The VSCC has a New Years day outing to the old Muckleford South school so I thought the Sunbeam with it’s now clean radiator would be a good candidate for about a 500Km round trip that should shake out some gremlins.
The other bit of logistics for the day was dropping Sue off at the airport on the way. Given the Sunbeam’s unpredictable record so far this was thought an unwise decision so Sue found more reliable transport in Des’s BMW. As it happened this wariness was completely misplaced as I made it to Sunbury (several Kms past the airport) before the boiling started. After that the trip was punctuated with regular stops to refill the radiator the rate being about 10Km/litre which was greater than the fuel consumption, although only a little.
Sunbeam 20.9’s have a history of heads that crack and after inspection, the No. 6 spark plug was very clean so of course I assumed the worst, but the only thing that did not gel was the lack of a big cloud of steam out the tailpipe. To cut a long story short it seemed that a baffle was missing in the top of the radiator so at high engine speeds water was going straight out the overflow.
The pictures below show an alternate use for an Aluminum cup, I’m not sure of it’s longevity but they come in packs of six so plenty of of time before I have to haunt the Op shops for more. The result, 50Km traveled yesterday with no perceivable drop in water level, the cylinder head leak must be very small enough to leave for the moment…I hope.
Ingenious and very neat. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “he’s in his cups…”
Some British tat of the 50’s (Vanguards? Minxes?) had neat little low pressure check valves fitted into the top of the overflow pipe which took care of the problem. I recall one of my schoolmasters finding and fitting one to his 12/60 Alvis some 50+ years ago with soothing results. You could do worse. Easier than re-fitting that baffle…
Thanks Grant,
I will have to Google them …or find some old guy to ask!
Mark,
I’m just wondering if this 20.9 Sunbeam is yours or just something that you posted about for VSCC?
I have a 20.9 (and a 16.9) sunbeam. I live in the Hawkesbury on Sydneys outskirts
My 20.9 and your (Ex- Collis) 20.9 have rallied together many times over the years. My late father in law restored our 20.9
If you could email me on mibradshaw@bigpond.com it would be great. I may even be able to find an old photo or two of ‘your’ Sunbeam (assuming it’s yours )
Hi Ian,
Sorry for the very slow reply. No I no longer own the 20.9, I sold it to John Lakeland who in turn sold it to Mike Bellair. I will email you with Mikes details.
Cheers
Mark