400SE Radiators

[JVaughan]

The 400SE has developed a rather anoying leak from the radiator. when I say developed .. its been leaking for the last 10 plus years, but i think now its getting worse.

I see TVR Wedge Parts are advertising an ali Rad for £395.

Has anyone fitted a replacment rad to a 400SE ? any hints / tips ?
Is it removed from the engine bay or from below ?

Help !......

[B-Reight]

Jason, not sure if its exactly the same procedure but i've recently done it on the 390se, not too bad a job but takes a while

From memory the steps are;

Raise headlights
disconnect battery
remove headlight bowls
remove headlight pods
remove 6 nuts holding on lower splitter/bumper (disconnect wiring to foglight/spots if present)
remove bottom hose and drain system of coolant
remove top hose and the diddy overflow pipe t'other side
unplug otter switch wiring
remove 2 bolts (in the headlight pod reccess) each side securing the radbracket to the body tub
drop rad assembly outta the bottom, you may need to jack the front of the car up slightly for enough clearance

And in the mighty wisdom of Haynes- 'Refitting is the reversal of removal' or summat like that

[B-Reight]

oh and i used a rangerover classic (carb) rad, it's exactly the same as the TVR one i took out. Just needs the extra 8mm outlet braising shut.

[combine]

Doubtful wether an ally rad is going to do any different job than a re- core on your present rad and its going to save you £££'s.Not as shiney though but you can't see it !

[adam quantrill]

The procedure is a little different on the 400SE as you can´t remove the lower air dam. I removed mine upwards with the bonnet off, didn`t need to touch the headlights, cut a couple of notches in the fiberglass to get it out.

A recore is better value, mine came back a little shorter so I had to bodge up a bracket.

Apologies if there´s any random typing as I´m using a Croatian keyboard ;^)

[pwd95]

Did mine recently. Straight out the bottom, no faffing with headlights.

Sorry should explain. You can get a spanner up the side of the light pod to secure the bolts for the bracket & undo from the rad side.

Oh & my recore came out at £150 odd.

Edited by pwd95 on Saturday 21st August 14:01

Edited by pwd95 on Saturday 21st August 14:03

[mikeb]

Which one the first or the second one? ;-)

MikeyB

[combine]

Yes , know what you mean , I sent my rad back when it leaked almost imediately , its now ok , but they didn't re- core it. Any pics of an ally rad Mike , and hows the red monster going ?

[mikeb]

...in about a hundred bits all laying around the house, shed, living room floor, But getting there thanks to a few kind souls donating a few of the missing bits! Thanks guys - you know who you are.

MikeyB

[jmorgan]

Re alloy rads. How do you repair them?

[rev-erend]

A recore is a better option .. £110 ~ 150 rather than £400 for an Alloy jobbie.

[combine]

rev-erend said:

A recore is a better option .. £110 ~ 150 rather than £400 for an Alloy jobbie.

Hope Mike sees this !

[adam quantrill]

mikeb said:

Which one the first or the second one? ;-)

MikeyB

Depends on your garage. I didn't 'go down' because I didn't want to jack the front end up too high.

The fan has to come off going up, which turned out to be the biggest faff, as all the bolts were corroded solid.

[GV]

Go for the re-core. I had mine done a couple of years ago with an an extra core and it makes a big difference from the old. On the move my temp rarely gets above 85 and in trafic with the fans on it sits at 90. Mind you, I don't have EFi so there's a lot less heat sink to worry about too..

[B-Reight]

http://www.famousfour.co.uk/new_parts/part_info.ph...

Looks like a wedge rad to me, and a couple of quid more than a recore.

I bought mine off ebay (£70 ) and it was listed as RangeRover classic 3.5 carb, the same as above.

Edited by B-Reight on Monday 23 August 10:58

[pwd95]

Looks very much like it.