Replacing Tucan Radiator

[Pacman1972]

Does anyone know of a guide for replacing the Tuscan radiator - I'd imagine it's straight forward enough but it would be good to have some guidelines to follow.

Also - Anyone have any experience of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2TV105-TVR-Tuscan-Tamora...

Thanks

Steve

[dvs_dave]

Easy enough, apart from if your car has AC. In which case there is a screw on the lower N/S of the rad securing the condenser onto the rad which can be a faff to undo as it's tricky to get to and will be rusty.

Good luck getting this screw out and back in without taking off the service bonnet and front grille panel!

[m4tti]

I did this over the winter. Its pretty much what dave said. The primary problem being those screws which hold the condensor on. They were very rusty. In the end I drilled them out.

Theres just enough slack to move the rad with the condensor off its mounts and balance the service bonnet on your head. But you need to make sure you dont over balance and snap you service bonnet. Once the screw was drilled to release some pressure i got some mole grips on it and wound it out.

I got my rad recored by a place called Bryan & Sons in Tunbridge wells. Hes been there 30 years and the rad comes out looking like new with a guarantee. It only cost £180 so was a fair saving over anything else and works very well, and everything on it was refurbished including the fan house clips.

At the same time I replaced all my hoses and refurbed my oil cooler. Stripped it down polished and replaced all of the O'rings in it.

So i didnt need to sit there idling the car to bleed it, I used one of these http://www.ccw-tools.com/Draper-Tools/Automotive-R... . Worked very well and erradicated the need to sit there with the car idling from cold.

[Pacman1972]

A bit concerned about those screws and my front grill doesn't come off as a previous owner had put a 440 grill on it which look great but is not removable.

Will also look at the referb route - I live in Crowborough so nice and near for me

Thanks for the tips

[Pacman1972]

m4tti said:

Bryan & Sons in Tunbridge wells

Got a good quote from those guys so will take it there this week

In case I'm feeling too tight to shell out for the Draper tool - Can anyone share the bleeding process?

[m4tti]

Pacman1972 said:

Got a good quote from those guys so will take it there this week

In case I'm feeling too tight to shell out for the Draper tool - Can anyone share the bleeding process?

I went there about 25 years ago with my dad to get a landrover radiator re-cored. So like he said to me when i told him I saw him 25 years ago, "I must be doing something right". He'll probably tell you the TVR radiator was rubbish like he told me

Its an interesting little work shop if your're into stuff like that as he has big old brass rads of vintage cars sat there.

[TOV!E]

Just bled mine last week, you take out the top plastic screw on the rad and then disconnect the heater hose ( the one near the n/s inner wing it is metal then goes to a hose) let all the water run out then start filling the system untill the water starts to flow from the rad bleed screw when it does tighten that up and keep filling untill the water runs from the heater hose, once it does replace the hose and fill untill it starts to come out of the filler,, then start the car turn on the heater and let the water bubble out of the filler pipe when it stops blubbering job done put on the blue filler cap and take for a run, check that the heater works after it has warmed up.

[Pacman1972]

TOV!E said:

Just bled mine last week............

Thanks !!!

After looking at it again today there may be some life left in my rad yet - I think it may have been overfull.
I let the engine run until the fans kicked in. A fair bit gushed out of the filler cap and then stopped after about a minute. There was a tiny amount of steam at the edge of the rad where it's held together with tabs but that stopped after the excess water had ejected.

Left it running for another 10 mins and the temps were bang on.

[dvs_dave]

If you've got a known leak/weep then make sure you keep a very close eye on the water level, as leaks tend not to get any better.

The Speed 6 doesn't have a low coolant level alert so it's all to easy to wreck an engine in short order because of insufficient coolant. You can't rely on the water temp to indicate a problem if there's no water to measure the temp of.

[m4tti]

And if youve got any form of leak its likely that the system is no longer under pressure and wont disipate the heat as intended.

My rad had the tiniest hole in it which left a 5p sized dark patch on the rad, but that was enough to prevent the system from maintaining an air tight vacuum when tested.

[Pacman1972]

good advice chaps - I'll get it sorted to be on the safe side

[Pacman1972]

Thanks all. Was amazed how much coolant the Tuscan takes.

Is now spot on - Level is consistently at the bottom of the elbow, heaters are working perfectly, temperature is spot on, and no leaks.

Happy days