Woodsport Mk1 aluminium radiator upgrade

[Paul Woods]

Hi chaps, as you know i am in the process of completing my mk1 V8 project.Part of that project also involves ripping the stock radiator out and upgrading it.Now the stock mk1 rad works fine for 4age cars, and indeed it copes ok with 3sgte and even v6 engined cars, but we have noticed that the fans come on far more regularly with one of the bigger engine swaps.Indeed you may notice the fan on a v6 mk1 kicking in and out quite a lot over a short period of time.What this tells us is that, while it works, it is on the edge of its capabilities.Certainly with my v8 i know for almost certain that my stock rad is just not going to cut the mustard.

Also the new batch of 2gr Mk1's may also benefit from this upgrade, only time will tell on that.Bottom line is upgrading is always better, even if you think it's not a necessity.

So the radiator upgrade i have planned is a much bigger version of the Mk1 rad, it is 100% aluminium, and VERY thick cored... the stock rad is about 30mm thick, this new ally one is 50mm thick and has much freer flowing cores.This will vastly reduce back pressure build up on the pressure cap under hard acceleration.It is also a nicely TIG welded work of art, i definately won't be replacing my plastic top cover with this fitted!

Price is still undecided as yet, i need to finalise the bracketry and any other mods that will need to be done but i am hoping to make this a DIY job at home.Hopefully i can supply the radiator plus everything required to make it bolt on for under £250.

At the moment this is a Mk1 only upgrade, but i will be working on mk2 and mk3 versions very soon.

I will update this thread as it happens. :thumbsup: