23-07-2019, 11:25 AM
Since having the radiator on my RL saloon recored 10 years ago (with a proper Austin pattern core) it has never boiled, and as those who know me will appreciate, I live close to one of the most ferocious hills in Britain and the car is used for some quite demanding runs. I decided to have the radiator recored on the way back from the VSCC Malvern Anniversary week when climbing a long hill near Buxton when the radiator cap, complete with calorimeter, exploded out of the radiator like a champagne cork, flying over the top of the car and landing in the road. Despite having an HGV on my backside at the time, I was able to pull over onto the verge to retrieve the cap, which miraculously was undamaged apart from some minor scratching to the chrome of the calorimeter. The rad cap was a plastic repro with no brass threaded insert. The threads were cut into the plastic and stripped easily. It was consigned to the bin.
I digress. If you have a good radiator and the engine block is not caked up with crud, then if the engine is set up correctly it should not boil. Petrol is a critical factor in this discussion. Always use a super unleaded fuel, the cheaper grades of petrol are far more likely to cause higher running temperatures and vaporisation in the carburettor. I use an SU carb which facilitates adjustment of the mixture. On the Cumbria Run in June I faced the ascent of Kirkstone Pass in Cumbria, fully loaded, two up on a hot day. As a precaution I stopped at the Patterdale Inn at the foot of the pass and made the mixture a flat richer. The car climbed the pass with no bother despite a spell of first gear at the top and the added difficulty of road work traffic lights towards the top.
I digress. If you have a good radiator and the engine block is not caked up with crud, then if the engine is set up correctly it should not boil. Petrol is a critical factor in this discussion. Always use a super unleaded fuel, the cheaper grades of petrol are far more likely to cause higher running temperatures and vaporisation in the carburettor. I use an SU carb which facilitates adjustment of the mixture. On the Cumbria Run in June I faced the ascent of Kirkstone Pass in Cumbria, fully loaded, two up on a hot day. As a precaution I stopped at the Patterdale Inn at the foot of the pass and made the mixture a flat richer. The car climbed the pass with no bother despite a spell of first gear at the top and the added difficulty of road work traffic lights towards the top.