Hi thanks for that. The rad had an uprated core fitted a few years ago, I've also got an 82 degree thermostat and an electric fan. I also jet washed the water jackets when I rebuilt the engine (it was amazing how much crud was in there). I don't have any overheating issues at the moment. What i do have is a drop in oil pressure after a long run. Most of my journeys in the van involve an hour our so at full chat on the motorway followed by another hour in a traffic jam, on hot days the oil pressure drop is more pronounced.
I have fitted an oil temp gauge but the sender is faulty and it’s never worked properly, I plan to swap the sender over to a spare and see if this works.
So at the moment I am assuming my oil is getting pretty hot, thinning and therefore causing the oil pressure drop. Hopefully a bit more flow on the oil cooler will help this.
Of course a change in oil type might also make things better, I’m using Halfords classic which I’m still not sure about.
I vaguely recall something on the sunbeam alpine forum about dipsticks – the hunter type engine having a different length dip stick to counter the canted over nature of the way the engine was mounted – and if you fit these ‘vertically’, as in a Commer / Alpine, you risk over filling with oil which will make it run hot. I’ve checked extensive dip stick collection (well, all three of them) and there are all the same so I’m not sure if there is any truth in this or not.
Really I just need to get the oil temp sender fixed and do some experimentation.