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:

[Gouky]

that's a very decent price point. can we see some prototype pics? i'm very interested in this when you get to a MKII model.

[biteme]

Aye, I'll be in one for one of these, fitted, obviously :P

[Paul Woods]

Well the mk1 upgrade should look something like this...



It will probably mean me supplying two new front hoses that match up exactly and mounting brackets too.

The Mk2 version will be much more like the stock Mk2 rad except thicker, the outlets for that need to be in exactly the same place as they are now.

[Jim-SR]

excellent looking price thus far. Bill Strong did a group buy on the US MR2OC for $520 shipped to the UK, for basically a stock replacement with a 1.5" core. so £250 is very cheap indeed for what youre getting.

[Paul Woods]

Yes that's what i thought Jim, i won't be doing this with a view to making money, just covering costs and getting a good product that is a nice upgrade out there.

[snowtigger]

thats avery nice rad paul and a good price for an alloy rad as i was looking into a 4 core rad incoperating an intercooler rad and was coming up with some very expensive prices.

[Paul Woods]

Well i will reserve judgement on the quality until it is in my hands tiggs, but fingers crossed it will work out well.

[Gary Symons]

I may be interested in a mk3 version

[Diesel Meister]

Paul - I'm practically sold on this already. I want to get the main guts of the conversion work out of the way in one hit if possible. Happy to refine suspension, interior etc. later but want the driveline, brakes and cooling to be on spec right out of the traps.

So a fitted price would be good for my calcs :)