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PostPosted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 9:07 pm 
I just got my first Dolly and I have some questions. (Don't we all)

The radiator looks to be factory/stock item, maybe swapped out in 1982.
So fare from new, but since I want to keep my car running as long as possible, I was thinking about swapping it out for something better.

But should I go all in and by a New modern "sport" Alu Radiator, or should I go with a stock replacement because it's just fine?
The car currently has a Kenlowe fan setup, I plan to keep.

How is the general consensus on Evans waterless coolant?

I just had an terminal issue with my other classic car, a major loss of oil pressure ( :snivel: ), leading to a major rebuild (and some extra HP work required, because breaking down means you didn't have nok HP to start with :P ).
Now I want to install a Smiths Oil pressure gauge in my dash, one can never be to careful after having one "accident".
And I found a vintage Smith Oil Check gauge I'm gonna install in it, in case my wife will end up driving it a lot. She will never be happy if I make here check dipstick on every start up.

Is there any other MUST DO items to prolong drivability and reliability?


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 9:47 pm 
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My top tip is to actually drive the car regularly. They behave so much better than when laid up for 6 months of the year and then made to do the odd outing to a show and shine event or country pub.

If you do a search on the forum then you'll find a lot of the differing things people have made to our cars to improve the reliability or make them easier to live with. And that includes a few members that run Evans, and other options for radiator changes, such as in the case of a Sprint there is a bespoke aluminium one through to a SAAB 900 one.

_________________
Current fleet: '75 Sprint, '73 1850, Daihatsu Fourtrak, Honda CG125, Yamaha Fazer 600, Shetland 570 (yes it's a boat!)

Past fleet: Triumph 2000, Lancia Beta Coupe, BL Mini Clubman, Austin Metro, Vauxhall Cavalier MK1 & MK2, Renault 18 D, Rover 216 GSI, Honda Accord (most expensive car purchase, hated, made out of magnetic metal as only car I've ever been crashed into...4 times), BMW 318, Golf GTi MK3 16v x 3


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 4:09 pm 
Yes
I seen some threads about various issues with these wonderful cars.

But I wanted to hear the general opinion about Running a expensive Special made All-Alu Be-cool race radiator vs a Stock, prize Vs gain.
Or should I just by a Standard and run Evans or what is the general consensus, because someone on here had an overheating issue, and changed to a stock radiator, but no mentioning of coolant what so ever. But I doubt they would run a Sprint without Coolant :shock:

There most be someone with a opinion, most people have one!


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 4:55 pm 
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You have to be careful not to fall into the trap with radiators. Copper/Brass is actually a better and more efficient conductor of heat than aluminium. The advantage of aluminium is that it's about 40% lighter and you can make the tubes bigger and thus accommodate a larger amount of coolant and surface area to dissipate heat. You could use a thick brass/copper core but then you get issues of airflow. A standard Sprint rad is 3 rows, an 1850 will only be 2.

The standard rad can be marginal but if its well maintained and clean it should be OK. Biggest trouble is traffic when you have no air flow, the same problem will occur with an aluminium radiator so if you expect to drive hard then stop and sit then you might benefit from an electric fan.

Sure someone will pop up and say use Evans Coolant, I have no experience of it but if you do use it be sure to use new hoses etc. as if it p155 out everywhere it's an expensive leak!

I had an aluminium rad custom made and then painted black by Coolex in Nottingham. It's a nice design core, efficient and lighter weight. It will be about 25% more efficient than a standard rad. Using aluminium means it's less good at conducting initial heat and will help to aid the warmup time. Once it's up to temp it will dissipate more heat due to the design of the core. I never had any overheating trouble with my brass/copper radiator but I never felt it had any reserve and hence why I chose to upgrade.

I do also recommend using 'cooler' spark plugs. These draw more heat from the engine and transfer it to the water jacket where it is dealt with by the radiator. Instead of a BP6 EFS try a BP7 EFS. It's actually much closer to the original spec plug.

_________________
Mark

1961 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier Sportswagon
1980 Dolomite Sprint project using brand new shell
2009 Mazda MX5 2.0 Sport
2018 Infiniti Q30


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:00 pm 
That make a whole lot of sense!

And I been going back and forth on the cooling, because modern Fuel/oil/coolant is good, but can also be bad for old engines.
I plan on Redoing most all hoses and the radiator, to be safe. Fuel hoses don't take kindly to ethanolbases gas, how does SU behave on modern gas? Does it attack the carbs, or is that only E-85 and the like there off?

So first hand experienced is way better then commercials.
I've seen Evans used on Wheeler Dealers and Jay Leno Garage, and they make good sense too. But I don't want to waste money, and like all others with low income jobs, I just want to get the "best bang for my buck", and I'm a Research-before-spending kind-of-guy.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 10:14 pm 
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There is a lot to be said for Evans waterless coolant, there is no doubt that it works and works well. But I do question the value for money side of it, especially when a even a minor leak can leave your investment on the road! Personally I'm happy with ordinary antifreeze changed every 2 or 3 years. On that subject, don't use the new fangled pink (OAT) antifreeze in a Dolomite, brass and solder doesn't like it. Stick to Blue ethylene glycol based stuff.
The fancy performance oriented alloy rads available now are very nice and again, seem to do the job, but for 1/5 of the price you can get and fit a new Saab 9-3 Rad that will go in with minimal modification and do just as good a job. Then get a Volvo header tank from your favourite scrappy for a few euros, a few bits of hose and you have improved the cooling system and it's reliablity no end. The original radiator header tank is a very poor design and one of the known weaknesses of the cooling system.
Definitely keep the Kenlowe fan, it's much more efficient.

SU carbs don't have any particular problems with modern fuel. Only that suffered by every carbed car these days, which is easier fuel vaporisation at high underbonnet temperatures from the lower boiling point of ethanol based fuel.

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 4:39 pm 
That was the kind of dialog I was hoping for, I agree on the Evans, and might hold out on that till all others options is exhausted. And I care very much for the value vs prize part of any upgrade, when stuff is broken it's a different matter.

To the best of my knowledge the probelem with ethanol is gaskets and diagrams. But on the other hand, rebuild kit takes care of it before and after it starts leaking. So time will tell.

What year 9-3 rad? And what Volvo? 240, cause I got one of those ? I might have more then one in stock, also being a Volvo guy helps on the stock part available.

The mods, is that to rad or Dolly?


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 6:38 pm 
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Quote:
There is a lot to be said for Evans waterless coolant, there is no doubt that it works and works well. But I do question the value for money side of it, especially when a even a minor leak can leave your investment on the road! Personally I'm happy with ordinary antifreeze changed every 2 or 3 years. On that subject, don't use the new fangled pink (OAT) antifreeze in a Dolomite, brass and solder doesn't like it. Stick to Blue ethylene glycol based stuff.
The fancy performance oriented alloy rads available now are very nice and again, seem to do the job, but for 1/5 of the price you can get and fit a new Saab 9-3 Rad that will go in with minimal modification and do just as good a job. Then get a Volvo header tank from your favourite scrappy for a few euros, a few bits of hose and you have improved the cooling system and it's reliablity no end. The original radiator header tank is a very poor design and one of the known weaknesses of the cooling system.
Definitely keep the Kenlowe fan, it's much more efficient.

SU carbs don't have any particular problems with modern fuel. Only that suffered by every carbed car these days, which is easier fuel vaporisation at high underbonnet temperatures from the lower boiling point of ethanol based fuel.

Steve
Steve

is the saab rad much bigger,can it still be fitted using the original fan set up ?

Dave


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 7:24 pm 
According to Steves measurements on another thread in here it's 2 foot by 14.5 inch

And the rumor has it, they date from the 1998-2003 Saab 9-3 2.0 Turbo.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:19 pm 
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I've not used one on a slant myself, It goes nicely in front of the engine driven fan on my Vauxhall motor. But others have used it with the slant engine, with, I think, either viscous fan or electric types. You need to cut away some non essential plastic shrouding from the sides and fabricate some very basic mounts and that's about it. But you do need to use a proper header tank with it, I used one from a Volvo 240 simply because I had one and it fitted the hole I had available. I reckon on a slant engine it's better to use a different Volvo (850) header as recommended by Ian (Sprint 95M) who, I believe also paired this tank with a Saab rad to good effect. Ian's choice also comes with a low level indicator which is a comfort with a slant motor.

This picture shows well how the rad fits in the front of the car and also the 240 header tank, though I appreciate that the 240 header in this position is probably not suitable for a Sprint since it would be competing for space with the battery AND the airbox, but it may well go into the other side.

Image

Steve

The more discerning of you will notice I have fitted the rad a bit crooked, this was semi necessary at the time ( I made the n/s mount then realized it was too high for the o/s upper hose neck) I keep meaning to make a different n/s mount and level it up, but it works as it is so the priority is low........

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 2:15 pm 
Thanks Steve!

Valuable info.
I got at least one expansion tank from a 240 on the shelf, I also got a couple different ones.
It sounds like the Dolly has the same expansion tank issues as the Volvo B20, but that can be sorted.

I will go and measure my 264 Radiator next time I'm at the shop. Because it looks like it would be workable also.
But I'm not sure of hose locations, but then again, a testfit wouldent be so silly.

Curently not running airbox, just small K&N filters. For some reason, but I plan on Fabricating up a cold air intake/funnel.

Anybody running other head lights? I got rust in the bottom of one of mine, will they work from a Bimmer? They are much more available.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 2:56 pm 
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For headlights the BMW ones are too flat, convert to Halogen H4 but add relays to the circuit to protect the switch.

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Mark

1961 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier Sportswagon
1980 Dolomite Sprint project using brand new shell
2009 Mazda MX5 2.0 Sport
2018 Infiniti Q30


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 3:17 pm 
How can they be to flat?
The H4-conversion on my Volvo is totally flat. Ain't they all?
So it's H4 high/low beam, H1 high beam? In a set?

Gotcha on the relay.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 4:18 pm 
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You'll find that original sealed beams are much more curved than most halogen lenses. You can buy Valeo ones which are really very good or also Autopal ones which are much cheaper. H4 high/low for sure, can't remember what the high beam is.

See image here

https://goo.gl/images/ZhwTkl

_________________
Mark

1961 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier Sportswagon
1980 Dolomite Sprint project using brand new shell
2009 Mazda MX5 2.0 Sport
2018 Infiniti Q30


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 5:03 pm 
Okay, but that is a small price to pay for better lights.

I found BMW lights over here, both H1 and H4, both avalible
Flat and curved.

Hella H1 Flat cost almost twice, what the Cibie H1 curved cost.
And the H4 is same story, there is actually Cibie flat and curved, avalible with or without park. Not that I need them in there.

Cibie used to be good, but haven't seen them in years.

There is some cheap Neolite. Have no clue if they are any good


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