Over warm SV models

[patneale]

With the warmer weather approaching I have a little "mod" to help SV owners keep their engines cool. With slow running on many roads especially M25 you may find the fan working overtime. You will notice that with the wider SV nosecone that the radiator has plenty of room for air to slip around the sides as there is no ducting. At slow speeds much of the cooling air goes the way of least resistance down the sides. Filling in the gap made a great difference in the cooling with the fan only working when going very slowly as in the numerous M25 contraflows. A sheet of Alloy is an ideal material and sold at B and Q and no doubt Wickes and others cost about £4.00 and you don't need any fixings as you use the same 2 radiator mounting bolts each side. You can use cardboard as a template and the weight is less than a Mars bar !.

[mav]

thanks for the reminder Pat. Been meaning to do this for some time. Will get it done in the next week or so.

[sjmmarsh]

Don't completely fill the gaps otherwise you'll lose airflow to the engine, especially

the primaries - you could end up with the footwell-oven problem you get in the CSR in hot weather.

 

Steve

[patneale]

Steve,

 

Good point , but no problem as still plenty of space above radiator and of course the whole bottom is open. I have never had a warm foot well problem....... The CSR and 620R and R500 now seem to have the whole of the nose cone area ducted off and a top nose cone vent. Years ago I had an alternator problem after the St Moritz trip. The rear alternator bearing was totally dry no doubt as a result of 40 minutes trapped in the tunnels under Basle as part for their now completed throughway system. Cockpit temp was 55 degrees, but engine never overheated with fan on all the time. New bearing only cost £25 and autoelectric chap said that he had never replaced that bearing before as it was always the pulley bearing that failed . But that end is only 6 inches from the exhaust pipe. As Rover put a heat shield in on all their K series engines I used up some of the spare radiator alloy and made a heat shield for it and the starter motor which is also close to the exhaust. No troubles since. Simon Lambert of CC said it was unnecessary as there was so much air space around the engine ,but that was assuming you are moving and I was creeping along 1 car length at the time for 40 mins.. Not to be repeated especially as at times there was a 6 inch dia lorry exhaust about 3 feet from my side screen drivers side.

[sjmmarsh]

Pat - that is good to know. Leaving space is the key point, hence the 'don't get carried away' comment. The boxed in prop shaft on the CSR doesn't help heat dissipation either...

 

Steve

[elie boone]

Something like this

[Stationary M25 Traveller]

I did exactly that a year ago with a sheet of ali from B&Q

 

Works a treat.

[Non-M25 Traveller]

Quoting patneale: 

With the warmer weather approaching I have a little "mod" to help SV owners keep their engines cool. With slow running on many roads especially M25 you may find the fan working overtime.

That's easy, don't drive on the motorways

 

 

[Martin J]

*arrowup*I've got to get to the channel tunnel in the caterham in June.

Any ideas how I can get there without driving on the M20 please?

[Non-M25 Traveller]

here

Some lovely driving roads in there, especially if going off-peak

 

[Martin J]

An hour & 22 mins travel time! I had better set the alarm early as we are on an early crossing.

Thanks for the research Ian.

[Non-M25 Traveller]

Yep an extra 39 mins.

1hr 22mins of pleasant driving, or 43 minutes of 5000 revs on the motorway with all the freight lorries heading for the port

 

"Take a bit longer, enjoy the drive, regard it as part of the holiday" - remember that when you're stuck in a jam on the M20, with no way to get off it, and getting stressed 😬

 

 

[Martin J]

43 minutes of 5000 revs on the motorway

 

Sigma with 5 speed box at 80mph = 4000revs.

[Boris]

In 2012 on a very hot summers day we had to change our route from Barcelona to Arles.

Circumstances dictated a heavy right foot, shortly after crossing into France we came into heavy traffic, speeds were down to 20ish then 2 hours plus of stop / start in stifling heat.

 

On the same trip got stuck behind a slow procession in the Algarve for over an hour, in extremely hot weather.

 

In the Pyrenees we got stuck on very steep climbs behind slow trucks etc in high temperatures.

 

At no time did my DVA K series on throttle bodies, high lift cams, power speed 4-2-1 exhaust etc over heat. The fan did come on a number of times, but you'd expect that.

 

In my experience the only ducting needed is a radiator bypass to take cold air to the air filter on a front intake air box.