Alloy Radiators
Discussion
I fitted mine about 3 months ago and upgraded all the hoses at the same time but that was my choice. I bought direct from RadTec but Act can supply the same product. I found it quite simple to fit and I'm no mechanic, removing it is a bit like getting the roof in the boot so if you've mastered that it'll be a sinch. Mine needed the brackets cut down which was a shame as it really is a nice bit of kit. I can also recommend the service at RadTec who were always friendly and communicative altho Tim at Act is equally helpful.
david beer said:Why are you a prat and why did it/they blow up david?
Iam waiting for my fourth ally rad to turn up, apparantly if you are a prat, you can blow them up !! There is now a special strenghtened one, just in case you are like me. Just coming up to 10 months since buying the first.
First one arrived with an indent across 4 maybe cores, did not want to risk it. Second arrived and leaked in two places, took months to get the next. That leaked in two places left and right corners after a week. Thanks to involvement from a 3rd party they were told that if you did not know how to bleed a rad they would fail, so thats what i did wrong. Now been many months waiting for the latest "prat proof" but its still going to cost me another £150 on top of the original cost.
something to consider is the radiator flat!! on my car the moumting points weren't. therefore when you tighten up both top fixings the radiator twists slightly. this obviously causes stress and in my experience early failure. my solution was to fit various spacer washers behind one side until the radiator square on the fixings before tightening up. result no more leaks. correction no more leaks so far!!! (dont want to be too pleased with myself cause usually that is just prior to something going wrong!).
>> Edited by aitkindrum on Wednesday 7th December 16:43
>> Edited by aitkindrum on Wednesday 7th December 16:43
GreenV8S said:
David, were the leaky rads vertical flow or horizontal flow? Horizontal flow alloy rads suffer a lot more thermal stress and tend to be far more troublesome.
They were identical to the standard, so thats horizontal, left to right ! You could not see where the leaks were, right inside as the cores joined the "big side bits". The rads were not bolted to anything, sat against a foam seal i have always had to stop the air "slipping" around the sides. Have you seen the gaps !!
The excuses so far are, head gasket blown(remember my asking if a rad could withstand more pressure than a rad cap 18 psi?), stress due to mounting, then finally(thanks 3rd party expert) the fact that i do not know how to bleed a rad, strange that every time i put the old one back in, it was fine !
Funny thing is, i want one, even now after all this hassle.
simon.b said:The tvr alloy rad has the otter switch location on the inlet side.Not quite the right place,but better than the swirlpot.The standard hoses dont fit on the outlet side,but are fine on the inlet,when you order the rad they should also order the different outlet hose kit.The outlet is not bent at 90 degrees on the alloy one.
I like the sound of the new TVR one’s plus you get the otter switch in the correct place, do the old standard hoses fit ?
Cheers,
Simon.
Hi Simon, when I was looking for a radiator a couple of places offered to recore the old one with a standard replacement or a heavy duty core which I interpreted as a larger capacity core. Maybe an option. Did I see your griff in Hessle about 2 months ago? Call in if you are in the area, good luck, John.
The most common falure due to thermal stress occurs at the cold end of the top tube, or (depending on the design) the second one down. If your failures have been caused by thermal stress then they are not your fault, nothing you did caused them.
Are (were?) the two end plates rigidly connected by a solid top plate? One production trick to cut down the failure rate was to cut part way through the top plate at the cold end to reduce some of the thermal stresses. This doesn't complete cure the problem though.
You best bet for a perfect solution would be to change to a vertical flow radiator. This will require some minor changes to the pipework, different mounting etc. So not a trivial amount of work, but not rocket science.
Are (were?) the two end plates rigidly connected by a solid top plate? One production trick to cut down the failure rate was to cut part way through the top plate at the cold end to reduce some of the thermal stresses. This doesn't complete cure the problem though.
You best bet for a perfect solution would be to change to a vertical flow radiator. This will require some minor changes to the pipework, different mounting etc. So not a trivial amount of work, but not rocket science.
Um, confesion time then, i take it back "mr rad maker". I run a 88 degree water stat, maintaining 88 winter or summer. In the summer the water stat closes so the fans actually blows cool air into the engine bay during the last "blows". So maybe a rush of 88 water into the rad is not good for an ally rad, although i do not believe it should be a problem.Thinking about stress, in the summer the rad is warmer and in the winter its cold, so in the summer its not a "shock" and in the winter its only a quick opening of the stat. Although if i had leaks both hot and cold ends with no stress, what does that mean ? I think i will stick to radio repairs and drive around in the air cooled 602cc van i have.
david beer said:
Um, confesion time then, i take it back "mr rad maker". I run a 88 degree water stat, maintaining 88 winter or summer. In the summer the water stat closes so the fans actually blows cool air into the engine bay during the last "blows". So maybe a rush of 88 water into the rad is not good for an ally rad, although i do not believe it should be a problem.Thinking about stress, in the summer the rad is warmer and in the winter its cold, so in the summer its not a "shock" and in the winter its only a quick opening of the stat. Although if i had leaks both hot and cold ends with no stress, what does that mean ? I think i will stick to radio repairs and drive around in the air cooled 602cc van i have.
Bloody Sparkies
You dont get many electricians taking up plumbing, now you know why. electricity and water dont mix 
BB
I'm on my third (normal) rad in 6 years. The problem was that the four mounting points were not in the same plane - ie flat - so when the rad was bolted down, it had a torsion on it which eventually caused it to fail. Hitting a speed bump at about 90mph was the final straw
Grateful thanks to Heliox who spotted the problem and packed the new rad out with washers to suit.
Grateful thanks to Heliox who spotted the problem and packed the new rad out with washers to suit.
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