21 replies to this topic

[country clubman]

Alloy rads claim a lot, do they live up to there claims? Anyone got one fitted?

 

If so which one's are best as they can be picked up new from about £45 of ebay, fletcher looks a good mid range one.

[mini13]

I had a had a rad tec one in mine, the damn thing sprung a leak where core meets the tank and was not reparable.... on the other hand a freind of mine had a cheap chinese ebay one and its been fine.

 

i dint think they really offer much improvement over a good 2 core rad, and IMO if your having cooling problems from a hightly developed engine your best looking at a front rad.

[country clubman]

I had a had a rad tec one in mine, the damn thing sprung a leak where core meets the tank and was not reparable.... on the other hand a freind of mine had a cheap chinese ebay one and its been fine.

 

i dint think they really offer much improvement over a good 2 core rad, and IMO if your having cooling problems from a hightly developed engine your best looking at a front rad.

Not running yet, but when is will need a new rad so just wanting heads up on it before get one, there's a lot of alloy ones that are cheaper than a good 2 core at mo and look good, so another reason for me considering,

[Midas Mk1]

My thermex one cools so much better than my minispares supercool 2 core rad ever did. Run a Chinese one on my MPi too..

[country clubman]

My thermex one cools so much better than my minispares supercool 2 core rad ever did. Run a Chinese one on my MPi too..

Where do you get thermex one from and hows the Chinese one perform?

[cian]

I've had a Chinese rad in my mpi for 5 years with no issues! The quality may not be to everyone's standards but it was cheaper if I remember than a genuine standard rad and it was delivered in under a week if I recall

[Magneto]

Add me to the list, this is the second car I've installed a Chinesium radiator into, both have worked a treat with no issues. I buy the ones with the threaded plug in the bottom in case I want to run a thermo switch, or just to drain the radiator. 

 

It get's hot here in summer, as much as 40*C  for weeks at a time, these seem to keep the temp right where it should be but both my cars have run a bit too cool in winter.

[minisilverbullet]

I have a Alloy rad bought from a Chinese ebay seller. 

 

Was really cheap and works totally fine. 

 

I did have to modify my cowling a fair bit as the welds were so large. 

 

Here is an excerpt from my build 

 

 

Alloy "chinese" radiator arrived today, after my initial inspection i was fairly impressed with it. However the cowling didn't fit over it, it fouled in various places. Meaning the bolt holes would never line up. 

 

 

 

 

 

I was felling brave, so I set about the cowling with my new angle grinder. First time I have ever used one (so i was fairly cautious)

 

removed the top lip:

 

 

 

trimmed around the corners:

 

 

 

And…….

 

 

 

Hopefully there is enough clearance for the fan…...

[Dusky]

Remember to use the right coolant with them too.

[country clubman]

Ok thanks for info on these.

[Magneto]

I'm surprised you had to do so much modification on yours minsilverbullet, mine fit right out of the box. I did have to make a small notch in the front wing for clearance tho......

 

Any modern antifreeze should work as practically all engines are aluminum or have aluminum radiators anymore. 

[HUBBA.HUBBA]

I got a minispares one on mine, to be honest didn't notice any difference between that and my old minispares 2 core sports rad. No mods required amd I'm sure the price has come down since I bought it. Looks nice and shiney though.

[mini-geek]

Just been looking at the Fletcher ones on eBay, about £85..

Thinking of adding one of those to the many things I've bought this winter

[Midas Mk1]

 

My thermex one cools so much better than my minispares supercool 2 core rad ever did. Run a Chinese one on my MPi too..

Where do you get thermex one from and hows the Chinese one perform?

 

 

Originally direct from them, but think Minispares stock them now. Well worth it, and in the summer an export spec fan helps on high tuned engines, mines putting out 110+ so needs all the cooling it can get come summer. 

 

Chinese MPi rad is great, fitted well and is thicker cored than the original MPi unit. 

Edited by Midas Mk1, 14 January 2017 - 08:09 PM.

[the.stroker]

My minispares rad has been fine, coming on 2 years of competition use with no dramas