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It never rains....

I took my radiator to be cleaned, flushed and pressure tested. Turns out it's rotten. The guy wants $270 to rebuild it, which I think is a bit steep since I can get a new one from Moss for $230.

Then I remembered TR6BILL's trick aluminium one from a few months back. I just priced a rad from a different place - Wizard Cooling. They want $500 for the rad, and will weld on brackets for my 16" electric fan, and a mount for an oil cooler for about $150 more. This is comparable to the cooler mount and j-brackets to put them on the stock rad.

My question I guess is - apart from looking cool, and providing a neater installation, is an aluminium rad that much (like 2x) better, or should I use the money elsewhere?

I DO have to get a rad either way though, which was an unexpected surprise...
 
I think an aluminum has a better cooling capacity and the weight probably is not an real issue. Does al. dissapate heat better?
One thought Alana, check on incorperating the oil cooler inside the rad.
don
 
It wont fit. I asked.
I need space above the oil cooler for the intercooler so deeper isnt the answer either.
 
The guys who race TRs have all had problems with aluminium radiators designed and built for our TRs. They shake themselves to death in a very short time. So they use an aluminium rad out of a wreck where the rad is about the right size and capacity and then start from there to modify it to fit.

Don Elliott
 
Hey Alan.
Sorry to hear about your radiator. I have the Ron Davis aluminum radiator and couldn't be happier. It cools down very quickly, the install was a drop-in. I HIGHLY recommend the Spal 16" fan, the one that Ron Davis uses exclusively. I have had three other brands of electric fans over the years and none come even close to the quality of the Spal. No need for special brackets, I just carefully screwed the Spal brackets to the frame of the radiator, just as the tech at Ron Davis suggested. Very, very stable. My fan will run for about 45 seconds to cool down the rad in traffic, and doesn't tend to over-cycle; doesn't need to. They will install the Spal sensor in the bottom of the rad for you. I
installed mine in the down pipe because I screwed up and forgot to ask them for the sensor in the bottom. Not a problem. I will get some photos later if you want and post them. I also don't have a crank fan anymore. The rad cost me 560 and the fan was about 150+. I also ran a bypass circuit to run the fan manually. Really don't need it. Installed a green light on the dash to signal fan operation.
Let me know about any need for pics.

Bill
 
Alan,
You may want to try a couple of other sources for an aluminum radiator. Pick up a copy of Street Rod magazine. There are a number of companies out there who make custom radiators and off the shelf units that they will modify. In otherwords there is competition out there so you have the opportunity to shop around.

It's been a while since I have had a radiator redone. The process on the old style radiators (TR6, TVR) is to order a new core from one of the manufactures, un-solder the tanks from the old core and solder then onto the new core. Modine had a core they called the R core. It had small louvers on each fin to expose more surface area to the air. The process was not very difficult, but may fall into the Lost Art catagory. Hence the high price.
Modern radiators are generally an aluminum core with plastic tanks. There are aluminum tabs on the core (I believe they are part of the core) that are bent over and around a flange on the tank to hold the core to the tank. There is a gasket between the core and the tank to insure a good seal. Basically there is no soldering in modern radiators.

I believe the street rod/custom radiators have aluminum tanks that are welded. The core may be dip brazed to the tank. Dip brazing is basically a bath of molten material and flux. The parts are dipped in the molten bath, the filler is melted and the joints are bonded. I'm not sure these joints can be reworked if they fail.

There are a couple of advantages to the aluminum radiators. They use cross flow instead of the older top to bottom flow. Cross flow is more efficient. And you can specify a thicker core. A lot of modern radiators are single row or maybe double row cores. You can go to 4 rows or maybe more with a custom unit.
I can't remember the specifics on heat transfer od aluminum versus copper or brass. It seems like copper and brass are better but are more expensive. Someone else may want to comment on that.
 
Thanks Bill - I already have the fan, was going to fit it to the stock rad. It was a nasty shock when I found out that the rad I had was u/s - I had expected to be paying $30 for a flush and clean, not $000's for a replacement. Funny thing is that it seemed fine on the car. Bummer.

Normally I wouldn't even care - I'd just get the Al rad, but I just dropped a ton of cash on efi fuel system components (I should be buying shares in Jegs and Summit). Herself is asking awkward questions about just how much I've been spending, and I sort of feel the need to justify spending 2x as much as I need to.

I had just intended to do the Earls mount and J brackets for the oil cooler and fan. If I can get the mounts integrated - and I'm waiting for the final cost - then I can justify it to myself.

The place I found is about $60 cheaper than Ron Davies - I emailed both this afternoon - and has a 1-2 week lead instead of 4-5.
 
Hi Alan,

I think you will need and want all the additional cooling you can get because the motor is going to be working harder with the turbo. Yes, alu transfers heat about 40% better than brass. Copper is a little better still, but pricey, heavy and easily damaged.

I say don't scrimp now on the cooling! You'll need it!

BTW, is there any stainless steel anywhere in your cooling system? I have heard of problems with stainless and alu combined in a cooling system (but can't confirm from personal experience).

It is important to use rubber mountings to shock-isolate alu radiators because alu tends to be more brittle and easily broken than the original brass or most steel or plastic.

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BTW, is there any stainless steel anywhere in your cooling system? I have heard of problems with stainless and alu combined in a cooling system (but can't confirm from personal experience).



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Alan, the instructions from Ron Davis are real specific to not mix brass or copper and aluminum. The Spal heat sensor that they recommend for their radiators are all stainless and thread right into the lower tank.

Of course, there is some brass or copper in the TR6 cooling system, like the temp sensor for the dash gauge and some thermostats. As well as the heater core. I think they are concerned about the direct contact between the two metals, probably set up some type of electrolysis.

Bill
 
yea the problem with the different metals in the system is only when in direct contact because aluminum and other metals fuse together with electrolysis. there should be no problem using the stainless hose since its not touching the radiator.
Randy
 
So I ordered the aluminium rad with the mods I wanted for fan and oil cooler mount this morning. Should be here in a couple of weeks.

I'm still bummed out about the old one though...
 
Alana:

you couldn't spec an aluminum from Jegs that would fit? Seems like it would be much cheaper than a one off type.
 
Actually it isn't - hard to believe I know.
The BeCool one that fits is $650 from Jegs, and close to that from Summit (try 60100 or 60005).

These aren't one-offs any more btw - they have the rad in stock, the guy I spoke to says they sell 1 or two a week - it's the extras I wanted that are going to take the time.

Oh btw: If you have a -3 they are tooling up to make those too.
 
Oh btw: If you have a -3 they are tooling up to make those too.


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