After my last post Andrew replied that he has justifiably great faith in Bars Leaks as it’s held the leaks at bay on his Brush since 1992 which is not a bad recommendation. So I gave it a try although I lacked the intestinal fortitude to go for 5 bottles as suggested. After pouring it in and waiting for 20 minutes the water was still showing no abatement so I cut my losses and emptied the radiator into a bucket for later and moved onto plan B.
This radiator has a fair bit of plan B already in situ so I felt a little more would not hurt. Plan B is epoxy putty, I have previously used it on the side of the road as a “get me home” repair after the fan and the radiator had a spat and although not yet lasting 20 years it’s showing no signs of failure.
Luckily this is all happening on the back of the radiator so maybe I will do an upgrade and paint the putty black just in case a purist looks under the bonnet. Although as the product used is in French I can only assume it’s OEM Darracq.