Aluminium v S/S radiator.........?

[V8Smith]

My radiator has a hole in it so need to replace it ASAP, the aluminium one I have is £485 ouch.....? A S/S one is only £230 on an exchange deal?

But what is the difference in performance between the two and how much more does the S/S one weigh?

Thoughts would be appreciated?

Cheers

Mike

[GreenV8S]

Never heard of stainless rads, sure you have got that right? The standard ones are normally Cu/Brass, aftermarket 'uprated' ones are typically aluminium alloy of one sort or another.

[Pies]

Can you get alloy ones recored ?

[V8Smith]

I thought that Peter, it was Tower View that said that, maybe they meant just steel?? Whats the difference between a standard rad and an Aluminium? Need to get it sorted tomorrow so thoughts appreciated.

Cheers

Mike

[Pies]

Ally more efficient

[johns3]

alu can transfer heat more efficiently and may be as much as 15-20% lighter (at a guesstimate) but double the price! ouch indeed! If your running more power than standard in your engine its gonna run hotter so you may notice the engine getting hotter if you go to a standard rad. If you only have light tuning (e.g. exhaust, induction) then go to a standard radiator. Just make sure your fan kicks in ok. You can spend £50ish and get a spal fan added to the back of your rad if you need extra cooling. I did this on a previous car and it was great. Theres plenty of room on the back of the rad.

[V8Smith]

johns3 said:

alu can transfer heat more efficiently and may be as much as 15-20% lighter (at a guesstimate) but double the price! ouch indeed! If your running more power than standard in your engine its gonna run hotter so you may notice the engine getting hotter if you go to a standard rad. If you only have light tuning (e.g. exhaust, induction) then go to a standard radiator. Just make sure your fan kicks in ok. You can spend £50ish and get a spal fan added to the back of your rad if you need extra cooling. I did this on a previous car and it was great. Theres plenty of room on the back of the rad.

Yeah Ally red is £480 and standard is £235 quite a difference. Fan works fine and I also have a manual override on it for keeping cool in traffic if needed?

Cheers, might be worth going for the ally Rad for the sake of £200

Later

Mike

[honourablepickle]

for what it's worth i've not had much luck with ali rads over the years - they have a nasty habit of cracking around the hose tubes if there any weight on them or if you have a lot of vibration
just for info aquarads made me a big core rad with 50% bigger tanks for my old TR8 in brass - cost was £320 with built in fan mounts and tapped for temp sender and fan switch - cooling was up by around 25%
that was 2 yrs ago
reb