a long uphill haul in the mountains causes more heat and at lower speeds so with less air moving from car speed the temps do go up. I'm just putting it back to the way it was built and hope to bring the cooling efficiency back up. Just for fun I filled the rad with CLR to dissolve scale, if any and soaked for 3 days. This was last summer so will have to wait till my next Canby trip to see if any difference.

[noramost 56]

i agree, you should not take the advice from a guy that made his living for 50 years diagnosing overheating problems on Japanese Cars in the hottest town in the country

[datzenmike 30,776]

Me? I don't have have any cooling problems but the one or two times on vacation last summer climbing mountains at sustained full throttle. A rare condition for me normally, the rest of the year. I notice the gauge reads much higher than I would like. In response last fall I flushed the rad and added two electric fans from a Subaru to  replace the smaller single one. They are for a wider rad so I set one in the front pushing and the other in the back pulling with maybe 4" of overlap. So I can't know in advance if any of these changes will solve anything but I'm trying for any advantage I can. Including putting the splash pan back on. 

 

I do disagree on running 5w oil in hot summer conditions. I wouldn't run lower than 30. Newer engines run thinner oils but I don't think old Datsuns should. All my manuals say 5W for extreme cold conditions and caution using it at highway speeds.

[flyerdan 169]

Redline makes a product called Water Wetter which is supposed to aid in heat transfer.  It's an emulsifier, which breaks the surface tension of the coolant, letting it flow better and pick up heat from hot spots better.  It would be worth a try a it's relatively inexpensive and easy to do.

Years ago my dad had a huge Uniflite boat that he pulled with a Dodge pickup, he rigged up  a spray bar in front of the radiator that would put out a mist supplied by a windshield washer pump and a big plastic jug in back.  When the temp would start to rise, he'd turn on the pump and wet the radiator down, as water is 25 times better than air for heat exchanging.  Rising temps were only an issue on long uphill pulls on hot days.

[edekalil 1,756]

Most of mine are off at this time but I do plan to reinstall them