Radiator Replacement For Exmo

[Guest Mike G]

On the way home from the Baldock Sunday meeting today, my 1600cc Exmo (Pinto) decided that it had had enough of this hot weather, and showed its discontent by blowing half the contents of the radiator over the windscreen! I thought it was the guy in front being a bit zealous washing/wiping his windscreen. There was no problem with the outward journey to the meeting (12 miles), but 3 hours later and only 4 miles from Baldock, the cooling system erupted!

 

Anyway, pulled in a side-road and lifted the bonnet. Water everywhere, especially overflowing from the overflow bottle air-hole. After leaving things to settle for a while, I carefully undid the rad cap (with a handful of rag), and found the rad part-empty. My emergency quart of anti-freeze mixture, did nothing to remedy the level, and I ended up with knocking up a nearby householder for a canful of water. He was very understanding and obliging, and even supplied 3 large lemonade bottles of water, to make sure I got home. You can still find kind people nowadays. Probably helps that I live in the wilds of Herts.

 

Getting down to brass tacks: I may have left some air in the cooling system recently after doing some plumbing mods. OR, the old-looking rad and original engine-driven fan may not be able to cope with heatwaves.

 

Question: What rad should I look out for, preferably with an attached electric fan? Probably might be able to track down a nearly new one on E-bay, if I knew what to look for. All help and advice would be appreciated.

 

Cheers

Mike G

[Guest chris brown]

I believe it to be a Cortina rad Mike but a better bet is the Coolman. RHE (Lolocost) used to do them but I don’t know if they still do. As for the fan get one off a Citroen BX or Peugeot 405 they fit on the front of the rad and are very good. (According to Big Jim)

[Mitch]

or could it be that the themostat as stuck????

 

Mitch

[Guest Mike G]

Having had time to ponder, I suspect the problem was possibly caused by me fiddling with the heater hoses! A few days ago, I temporarily uncoupled the heater, and possibly didn't bleed out some trapped air. In this hot weather, having plugged all of the obvious gaps in the bulkhead, I realised that the heater was adding to the cockpit temperature, so something had to be done for the sake of my legs and feet!

 

As well as fitting a tap in the heater circuit, I'll probably add a couple of bleed-valves as well. I'll possibly pursue a new rad and electric fan as well. A kit-car is never finished as we all know.

 

Cheers

Mike G

[Guest Bazwaz]

And if you haven't already done so fit the new in the nosecone, it makes a big differance especially in the Exmo.

Barry.

[Guest Mike G]

Barry, how do you modify the plumbing if the rad is fitted in the nosecone - use those lengths of super-flexible rubber pipes or what? Also, what about the filler cap - change to a non-pressurised one and fit a header tank with a pressure cap?

 

I have always thought that the metal-work across the front of the engine bay must restrict the flow somewhat. So fitting the rad further forward would solve this. I would also like to fit a bigger rad, as the current Cortina-type appears to run hotter than I would expect.

Cheers

Mike G

[Guest salty_monk]

Use the old Cortina system if you get a "coolman" dual core rad.

 

http://hometown.aol.com/sarandrews/wateroil.htm

 

If you want to fit a new style rad & header tank as a modern car have a look at the polo rad (lots of Westy's use these) or one of these http://nw.rhocar.org/radiators.htm

 

Flexi hoses worked for me or have a dig through a box of hoses at a friendly motor factors...

[Guest Bazwaz]

Mike.

It's quite easy to do. The rad goes in at an angle so i used some threaded bar, bent to suit, for the bottom brackets and some simple brackets at the top. The bottom rad outlet was the wrong way round so i resoldered it in the correct position and used some flexi hose. It it simply piped to an overflow bottle. As you can see the rad cap is still accessible. The top of the rad is boxed in so all the air has to go through the rad. I have run this system for years and never have any problems. Plus you can use just about any electric fan( push) as there's loads of room in the nose.

Barry.

[nicko]

Hi all, I've fitted a Capri rad to mine. It's the same as a Cortina rad, except the the outlets are straight not 90 degrees. I got my rad from a local firm for £45ish plus vat.

 

Nicko.