Marina 1300 radiator upgrade?

[da55ter]

Looking to fit an ally rad. Anyone know of any that fit, or at least a car that has similar sizes? I'm willing to modify any brackets etc for fitment. Chrers

[david painter]

Never explored the ally option on my car had a triple core from a Sherpa put in my 1300 frame modified the tank ans soldered in a brass boss below to hose and fitted a electric fan switch from a Peugeot cools fine and looks original.
Dave

[MarinaCoupe]

Ally radiators are good for bragging rights down the pub, but unnecessary on a 1.3 engine. As David says you can get your existing radiator recored by any competent radiator repair company (it’s what I have done) and it will work out significantly cheaper.

Consider this though, if you have a super efficient radiator, the heater unit will never get hot in the winter and both your windscreen and your feet will never thaw out. It’s one of those cases where more can be too much.

[PHUQ]

I don't think the 1.3s tend to run particularly hot anyway do they?
I got my 1.8 radiator recored with a 3 row Sherpa one but a standard radiator in good order should be fine really.

[david painter]

The other thing I did at the same time was remove the fixed fan and fit electric only pusher fan. and fitted the cowling from a Ital the fits in the space forward of the radiator. I ran it to the Champane Region of France in September 2018 with ambient temperatures in the high 20's without any sign of overheating and fan only cutting in when stationary or slow moving traffic
Dave

[da55ter]

Thank you all for the advice. Didn't even consider the repair route. The rad 8s quite bad. So just figured replacement would be best. And with regards to heating. Itll be more a once a month driver , so heating wouldn't be a major concern. I'll have a look along the repair route. Thanks again

[ScreamingLordStokes]

I"ve recently had a 1.8 radiator recored with a higher fin pitch ratio, same as a Dolly Sprint rad.
Only cost £25 more than standard and will be more efficient but shouldn't overcool the engine.
Apparently there are only two places left in the UK making cores suitable for classic rads. The alternative are cores made in India of dubious quality.

[balmy]

I’ve never really understood the ‘over cooling’ fear.
Surely if you have the correct thermostat ( and it works correctly) it can’t be over cooled?

[ScreamingLordStokes]

I suppose it could be an issue in the winter when doing short journeys or stop start driving making deliveries etc, hence the practice of fitting radiator blinds (or tin foil and cardboard). We have modern vans at work that hardly ever reach the optimum temperature in the winter months and it's a problem trying regenerate the DPF as the engine needs to be fully warmed up before it can be done. This is even worse on an old car as the fan is in constant use.

[david painter]

I cant see the logic behind the Over cooling theory! That is why the car has a Thermostat fitted. Its function in the cooling system is to keep the engine temperature at a minimum ie a 88 deg thermostat will open at 88 deg below that it is closed and no circulation takes place so does not matter what size the radiator is. Older engines do take longer to warm up over modern engines due to the material they are made from and the capacity of the cooling system. It is also a good practice to remove the engine driver Fixed Fan as the is only needed in slow/stationary use when under bonnet air flow is unavailable once on the move it is useless other than taking 1 -2 BHP to drive it for no gain.
Dave

[trunnions ftw]

Thermostats are fairly sluggish in reaction to temp and are variably open over a temp band as a sort of crude damping effect.
When faced with cooler coolant they just end up sitting slightly less open but it's enough that the running temp drops a smidge albeit with an absolute minimum temp where they don't open at all but by then your probably in the Arctic with a frozen radiator.