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[scooters]

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[M'coli]

Go for it - you intend to use the Sherpa for what it was built for and didn't buy it to be an originality freak and take it to shows with a laminated sheet of A4 detailing its entire history and the work you've expensively done to turn it into a trailer queen. Anything which keeps it going and/or increases its useability can only be a good thing.

[garethj]

I wouldn’t lose the expansion tank if I were you. I can’t remember what these rads look like, but is the pipe for the expansion tank just off the header tank or near the filler? The approved bodge would be to get a piece of plastic or brass pipe the right size and araldite it in a hole you’ve drilled. As long as you’ve got the rubber hose to the expansion bottle supported so there’s no weight on the glued pipe, you’ll be fine.

 

When I worked at Sercks there was a standard pipe you could buy which had a flanged end, looked a bit like a rivet. You could coat the flange with some glue and put it in the tank from the inside. Then smear some glue on the outside and it’s properly sealed. Depends if you’ve got finger access through the main pipe or not.

 

Handy note – try not to get any swarf inside the header tank when you drill the hole. Support the rad, drill upwards and don’t wear goggles and the swarf is sure to go in your eye instead, much safer.

[catsinthewelder]

Could you put a Tee piece in the hose too (or from) the radiator and connect that to an expansion tank? I would imagine that copying the cooling system on an MGB would work fine, whatever that is.

[meggersdog]

When I used to fit engines to narrow boats I would fit expansion tanks above deck so the new owner could easily see his/her coolant level without removing the deck boards and scrambling about in the engine room.

There are two ways of doing it.Either a T piece spliced into the top hose or drill and tap the thermostat housing and cut a thread to fit on a piece of 6mm pipe.

[garethj]

The expansion tank does more than just make you feel superior over MGB owners, it’s there so that when the water gets hot and expands, it doesn’t piss onto the floor. Then when the engine cools down again you don’t have to top up the level. It also makes it easier to bleed out airlocks (is the heater higher in the Sherpa than in the MG?)

[oman5]

Just a thought. had a look on my L reg leyland daf 200, (2.0 perkins prima engine) and that's got an expansion tank. I wouldnt mind betting one of those rads would fit

[scooters]

Just a thought. had a look on my L reg leyland daf 200, (2.0 perkins prima engine) and that's got an expansion tank. I wouldnt mind betting one of those rads would fit

 

 

I'll take a pic of my rad ant pm it to you if OK.

[scruff]

If one of those later rads will hook up I'd go with that, with a kenlowe you'll have a cooling system of win

[scooters]

If one of those later rads will hook up I'd go with that, with a kenlowe you'll have a cooling system of win

 

yup - was away this weekend in the SHERPA with the boy and it was hot for Scotland (rain, 19 degrees) I noticed that when under severe load the temp was rising so gawd knows how it will cope in the raging heat of the Scottish Summer proper (rain, 20 degrees)

 

Kenlowe sooner rather than later e thinks - air cooling being a bit cheaper than a new or recored rad at the moment!

[Richard]

The Kenlowe can only cool if it's got a decent radiator to blow through though.

[oman5]

Just a thought. had a look on my L reg leyland daf 200, (2.0 perkins prima engine) and that's got an expansion tank. I wouldnt mind betting one of those rads would fit

 

 

I'll take a pic of my rad ant pm it to you if OK.

 

yes thats fine

[garethj]

An electric fan should only cool when the car is stationary or in slow traffic. When you’re driving normally the fan should not be on, if the temp is going up when you’re barrelling along there’s problems with the rad or somewhere else in the cooling system. An electric fan won’t fix it.

 

Let me clarify that, an electric fan will fix it when you’re driving along but when you stop, the water pump slows down, all the ram airflow stops and there’s only the electric fan to do the cooling, you’re fucked.

 

The amount of air an electric fan moves compared to ram airflow from driving down the road is tiny. If the engine’s getting hot then investigate it now. First check – is it really getting hot? The gauge may go up a bit, but old cars tend to use all of the temperature gauge, not just fly to the middle and stay exactly there. Pulling up a long climb will raise the temperature, but as long as it doesn’t get close to the red perhaps you shouldn’t worry too much.

[M'coli]

As a temporary solution, an additional heater matrix plumbed in to the heater circuit or by-pass hose and placed near the front of the engine bay(usually with cable ties ) helps to alleviate the problem.

[scooters]

An electric fan should only cool when the car is stationary or in slow traffic. When you’re driving normally the fan should not be on, if the temp is going up when you’re barrelling along there’s problems with the rad or somewhere else in the cooling system. An electric fan won’t fix it.

 

Let me clarify that, an electric fan will fix it when you’re driving along but when you stop, the water pump slows down, all the ram airflow stops and there’s only the electric fan to do the cooling, you’re fucked.

 

The amount of air an electric fan moves compared to ram airflow from driving down the road is tiny. If the engine’s getting hot then investigate it now. First check – is it really getting hot? The gauge may go up a bit, but old cars tend to use all of the temperature gauge, not just fly to the middle and stay exactly there. Pulling up a long climb will raise the temperature, but as long as it doesn’t get close to the red perhaps you shouldn’t worry too much.

 

 

the probs with the rad....well documented on another thread somewhere - the issue is that new old stock rads are extortionate and rare. Yes, recoring is the potion but the van is in daily use until the awesome Yugoslav turns up next week and we are off comping again this weekend. The rad is missing about 40% of its fins -

 

I think that I will give it a coupoe of weeks and then aslk the engineers how long it wil take them to recore- if they can do it in a week then it is worth the wait.

[nigel bickle]

3 days for a full rebuild/recore on an Austin Gipsy & a Renault 25 turbo rads last week. Thats collected/delivered.