Andy1.thorogood Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Hi, hopefully somebody can give me some advice. I am building a 420 SV with a dry sump Duratec engine. I ve come to mount the oil cooler on the front of the radiator and the brackets are too short and are hard on the radiator edges therefore I can’t line up the holes in the brackets and the cooler. . The obvious thing to do is put a spacer behind the bracket mount. It needs approx 10mm but I am governed by the length of the radiator mounting bush thread so I think I can get 9mm on there and a nut and tighten it up without stressing everything too much. Doing this has the effect of moving the cooler about 12mm in front off the radiator. A big plant engineer friend of mine says the cooler needs to be tight on the radiator with no air gap as it will disrupt air flow. With my limited knowledge of the subject I’m unsure as to whether this is a massive issue or not. The car will do trackdays but will not be run competitively.Hopefully someone out there can advise me or offer a solution.Regards,a. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisC Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Sorry for being thick here, but any chance of posting a picture? I bet CC will have sorted this by the time you read this post, i.e. it's a wrong/faulty part or something, but for comparison have you checked out Marcus' 420 SV build blog. Lots of pictures of the rad and oil cooler setup, although I believe the cowling is no longer supplied.https://caterham420rbuild.com/2016/07/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 wonders of the world Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Unless your going to track the car the oil cooler is overkill and is not required anyway, and since CC omit a thermostat in their lubrication circuit I would leave it off in order to maintain the correct oil temperature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisC Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Considering it's a new build, and any deviation from Caterham standard spec will be rectified during PBC at the builders cost I would ignore that option (for now). Get the PBC and IVA done first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy1.thorogood Posted May 7, 2019 Author Share Posted May 7, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy1.thorogood Posted May 7, 2019 Author Share Posted May 7, 2019 Photos as requested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 wonders of the world Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Thats a pretty poor fit.... sure CC will provide the correct brackets for you thoughCooler is not even orientated the correct way either for maximum flow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vine Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Your radiator looks slightly different to the one in Marcus' blog. For example, yours has a wide ali border down the side. I'm wondering whether the overall dimensions are slightly different -- wider or deeper perhaps? I suggest you send your photos to Derek at CC. Certainly you don't want a gap between cooler and rad.JV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vine Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Thats a pretty poor fit.... sure CC will provide the correct brackets for you thoughAFAIK, there's only the one size of bracket for both SV and S3. Unless of course it's out of spec in some way...Cooler is not even orientated the correct way either for maximum flowWell, that's true, Neil, but it's the way CC has chosen to set them up for years now. My 2008 S3 is just the same Of course, the later cars have an underslung cooler. JV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy1.thorogood Posted May 7, 2019 Author Share Posted May 7, 2019 Thanks, yes have already sent them to Derek for a view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisC Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Yep that’s what I spotted as well. Looks like the rad spec has changed. Call Derek on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AG2728 Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Just completed my build this weekend so all still fresh in my mind. - Also a 420R.This was my oil cooler, having just been fitted, if it helps at all. I did need to space it out with washers.Do the brackets just need easing? I fitted the brackets to the cooler first and then the whole assembly to the rad and/mounting plate.I think something might have changed with the latest rads for these though, as the nosecone was a pig to fit as it fouls the top of the rad on the N/S. It will be going for its PBC with only 3x Dsus fasteners engaged. I can force it to accept all four but don't want to drive it with the rad pressed hard against the fibreglass and risk future cracks or spidering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 When were these kits supplied? They both seem to have the ‘old’ rad set up and not the cobbled together affair given to Ctrmint, (see many threads on that one!) using the race rad and bottom oil cooler.It’s almost as if they just ship out whatever they have in stock at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vine Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 Interesting. Those bobbins look longer than they used to be, too.@AG2728: Could you possibly measure a few things for us -- bobbin length (the rubber bit), rad width, rad height, rad depth? Many thanks.JV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy1.thorogood Posted May 8, 2019 Author Share Posted May 8, 2019 Kits were supplied in jan2018. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 CtrMint got his car October 18. His had the ‘upgraded’ 420 race rad and bottom fitted cooler and he had all sorts of issues getting it to fit, including getting the normal top hose to attach to the rad. At the time CC insisted that he couldn’t go back to the old system yet it appears that they have since done exactly that. Strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 FWIW, I still think the old system is the better option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vine Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 At the time CC insisted that he couldn’t go back to the old system yet it appears that they have since done exactly that. I guess that depends on whether AG2728's kit was post Oct 2018?JV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 Ah yes, I see Andy says the kits were delivered Jan 18.I misread that as 19 and assumed he was referring to the kits in this thread.He did say his was recently completed so didn’t occur to me that it would take over a year to build. That seems a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy1.thorogood Posted May 8, 2019 Author Share Posted May 8, 2019 Just to clear the time bit up ...mine is a retirement project and I had to take a break until this year :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AG2728 Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 HiJust got back from getting it stored away until the PBC early next month, so not immediately accessible at present to take measurements.My kit was delivered in July last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 The brackets on Andy's car look shorter than those on AG2728's and mine which is a 2015 R400D SV.The radiators are different though. Maybe a new supplier? Back in 2015 most of them seemed to leak; I had three and even then had to have the 3rd repaired myself, and if they've stopped fitting the cowl, then there's a lot different.This is mine, it all went together quite easily. The second image is actually a trial run without the cowl but with the too long flexi mounts that I was originally sent. The joining of the OC to the rad is the same, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisC Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 Much smaller rad bobbings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazio Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 Allegedly the longer bobbins provide more flexibility, trying to reduce shocks being transferred into the alloy rads causing premature failures.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 On my car it had to be the short ones because the gap is set by the position of the cowl and the rad. If you put longer ones on the rad/cowl moves forward and the cowl hits the ARB. Having said that, other than the leaks that were present on delivery, the rad has been fine. I wouldn’t have thought longer bobbins were strictly necessary for shock absorbing. Given that, as I’ve said, the first three rads delivered to me all had leaks from the off, I would think failures are more to do with poor quality than wear and tear, perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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