Aluminium Radiator

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Hollyoak
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Aluminium Radiator

Post by Hollyoak »

Has anyone any thoughts on aluminium radiators are they worth the money, the ones on CCI
are ridiculously priced IMO, radiator specialists on ebay have them for £185, does anyone know if there products are any good, any-other recommendations would be welcome,

Dave.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by fordperv »

A chap on Capri power posted about using a BMW e30 rad on his pinto Capri

http://www.capripower.co.uk/forum/index ... ntry349631
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by martinc92 »

Dave,

I did purchase a CCI Ali radiator, as i was confident that it would bolt straight on and told that it would optimise water circulation over my old radiator, plus i will admit i wanted it to be different and stand out. It wasn't cheap though, when i bought mine it was around the £290 mark, but i think they are even dearer now. All that said I am very happy with mine.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by Hollyoak »

There 350 + now, but I've got to say it looks good quality, is it a larger capacity it looks a bit wider to me ? I see you've gone for an electric fan what do you think to that, rocker covers look nice what colour is that,

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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

Hollyoak wrote:There 350 + now.
Hi,
£283.20+ P&P including the 20% discount for club members. If you aren't a member, it would pay to join to take advantage of the discount just for this one part. It does look rather nice in Mart's immaculate engine bay. :)
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by Hollyoak »

That looks better thanks for that Andrew,

Dave.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by sheff »

Hollyoak wrote:Has anyone any thoughts on aluminium radiators are they worth the money, the ones on CCI
are ridiculously priced IMO, radiator specialists on ebay have them for £185, does anyone know if there products are any good, any-other recommendations would be welcome,

Dave.
Hi Dave,

I've fitted one of the radiators advertised on ebay this weekend as I'm currently having overheating problems on my 2.8.

I dealt directly with the company (Coolex Heat Transfer) as I wanted a fan switch fitted. The staff there are very helpful and they can also fit an electric fan to the radiator if required. The quality of the welding and general finish looks great.
However it wasn't as straight forward to fit as I'd hoped. Due to extra tank size and width of the radiator I had to make a few adjustments to the mounting holes to lift it higher to clear the panel that the valance attaches below the radiator. I also had to trim the top hose down, as it sits a lot closer to the engine than an original radiator.
One other thing, it doesn't have mounting holes for the standard fan shroud. This wasn't a problem for me as I use an electric fan mounted to the car in front of the radiator. If you're still using a viscous fan DON'T buy this radiator as I think there won't be enough clearance for the fan. The gap between my engine without a fan fitted and the new radiator is very close now.

I have contacted Coolex today with my findings, so it will be interesting to see if they get back to me with the improvements I have suggested.

Hope this helps
Neil
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by Hollyoak »

I've fitted one of the radiators advertised on ebay this weekend

Neil, Thanks for that very interesting, I think all things considered im going to go with CCI it looks the part and theres confidence that its going to fit.

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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by sheff »

Hi Dave,

I think that's probably best. Good luck and let us know how you get on with the CCI rad.

Cheers
Neil
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by bigj »

Can anyone update this thread and let us know what,if any, difference fitting an Ali rad made to the car?

I notice CCI don't make any claims that cooling is improved over standard in their ad, just "helps cooling". Well don't all radiators help cooling....?

Bit vague considering the price.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by Caprigear »

An even simpler solution is to triple core an original 2.8i radiator. It uses the original tanks and side mounts so it is certain to bolt straight in.I've used these on several of the Turbo conversions that I've built
And they're a bloody site cheaper than the aluminium ones as well.
For a standard spec car a stock recored radiator is well up to the job. If everything else on the cooling side of things is up to spec then you don't need to be slapping on electric fans in order to keep the engine cool.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by Hollyoak »

bigj wrote:Can anyone update this thread and let us know what,if any, difference fitting an Ali rad made to the car?

I notice CCI don't make any claims that cooling is improved over standard in their ad, just "helps cooling". Well don't all radiators help cooling....?

Bit vague considering the price.
I'm waiting for mine to arrive from CCI so can't comment really, though I haven't got a cooling problem, plus I use waterless coolant which should help with that,I don't know if it has more cores or is a larger capacity etc, I like the look of them that's why I'm changing it,

Dave.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by bigj »

Caprigear wrote:An even simpler solution is to triple core an original 2.8i radiator. It uses the original tanks and side mounts so it is certain to bolt straight in.I've used these on several of the Turbo conversions that I've built
And they're a bloody site cheaper than the aluminium ones as well.
For a standard spec car a stock recored radiator is well up to the job. If everything else on the cooling side of things is up to spec then you don't need to be slapping on electric fans in order to keep the engine cool.
I have the Boston Rads triple core on my BOA Martin but was just curious about the Ali one.
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sheff
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by sheff »

bigj wrote:Can anyone update this thread and let us know what,if any, difference fitting an Ali rad made to the car?

I notice CCI don't make any claims that cooling is improved over standard in their ad, just "helps cooling". Well don't all radiators help cooling....?

Bit vague considering the price.
Not sure that there's much difference in the cooling ability between Aluminum and Copper. If you want better cooling you need a larger radiator, this will increase the cooling surface areas and keep things cooler.
The Aluminum rad I fitted off ebay was 70mm thick looks about twice the width of a standard rad. I have seen a slight improvement in cooling with my car after fitting it, but that could just be the difference between a new rad and one that's 30 years old and past its prime. Like Martin has said if things are all standard and you're using a viscous fan as Ford intended all should be well with the standard copper rads.
If you have an uprated engine then you might need something bigger I guess.

If you are having overheating problems its not necessarily a rad issue. I'm starting to wonder if my temp gauge just reads high.

Cheers
Neil
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

sheff wrote: I'm starting to wonder if my temp gauge just reads high
Neil,
Have you checked the voltage at the temperature sensor? I believe it should be between 4.8 and 5V. If it reads higher the voltage stabiliser is faulty. Excess voltage will make the temp and fuel gauge over read.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by stevemarl »

You`ll need to disconnect the lead before testing the voltage, as, if the sender is connected it will show a lower voltage (it forms a potential divider with the gauge [in the car]). Pull the lead off & take voltage on the lead, as said should be 5v.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by sheff »

I'll check the voltage at the weekend. It should be ok as I repaired the voltage regulator, but worth a check.
Need to update my overheating post so I'll put my findings in there.

Cheers
Neil
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

sheff wrote:It should be ok as I repaired the voltage regulator, but worth a check.
HI Neil,
Did you solder in a new voltage regulator, or did you fit a whole used replacement unit ? If it's the latter, it could still be faulty.
I thought I'd come up trumps when I spotted these from Retroford:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Capri-MK ... 41828c9219
Unfortunately, I believe that it's not the correct part to fit the Mk3. I think I'm right in saying ours is part no.80bb10804aa. Can anyone confirm?
Andrew.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by stevemarl »

80BB10804AA 6080207 is the part I have; that`s a weird pic, the PCB seems to be a mirror image of mine, as though pics been flipped left to right? But it`s not.
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Re: Aluminium Radiator

Post by sheff »

peers.dupp wrote:
sheff wrote:It should be ok as I repaired the voltage regulator, but worth a check.
HI Neil,
Did you solder in a new voltage regulator, or did you fit a whole used replacement unit ? If it's the latter, it could still be faulty.
I thought I'd come up trumps when I spotted these from Retroford:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Capri-MK ... 41828c9219
Unfortunately, I believe that it's not the correct part to fit the Mk3. I think I'm right in saying ours is part no.80bb10804aa. Can anyone confirm?
Andrew.
Hi Andrew,
I soldered in a new voltage regulator. Its a fairly simple job, I found the instructions on the internet somewhere. You can buy the regulators from Maplins but I managed to find one at work, you also need a small pop rivet and some sort of sealant that I can't remember the name of, but a bloke at work lent me some.
Checking it on the bench it seemed to work fine, but I'll see what voltage I'm seeing on the temp sensor wire.

Cheers
Neil
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