Modern Replacement Radiator Spitfire Mk1V / 1500

[blubayou]

Hi all,

Following the failed fitment of an old Herald full width radiator I have just bought a modern full width replacement from 'accparts' on ebay. I almost bought it last week but ummed & ahhed like you do. They then offered me a 5% discount so it was mine for £142 delivered. 

Incidentally I bought this as opposed to the trendy alluminium ones as it looks more traditional.

Fitment however is a little fraught. The rad fouls the nut on the intake support bracket so this needs removing first. Mounting height - I wanted to fit it as high as possible for a good head of water - I have had to fit it as low as possible, the rad itself is well clear but the cap now clears by about 1/2". The bottom hose fits just in terms of length, alignment is good. The top hose alignment is pretty dreadful but does go on.

Anyway it's all in and working. I have a spare top hose in the boot for when the old one splits......

[blubayou]

Sorry, this is on a MK1V Spitfire, can this be added to the title?

 

[Colin Lindsay]

7 minutes ago, blubayou said:

Sorry, this is on a MK1V Spitfire, can this be added to the title?

 

On the old forum layout, if you clicked on 'edit' for the first post you could change / edit the title too... might still work?

[johny]

From what Ive seen thats quite a bit better top hose alignment than the aluminium rads offer in fact one guy got the rad pipe rewelded to correct the angle...

[Peter Truman]

I'm not suggesting this is your problem causing the hose mis-alignment but it is what we found on my daughters Mk2 Spit after a lot of searching repositioning the rad elongating holes ensuring the rad cap cleared the bonnet etc!.

Her Spit had been in an accident before we brought it near completion with a full bare metal and body off rebuild by the previous owner it was determined the chassis was damaged so a replacement chassis which was in good condition was fitted (interestingly within 100 number of the original chassis), but unfortunately it wasn't realised at this rebuild time that the Spits used different Turrents to the rest of the small chassised Triumphs ie the distance from the top wishbone pivot to the engine mount differs on the Spit it is shorter by more than an inch which relates to the engine sitting lower and hence the thermostat cover and top hose having a better alignment.

We changed the RH Turrent to a Spit one and it dropped the engine at the front by just more than an inch so the top hose alignment whilst not perfect is very acceptable (good quality 3 row alloy Rad fitted). It was quite a faff changing over the turrent ie powder coat the new turrent dismantle steering column, shim and align the new turrent.

 

[Mjit]

Make sure you have LOTS of clearance between the radiator cap and the bonnet, a lesson I learnt the hard way ;(

[blubayou]

Thanks for the advice Guys, I'm hoping to lift it up a little.

What's the thoughts on clearance, I was thinking 1/4"?

[Mjit]

I'd go with "as much as you can".

Mine was close, but not touching when first fitted... At least it was close, but not touching parked up with the bonnet freshly closed.  A quick trip up the motorway settled the bubber cones a little lower and revealed a good amount of flex in the bonnet panel at 70MPH.

I ended up dropping the rad. slightly and adding a pad of stick-on foam to the underside of the bonnet so any further contact had some padding, rather than hammer action.  This was also the point I discovered that the d/s bonnet bracket is already at it's highest point...while the p/s one is near the bottom.  Either some hinge box alignment or chassis twist issues in there somewhere