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- Engine Coolant Radiator
- Had a few drips of coolant from the radiator when I cold pressure tested it a while back,
- as with most parts, I'm sure it will fail at a most inconvenient moment, so what options are
- there ?
- New radiator from vauxhall ?......actually not sure, but most likely NLS
- Refurbish existing radiator ? ........don't much like the idea.
- Custom built radiator ?.........perhaps..........
- Found a supplier of "blank radiators" in America and the UK importer.
- Had this turn up the other day ! All I need do is cut the holes and weld on various pipes.
- I needed 35mm dia , but have 1 1/2" stub pipes on order, bigger but will try them anyway.
- It's a 19"x28"(actual 27 1/8")x 60mm thick core, according to the catalog.
- How does it measure up to the standard radiator ?
- Std LC rad is 740mm long x 495mm high x 45mm thick 46row (end tanks volume comb approx 2.350ltr)
- Aluminium rad is 690mm long x 495mm high x 60mm thick 43row (end tanks volume comb approx 3.487ltr)
- I suppose you could say the aluminium rad exposes more surface area for cooling than the std rad....maybe.
- Certainly it appears to hold more coolant, at least going by the end tanks.
- Actually the LC radiator looks like it has a combined oil cooler/heater within one of the end tanks !
- This must waste coolant capacity.
- This is the bottom hose connection, I'm amazed by how much the unused oil cooler core may be restricting coolant
- flow. The radiator is adequate from a standard point of view, otherwise there would have been far more problems
- with cooling at development stage, but even so, I and quite surprised by this feature ! It must compromise cooling
- efficiency during hard use in hot weather, or just being stuck in traffic
- Aluminium rad left, LC rad centre, senator rad right.
- The expansion stub on the LC rad is 18.5mm diameter, the pipe on the expansion level tank is only .........
- 12.3mm diameter, however the reinforcing tube reduces the inside bore to ..............
- about 6mm, so, I'm thinking about welding a smaller pipe ie 15mm dia on the radiator, sleeving the expansion tank
- connection, then I can use some standard heater hose, making the LC specific (NLS ??) hose redundant.
Scrap that idea, I found correct size 19mm stub pipe, so will use the OE hose afterall........
- Does it fit in the hole.....yep !
- But because the overall length is 2" shorter, I will probably move the rubber bungs over one hole.
- Looking down each side of the rad when installed........
.- Bracketry should be fairly easy, just weld to each side.
- Because the radiator is 2" shorter than the std LC one, I need to think about some wind deflectors to stop air going around
- sides and not through the rad.
- I think even the top fan shroud could be modified (butchered ;-) to fit back into place.
- The radiator core thickness is 60mm, 15mm thicker than the std LC rad, so this will bring the back face of the rad
- closer to the viscous fan blades (not looking to dispose of this item....yet)
- There is at least 20mm clearance, the blades will have to flex quite a lot to catch the radiator core, however something to bear
- in mind ! (I never noticed just how much the engine seems to be out of square to the centre line of the car, one side of the fan
- blade is closer by about 6mm compared to the other side.
- I think I will go with this rad, cut the holes weld on the pipes, measure the coolant volumes, see how fast it drains compared
- to the std LC rad, and rig up a basic test to see how quickly each rad can lose heat.
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