I am currently working on the front end of the hill-climb car. It will have a streamlined nose similar to Mrs Jo-Jo, so no Austin radiator surround.
I have purchased on Ebay a new radiator for a 1991 -2001 Honda Civic which is a very lightweight thing with a thin aluminium core. It weighs about as much as the filler cap and Austin script badge of a normal Seven.
I can fit the radiator and the inlet and outlet pipes will be in the right place, but I would like answers to the following questions before starting.

1) The radiator has a very limited water capacity, will I need an extra header tank and a water pump?

2) The radiator is made to have an electric fan, I had not intended fitting one, simply the original Austin fan which would be about 3" from the radiator.
Is this likely to be satisfactory?

As the radiator was ridiculously cheap it would not be the end of the world if it is unsuitable (even for a tight Yorkshire man!)

For how long do you intend to run the car, Malcolm? If it's just up a hill I see no problem, unless the hill you have in mind is an Alp. The fact that you propose to fit a fan makes me suspect otherwise...
It would be interesting to know the water capacity of the Honda radiator.

Regards,
Stuart

Malcolm, my Ulster runs 99% of the time with no fan. I do have an electric fan fitted but really only use it if I'm stood for a long time on a starting line or suchlike. There's certainly no problem once the car is moving.
I'd worry about a standard fan if, like me, you intend using 7000+ revs.

Forgot to mention. Don't have a waterpump on mine either.

I presume that would be a cross-flow radiator and you'll be rotating it 90 degrees? I don't know how it will function without a pump, let us know.

My special has the top of the radiator around 6" above the head,So I fitted an MGB or similar expansion tank on the bulkhead from the rad overflow and left the pressure cap on.Has never been any trouble and no water loss either.
Pressurising the system raises the boiling point of the water too.

With no water pump and a standard radiator the Austin Seven relies on thermo syphone principle for cooling,without this the water in the system will stay more or less static and boil fairly quickly, I would suggest fitting a water pump and a header tank.

Location: Pembrokeshire

Many thanks for that. I intend to use the car for Bert Hadley events but I may well make it road legal, albeit for short testing purposes.
The radiator will be positioned about 3" in front of the chassis nosepiece and the top hose connection will be at a similar height above the cylinder head to an Ulster. The radiator is not a cross flow and will be mounted vertically. It is fitted with a 0.9 Bar pressure cap.
The engine (the pressure fed Reliant crank unit) is unlikely to rev to much above 6000 rpm. I think the way to go is to fit the radiator and get an electric fan, doing away with the standard Austin fan. The water capacity of the radiator is 700cc. I will see how it is without an extra header tank or water pump initially. Fitting an electric pump will be a very simple job if one is needed.

Just as a side note, I had a 1997 Honda civic and it had a header tank of about a litre. It was a much bigger engine, of course.

I'm only away for a week so far and already you've bought an alloy Japanese radiator and are talking about electric fans and electric water pumps! I despair. You'll be buying a Singer Gazelle next

Steve

Location: North Yorkshire

Until I actually began doing sprints and hillclimbs I hadn't realised how much time the car spends stationary in a queue,and this is when overheating may be a problem.It is very useful to have a temperature gauge to manage this.

Location: The Pits,Leicester

I am building it for a bit of fun, at low cost. It won't be VSCC eligible but that doesn't bother me unduly.
There are plenty of events out there that it would be suitable for.

My Honda radiator has a single core. Looking at Ebay again, I see that the same Honda radiator is available with a double or triple core, at more money of course. With the benefit of hindsight I would have gone for a multicore unit. If my radiator isn't up to the task I will be able to replace it with a multicore very easily.