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Best radiator to buy?


jp7

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Hi all, my triple pass caterham rad has started to leak and isnt much good at keeping the car cool in traffic so i was going to change it.

 

Options i see are Radtec or either of Caterhams standard rad with plastic headers or metal headers. Which is best for the job?

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Car is 210HP K

cheers

Jon

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Jon

 

Theres been a few caterham rads with the plastic caps leak so I'd stay away from that one. Radtec have two, the normal one and the extreme. They say the normal version is ok to 250 bhp so sounds perfect for you. The quality is great and they are up for a deal on the phone.

 

Jason

 

 

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I was thinking the Radtec as well, looks a bit more substantial. Should it be mounted on bobbins like the original caterham one? I wonder if the reason my triple bypass has leaked is cos' its attached directly to the chassis.

cheers

Jon

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My little Sigma 150 had a standard ally & plastic rad which leaked. Being a nosey sod I phoned the previous owner, who was most helpful in telling me that he's had the rad replaced twice before I'd got the car (via CC south).

 

Following so tooing and froing with CC and a good chat with Kevin and the fellas at CC South (helpful bunch *thumbup*), it now has a R400 all ally rad in with a monster fan to keep it coooool.

 

Personally I'd steer clear of the Plastic/Ally combo job.

 

Mike

 

07 Plated RoadSport SV 150 in Red with Black nose band and stripe

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New Fan & mounting brackets (from CSR 260 if I recall) were also required and a slight change to pipework (no auto bleed on the all Ally job).

 

Took Kevin and the boys at CC South about 30 minutes to do plus a 10 minute warm up to "test" for leaks. They even have the engine bay a quick check over & a clean *thumbup*

 

Mike

 

07 Plated RoadSport SV 150 in Red with Black nose band and stripe

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My radiator is still under warranty. Considering paying CC the difference between mine and the R400 radiator. This is likely to be cheaper than opting for the Radtech option.

 

Any views on which would be the better solution?

 

atlast

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As you know I went down the CC route as we came to a compromise, in my view you paid CC for the 7, so they owe you a fix under their warranty, either with another plastic and ally job or see if you can get them to sport the cost of the plastic and ally one off of a new R400 one. If you don't get them to fix it, you've wasted your hard earnt £'s (cant find the cost of your exisitng one on line at the mo)

 

All IMHO of course

 

Mike

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Update - CC will replace my existing radiator under warranty (of course!), will also upgrade to the R400 version for a further £70 ish including some brackets.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Mike - I will go down this route.

 

They are out of stock though! Do you think I ask them for the coolant I have lost too??

 

Garth

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I don't recall if I was charged or not, but I do remember them asking me to have a spare bottle of coolant just in case one I'd been for a run it needed a top up (it never has), a 1l bottle was about £1.50 from the motor factors

 

Just be careful as (on my Sigma based SV) I needed new mounting brackets for the bigger fan that the new Rad needed - both of which they tried to charge me for even after I'd had a formal price for the job - they soon relented thou *thumbup*

 

Mike

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Rattie - which Rad is that?

 

Every rad I have ever fitted to our car has ended up leaking where the core goes into the side bits - both CC and Radtec - that one in your pic is different in that it has a 'top' to it - previous ones I have had have just had two upright left and right, with the core inbetween (if that makes sense) which I thin allows the core to flex and fret where it enters the sides, hence leading to leaking.

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Had/have the same problem as Angus with my side to side oriented Radtec. It developed pin-hole leaks (in 3 places) where matrix meets side channel/resevoir. I'm currently playing around trying to seal it with LIQUI MOLY goop [mfr claims product is suitable for aluminium radiators].

 

I know that RadSeal and similar products are panned on this and other forums but given that I would be replacing radiator anyway if it didn't work or radiator becoming blocked, I thought it to be worth a punt. It's work in progress but the radiator has not become blocked and 2 of the leaks have sealed over 50 driven miles thus far.

 

Mark

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For those of you who are thinking of buying a Redtec rad and have a Sigma engined car be sure to mention that you have an overflow pipe by the top outlet and they will fit the appropriate attachment.

here

I didn't and have had to send it back for them to do. My fault entirely but just thought I would mention it.

 

 

 

 

Edited by - TobyCoulson on 8 Mar 2011 03:03:06

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