Aluminium radiators good or bad best supplier

[richfield]

Having problems fitting an uprated rad supplied by a well known supplier after modifying the mounting holes find that once in place filler neck too high and hits bonnet.

[new to this]

Take the rad back to the supplier,it's not made right

Dave

[richfield]

Thanks Dave for that advice and am at present making up a dossier with photos to show the difference in total height-I cannot even close the bonnet! I would post photos but being rather ancient am not really at home with these computer things (as a lad at sea we used sextants to find out where we were).I purchased this Stag in 1992 and have slowly being buying the parts over the years-now after 50 years of repairing classic(how I hate that word) cars here in France I have hung up my spanners and am trying to finish my own cars before !!! But the problem is as I have been slowly getting the parts together some of the bills go back a long way,for instance the one for this uprated rad dates from 2005,and a complaint now-even though its the first time its been fitted-might go in the bin! That is why I have asked about aluminium rads, these at least are made by hand in small numbers and one hopes that they are of good quality and fit(?) these at least would be of UK manufacture and not from some of the very dodgy far eastern suppliers>anybody who is concerned with the repair and maintenance of our type of cars can explain the problems we had with these suppliers,to sum up with one word they are mostly cr-p-one of the reasons why I have retired.
So if anyone can through light on these modern lightweight alu rads ????? Thanks Paul.

[richfield]

Following the above reply to Dave I think that I have managed to show a couple of photos-the green car is mine and shows the height of the filler pipe and the yellow car is the same year(1974) and type (Mk11) fitted with the original factory rad-as can be seen there is a considerable height difference !!! Paul.

[bonnietiler750]

I have just bought one of these fitted perfectly without any modification...just saying

[DJT]

If the height of the filler pipe is the only problem, then it would be cheaper to take it to a local radiator repair specialist and get them to reduce the height slightly. De-solder the filler pipe, cut off 10mm and re-solder it in place. Job done for a few Francs. Sorry, Euros.

Like the reference to sextants. I am also a ‘traditional navigator’ who learnt to do it the proper way and navigated ships across the globe before Satnav became the norm.

[richfield]

Thanks for the comments-I am happy that your rad fitted first time either we did not have the same supplier or if we did they must have had so many complaints that they have rectified the fault-with mine without fettling, even the top fixing holes didn't line up-also would have to shim it out as it rubs against the body on one side.Ref modifying the filler pipe yes have thought about it and do have a good rad company near me in Angouleme-but if you look at the photos closely you can see that the `uprated` one is much higher than the original as they added extra rows of cooling tubes-so its possible that even after mods it might still be too high.I did notice that on the yellow stag even the original fitting still had left an embedded hole in the sound proofing on the underside of the bonnet! My dossier with photos will be posted today so we will see what reception it gets.(I sailed with Port line in the early sixties on the Aussie and Kiwi run).

[DJT]

Another possibility is that, during previous restoration work, the radiator support panel has been fitted incorrectly. This is an all too common problem.

I would be wary of aluminium radiators. A local Stag owner was stranded recently when his split. He has now got an OE type fitted and cooling is better.

(BP Shipping 1971-1986)

[richfield]

Thanks DJT but as it was myself and my body man who did all the work I can guarantee that the only panel we repaired in that area was the one I suppose you could call the lower splash panel.I purchased the car in 1992 with an engine out and with big end problems-there was no rot what soever at that epoch, that crept in when I had to leave it outside for a number of years,my workshop was based in Cagnes Sur Mer and was less than 1km from the sea-even covered was not the best place to be parked !Mileage was 56000k`s and still is-its only now retired that I have space and time hopefully to finish-I have yet to drive it! Paul.