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TCS Radiator - I did this

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Dilkris:
Thought I’d post what I did with this – the photo’s hopefully tell most of the story. It is not 100% finished as yet as I have to disassemble and spray the components. I also have to make a plan for a stone guard – and with this I need some advice. (See end of thread).
I know the common approach is to replace the whole assembly with an aluminum unit, but the car has done 73,000 miles with this radiator so I first wanted to confirm if it was at all “usable”.
I found a radiator specialist some 30 miles from me, (West Mercia Radiators - which I highly recommend), and I took the radiator to them for an opinion; he pressure tested the unit while I waited and advised that  it was a “good piece of kit” and well worth keeping. Interestingly, when they first saw the radiator they thought I was rebuilding a classic bus as they believed originally this was where the unit would have been from.  :confused:
I’m not competent enough to take on soldering around the radiator myself, (I would have melted everything…), so I made up all the associated components and returned them to the radiator specialist for soldering. (4 corner brackets plus a proper arrangement for the otto switch).
Once soldering to the radiator was completed, everything basically bolts together. (I did learn during this stage that you can soft solder mild steel with a mini gas torch, which I found very helpful for producing “captivated bolt” fixings)
Now my query, the original stone guard (woven wire mesh as shown) surely must be highly restrictive in terms of reducing air flow through the radiator so would not a louvred style panel mounted to the inside of the wheel well be better?  I’m thinking of molding one in glass fiber.
Anybody got any thoughts please as I don’t want to reinvent a wheel.                       

EuropaTC:
I don't think the original mesh does have a serious restriction to air flow, mine was original when I got the car and I drove it regularly for several years in and out of Huddersfield and commuting traffic without any problems. In fact the otter switch had broken when I got the car and it had a manual override which I very rarely used unless stuck in a traffic jam.

Having said that, when I decided it was too rusty I made a guard out of polypropylene filter cloth support. Being in the chemical industry I noticed one day that when the plant guys were replacing filter cloths, the underlying polyprop support just happened to have the same sort of mesh that my rusty steel one had. It's been there since the 80s and still looks fine !

Apart from stones, this mesh also cuts down on the direct spray in wet, salty weather so I've no doubt that a custom made louvred panel would work equally well and also keep away the salt spray from our roads.

Brian

Edit to add - well done for resurrecting the original radiator, good job !

Bainford:
Nice work on the rad. Nomex honeycomb mesh makes a great, low weight, very low restriction stone guard for the rad. I fitted one with velcro, but my fixings weren't sufficiently robust and I lost it on a run shortly after installing. I bought some more of the stuff and will be attaching it with the zip-tie method or similar.
https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Nomex-Honeycomb-Radiator-Guard-Mounting-Kit-15-x-22,475853.html?_br_psugg_q=nomex

BDA:
Here is my radiator screen. I used stainless steel screen and my fabricating buddy made a frame for it. I don't remember exactly how the upper screws held it but I think it would be pretty obvious if I took the time to look at both sides. The bottom screws go into tapped holes on the bottom of the radiator "frame." Sorry other than core and ports, I don't know parts of a radiator! Anyway, I have an aluminum radiator and there is sort of a frame for the core where the bottom of the frame looks a bit like a tray. The edges are turned up and it's thick enough that I was able to CAREFULLY drill the holes and tap them.

Not as cool as Nomex honeycomb!  :)   (seriously, that really is cool!) But it seems to work.

While you have your radiator out, you might want to consider a radiator shroud like Joji did (http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=5485.0). I've heard from people who implemented them that the motor runs cooler but there is less hot air washed into the back bone or cabin so it's cooler inside too!

Dilkris:
Bainford - Nomex Honeycomb looks a possible fix - does it trap mud and general road debris and when it does, is it difficult to clean? I assume however they are installed in some easily removed way for this purpose.
BDA - did you forget the picture??  :FUNNY: I read with interest Joji's approach and I have mixed feelings about that - I understand the effectiveness of the shroud when the fun is "pulling" (as most automotive applications are) but we are all "pushing" - so the shroud in this case surely just decreases radiator area to that of the swept area of the fan. No ?  :confused:       
   

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