Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Miken]

Ive recently got my 1927 Morris Cowley back on the road and have been using it for driving to work (why dont i see any other people doing this in old cars) the last few weeks.
Anyway,
Its normally a 20 mile round trip but today there must have been an accident or something because everyone was diverted into a long queue to bypass whatever it was.
I was stuck in a traffic jam for about half an hour , stop/start at about 5 mph anxiously watching the needle on the calormeter moving up to the high "normal" end of the scale with no spare water expecting it boil at any moment.
It occurred to me as I was moving slowly along that I could easily jump out and open the left hand (exhaust) side of the bonnet to let out some of the excess heat from the engine compartment and drive along like that until the road cleared.
But then I wasn't sure if this would somehow upset the airflow from the radiator through the engine compartment and so I didn't.
Any opinions on whether opening the bonnet flap on a vintage car would aid cooling when stuck in slow traffic or make it worse? It may happen to me again.

[peter scott]

I think it would help to reduce the temperature if it reduced the restriction of air passing through the radiator. There is no great restriction for air passing from the fan downwards but the open sides should be better if for no other reason than that they benefit from natural convection. Perhaps removing the top parts of the bonnet would be even better and leaving the sides in place.

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Rusty]

I think it would have helped !

Out here (in country Aus ) a lot of the 1920s type cars had one or both their bonnet side panels removed to aid in cooling in the hot Australian summer. I am too young to know how effective it was but it was very popular in the day so I suspect some advantage was "perceived" if not delivered.

[Phil - Nottingham]

I think it would help as prior to fitting an electric petrol pump our 1938 Rover 16 suffered vaporisation in hot weather slow traffic, Removing the side panel helped a lot and also lowered the hot coolant in the rad
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Rover P2
Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
Morris Mini Traveller Mk2

[Miken]

If it happens again I'll give it a go then.

[Keith D]

Your Cowley has no water pump and relies on thermal siphon. The original honeycomb radiator is nowhere near as efficent as the later straight tube radiators. Also they can only be cleaned with chemicals while the modern modular type radiators can be cleaned by removing both tanks and inserting a suitable rod through the tubes.

There are electric water pumps available that fit inside the very large diameter hoses fitted to the Cowley, that may well fix your problem. I have not installed one, but those I know who have, have been pleased with cooler running temperatures.

On a very hot day my Cowley runs with the Calormeter needle on hot, but has not boiled over yet although we get it very hot in summer. (over 40 degrees) As the radiator is not pressurised, it will not gush out and empty out as soon as the cap releases. If you stop the car as soon as boiling starts and allow to cool a bit, you will find that there has been very little water loss.

Keith
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1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1932 Austin Seven RN long wheelbase box sedan
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution

[Ashley]

All old cars get hot and bother in today's endless traffic jams, my Bentley did, old jags did, everything British especially did. An electric fan might help, but if it's not boiling and you occasionally have to top up the radiator, I would treat it as normal.

[alastairq]

When I drove London buses for a living [when London had proper buses, no plastic bits in those days....daily drive would be an AEC RT..except Sundays, when my 'route' would get Routemasters cascaded from the busier routes].... boiling up was a regular occurance.

No pressurised cap, either, just a gert huge rubber affair....right outside my normally-open side window..all ready to give me a boiling shower if I didn't watch it.

But, at regular points along the route would be a water can, for topping up.

If boiling up did occur, drivers were instructed to pull over & let things cool down a bit.

Of course, in today's road conditions, any driver simply pulling over to cool down, is seen as a major disruption, and treated accordingly.....we're not allowed to break down, slow down,or not go fast enough these days....