2b Wishbones And Radiator

[Guest Daz]

I have never been too happy with the fitting of the radiator on the 2b with wishbones. The chassis struts that go across the car and the location of the steering column and rack make it impossible to fit the supplied radiator in an efficient manner. The only place I could fit it was to slide it in at an angle, but this was not ideal as then you have tortuous routing for the pipes and innefficient airflow. And you cannot fit a fan flush to the face of the radiator to assist on those days where you are stuck in slow traffic on a hot summer day.

 

I started to look at alternatives a while ago. I discovered that Mercedes do a rather natty little radiator, used to cool engines up to 3-litre capacity, which would fit upright in the nose of the 2b in front of the chassis cross members. Unfortunately the pipes are attached to the edges of the radiator and therefore would not fit. After lots of further research I discovered that the only radiator I could find that could possible fit upright in the front is a Mini radiator. But would it be man enough? A quick check of the Mini-Sport website and I found a 4-Core version for the more sporty minis. I took a bit of a chance and bought one for £69.

 

The radiator fits upright in the nose, but needs a blanking plate to fill out the rest of the area in the nose in order to force all air through the veins. It also needs a second blanking plate on the front of the radiator in order to fit the supplied electric fan flush to the front of the radiator without the air being forced out the sides. I also had to trim away a little of the fibre glass at the bottom of the nosecone in order for it to clear the whole assembly when the bonnet is lifted. The pipework is much easier, the only problem being the bottom hose - the inlet and outlet on the radiator are on opposite sides to the Cortina radiator, so the bottom hose has to go under the engine then forward and over the steering rack. I had to buy a couple of lengths of radiator hose (about 1.5" dia) to do the job. A simple overflow bottle set-up completes the picture.

 

The job is finished (today) and I will keep you posted on the results. It had better bloody work after all the effort :angry: I need to get the car MOT'd and taxed and back on the road this week before I can fully check it out.

 

You would not believe how much space there is under the bonnet now. Once proven I will write something up, with pictures.

 

Daz

[Guest Ant]

For a really thin fan to fit behind the RHE radiator in a wishbone car try the fan off a renault extra diesel van. Works a treat!

 

Ant

[Guest Daz]

I took the car for its MOT today, and the temp gauge behaved itself all the way there and back again. If anything it ran cooler than with the Cortina radiator in. I will keep a watchful eye on it for a couple of weeks, just to be sure.

 

Daz

[Guest Daz]

As promised elsewhere, here are a few piccies of the job.

[Guest Daz]

No 2 piccy

[Guest Daz]

I have more but do not want to take up too much forum space. If you want to see them I intend to write it up and post it to Matt for the main site.

 

Daz