What's next??

[peterc]

Hi Phil.
I must admit that since blocking off the gap above the rad by adding a deflector between the nose and the rad core thus forcing more air through it the temp does drop a surprising amount when just cruising - sometimes below 80C. It's when one is more enthusiastic that the temp is up at 90C.
As already advised in another posting, I have a manual override and turn the first fan on at 90C when expecting to be sitting in traffic which normally keeps things under control. Nice to know that when I forget to switch on and the temp gets to 100C the fans do cut in at their respective settings. Standard Hawk's recommendation is a Ford Fiesta rad stat with twin temperature settings.
Peter C

[Roger King]

Be aware that running an engine too cool does at least as much damage as too hot. For a Ford engine, the design temp is around 90°C. Running for prolonged periods at, say, 70°C will produce rapid wear. As ever I don't know about Rovers.

[agnoraan]

Phil,
Your idea of adding a shroud an inch away from the rad is in effect a very short section of ducting but this will reduce the effectiveness of the rad at higher speeds. The air will need to go through a far more tortuous route to get through when driving at normal speeds. Personally I think we all need the max amount of radiator core available exposed to the air flow through the grill..

Hi Peter, many race cars have the internal area behind the grille opening panelled in aluminium and all of the holes in the radiator support panels blanked off so that the airflow can only go through the radiator, causing a "ram air" effect. This is probably why Cobras are panelled out like that, the only way that the air can travel is through the radiator
Nige

[clive]

At Silverstone this year, Tony Mountain introduced me to his better half as "The only man whose car he had been in that had three gauges reading 120." Water temp, oil temp and speed!

[agnoraan]

He'll run out of fuel before the next lap
Nige

[Phil Riley]

Be aware that running an engine too cool does at least as much damage as too hot. For a Ford engine, the design temp is around 90°C. Running for prolonged periods at, say, 70°C will produce rapid wear. As ever I don't know about Rovers.

Mine's a Cleveland and runs just under 90, but always seems smoother at about 95.

[Paul Blore]

Mine arguably runs too cool, but having had it apart a number of times recently, I saw no evidence of any wear, let alone excessive wear, even after around 25,000 miles. The bores were in pristine condition with the honing marks still clearly visible and the cam and followers were still like new, so I'm not unduly concerned.

Paul

[Paul Blore]

At Silverstone this year, Tony Mountain introduced me to his better half as "The only man whose car he had been in that had three gauges reading 120." Water temp, oil temp and speed!

I'm a little surprised that your oil pressure isn't a big higher than that Clive given the speed you're doing. Having said that, I don't know what normal is on a small block Ford/Rover (delete as applicable). Mine tends to stick around the 80psi mark when it's warm, but FE's like large quantities of oil at high pressure.

Paul

[clive]

My 302 is around 60 psi when first started cold, but soon settles down to around 40 psi where it stays even at tick-over.

[Roger King]

My 302 is around 60 psi when first started cold, but soon settles down to around 40 psi where it stays even at tick-over.

About right for a Ford. The oil pump has an integral blow-by valve (oil pressure relief valve) which cuts out much more than around 50-55 when hot.
You absolutely definitely do not want to fit a high-volume or high-output oil pump in a Ford unless you have done some fairly complex and difficult machining to the lifter valley to improve drainback (and even then there's little point). I know from personal experience, as do very many others, that these engines suffer from big-end bearing starvation very easily if too much oil is pumped to the top end. It's usually no.3 that goes first - ask Whizzo Williams, he told me he's done several Cobra engines this way.
I looked into oil pressure a lot this year with my 'new' old engine, as I had similar figures to yours with everything new and built to better-than-new tolerances (I run 0.0015" on the rods and 0.0020" mains, measured with mic and bore-mic rather than Plastigage). I was advised by the respected engine machinist who did the work on my engine in the US that focus on oil pressure is really of little relevance with modern engine oils. A good quality 15W-50 full synthetic will give 10-20 times better protection than a mineral oil even if run as low as 15 - 30psi idle-3000rpm. It has vastly superior film strength and heat degradation characteristics as well as cold-start protection mineral oil can never give. A decent modern machine shop should be working to modern tolerances, so unless you're running a more tired, older engine on mineral oil you have more than enough oil pressure!