The 1957 "The Dope" Dauphine

jonsey They are more central than the pic shows though slightly different front to rear. The outer pairs seem offset to each other, the liners look to be machined to touch but the inner 2 don't have flats on them and a bigger gap.

Ill have a mull over it and decide if i should try a better rad or move it up front

i'm suspecting rad lash up old one and see if that changes things

i'm thinking not a forever job just to see if it flows air and cools better than ally one which may be acting like a solid wall by comparison

as has been said fan too small and slow as well can't help

originally was the heater full flow all the time? anything different with the flow there?

Back to the electric fan - can’t say I’ve come across a 6v one so expect it to be a special? Assuming it’s controlled by a thernoswitch does the fan come on and stay or or settle down to a cycle of on for 10 seconds, off for 20 or the like?

Have you got a link to the one you’ve got?

Having experienced, well not over heating but running very hot, with my 56 I can feel your frustration.

Easy to be an armchair engineer but before you start moving rads etc can I make a few suggestions based on what I did to cure my ills?

Had a look at your pictures during one of my numerous CC's and cant make out some of the details so apologies if you have already done this.

1. Airflow through the rad - Is it completely sealed so that air entering from the fronts only route is through the radiator itself?

2. Put a shroud around the fan, sealing it, so that actually draws air across the radiator - at the moment the fan is doing very little.

3. Get hot air out of the engine bay - did the raised deck lid make a difference?

4. Tuning - already covered. Did the advance make a difference?

5. Collapsed hoses - are any of the pipes collapsing internally when it gets hot restricting flow.

The biggest reduction in engine temp on the Orange car was achieved by sealing the rad, ducting the fans and then giving the air somewhere to escape. Went from over 200 driving down the road to never getting above 195 whilst sitting in traffic on the M25 on a 30degree plus day.

Naturally I did all this after spending nearly £1000 on a super radiator, different pulleys for the water pump, upgraded water pump, very expensive twin Spalls fans with magic controllers etc etc. None of it made a difference until I did the above, it just took longer to get hot!

Keep going, nearly there.

P.

Temperature is regulated by the thermostat- you can fit a lower temperature switch for the fan if you like but you would normally set it to hold just above “normal” running temperature according to the gauge. No point setting it lower as all it will do it start to close the thermostat again.

Running times sound about right (not marvellous but OK) - there’s only so much juice you can pull from a 6V system anyway and it does look like a “genuine” 6V fan from the links I've found from a quick google. Are you running it relayed straight off the battery?

Ducting is king though when it comes to getting conventional (moving) airflow, even if you try and seal the edges around the rad to its periphery with some aluminium tape as air will take any route aside from through a radiator core given the chance.

Being rear engined though it may require continual forced air movement and can’t rely on ram air (as you would if the rad was up front); not a problem with an engine driven fan of course..

Closest analogy I can think of is an Imp where it used to have an engine driven fan (and a tiny rad) except I can’t recall of the rad being retained in its usual location and losing the engine fan - it’s normally accompanied by moving the rad to the front..

i think this is where i have dropped the ball going against whats normally done......