[CapeCodPiper]

I have a Tartan 27 with a Type I A-4 (with an Iron pipe crossover and single Dole thermostat which actually one could live without if one doesn't mind running cooler water through the engine for a little longer than originally designed). The December Pin-up shows how the A-4 is located in the T-27, although that A-4 does not have fresh water cooling.

On the T-27 the A-4 sits under a cowling which also serves as the lower steps for the companionway. The good news is that when one removes the cowling the access to the engine is good. The bad news is that since the engine is actually away from any substantial fixed bulkhead (the panelling behind the engine is fine for electrical connections, but nothing substantial), there is no good place very close to the engine, with good overhead access to get to the fill cap, to locate a single unit FWC system.

I opted to go for a two part Sendure system with a MMI flywheel mounted water pump. The horizontal heat exchanger is now happily mounted buried under the cockpit close to the hull inflow seacock. I wanted to locate the overflow tank more centrally and prominently, so that I could easily access the "radiator cap". The tank I have is a cylinder tank about 10" long with two tabs underneath for mounting on some kind of rail.

I decided to mount the tank directly onto the engine, effectively on the exhaust manifold. I found a piece of aluminum (maybe an old cookie sheet) about 5" x 10". I drilled two holes to line up with the two outer Exhaust manifold mounting studs, and notched the aluminum plate to fit around the middle stud (with the air intake flanging it would be hard for the plate to fit flush to the manifold anyways.) I also notched the top of the plate so that the lower piping on the tank could fit, and drilled the plate to properly bolt to the tank tabs. Thus the plate was bolted to the manifold studs along with the manifold, and the tank bolted to rest on top of the plate.

The mount is wonderful except that the 2 mm plate is a bit flimsy. Tank stays where it is, but when horsing the cap on and off the tank can flop around a bit. To fix this, I drilled the plate for two 4" bolts on which I nutted oversized washers. The washers fit between the engine and manifold, providing a kind of hooking brace for the plate. Made it more stable. Worked great for number of years.

Last summer I found that ice had compromised the exhaust outflow seal on exhaust manifold. (Why an almost new 1967 A-4 should need a new exhaust manifold after only 44 years is hard to believe!) So off came the FWC tank and manifold, to be replaced by a new MMI manifold. The MMI is very nice indeed (good design and production work, Don et al!) but it does seem to require a tiny bit more stud to bolt on than the older casting (which probably has some hollowing at the stud holes). I WAS able to get the plate and stud nuts back on, but only with about 3-4 threads (3/4 of the nut) to hold everything on. This season I didn't bother to put the 4"ers back on, as that system did not seem too good.

I'd like to upgrade the mounting. I wonder with any Afourians have any ideas to help me. I would prefer to use a more robust SSteel plate rather than the flimsier aluminium plate, but I'm not sure how much more thickness the exhaust manifold studs can take. I probably could replace the Manifold studs with longer studs. But clearly we have more engine block studs (at least 4 on each side) which also seem a bit longer relative to the nuts than the 3 exhaust man. studs, so asking them to help out could be sensible. Maybe two angle irons stealing space from two engine block studs and then wrapping around the top of the exhaust manifold, bolted to a 10"x 2" piece of SS stock on the top of the side of the manifold to which the tank would be bolted, would be better. As the main force exerted is down on the cap to close and open it (pushing against the spring), the connected double "L" mounting bracket design might give enough strength. But adding thin strapping down to at least one Exhaust studs would not be hard, and would lock everything in nicely.

Any ideas here? Certainly designing a way to attach the coolant tank directly to the A-4 could be very helpful for Afourians with free-standing A-4s.