Lowering The Radiator

[Dream Weaver 2]

Why bother having polished alloy there as well!!

 

And how much R&D is there in a straight piece of alloy with 2 holes

[Kitsune 0]

In answer to the question directed at me earlier, I have not quite L brackets coming off the lower crossmember, and the rad sits in that.

[Alex G 0]

i just used a tube of steel and two scrap pieces of metal and welded them together!

 

you could bolt it but then you would have to use a bar at the bottom and then it will probably show below the valence if you are trying to make enough room for a cossie cooler

 

its such a tiny bit of welding im sure someone local could offer. (As you can bolt the brackets to the car then just weld the tube to the brackets beforehand)

 

(Teknopug - i just noticed you are in london, so if you are close to me i dont mind doing it. As long as my welder isnt playing up!)

Edited April 25, 2006 by Alex G

[TEKNOPUG 3]

(Teknopug - i just noticed you are in london, so if you are close to me i dont mind doing it. As long as my welder isnt playing up!)

 

That would be a result! Do you need access to the car or could you fabricate it seperately?

[Dream Weaver 2]

Made a start on this last night (why does coolant always go down your arm/sleeve? )

 

Front end if off, so just weighing up what to do with the cowling etc. The std cowling brackets sit out from the cowling, so it may be possible to just cut them off then extend them down 4" with a bracket for each one.

 

This would keep the std cowling and fan placement, but just lower the rad. I would also need some brackets for the top of the rad to hold it in place - just some U shapes off the side part where the headlights are.

 

Going to weigh it all up tonight hopefully.

[Alex G 0]

i dont remember modifying the cowling but i do remember cutting up the valance alot,

i tried to keep it looking standard, and this pic shows my best efforts

 

[TT205 42]

Thinking about this - KevG ? used to sell a bracket(s) for lowering radiator, but it was about £50!

[Dream Weaver 2]

Managed to sort this over the weekend.

 

Bought some house hold radiator brackets from B&Q and some T shape wood brackets - total cost £7

 

Bolted the rad brackets together, and drilled them to hold the rad, then bolted the T brackets on the back and into the lower brace thing.

 

Works a treat, and is actually very solid - just need to mount the top of the rad to the fan cowling now and Bobs your uncle

 

I'll post some pics later on.

[Dream Weaver 2]

A few pics below of my weekend efforts Ignore the cardboard backplate template, I have an alloy one here but was using that to gauge bonnet clearance - by cutting the circles for the bodies off centre, it gives more clearance above

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tom_m 0]

job's a good'un mate! nice one

[Anthony 1,002]

Excellent - just the job for throttle bodies

 

(fancy making a guide for the main forum once you've finished and got the top secured and the radiator mounted?)

[Dream Weaver 2]

Yeah no probs, i've made a start on the guides for everything i've done so far (bike bodies, Emerald etc) so will add this to the list, and get them finished sometime soon.

[Kev-G 1]

You'll need to mount a fan (securely) and put a heat-shield between the rad. + the air filter.

[Dream Weaver 2]

Kev - the std cowling and fan/grill still fits in place so i'll use that.

 

The top third of the fan is above the rad but the rest is still in place and its only used on the rare occasion i'll be stuck in traffic.

 

The heat shield i'm still working on - I want some ally that fits over the rad and directs air into the filter, but need to work out how to mount it yet and how to bend it so it fits well - hopefully I can combine the heat shield, top rad mounts and air flow flap in one design.

[joris_andriesse 8]

Is making an heatshield out of Poly not an idea? It's only rad. heat we are speaking about. With poly it shouldn't be to fdifficult to make an nice 'inlet' for your filter.

 

Anyway, job looks great.

[tom_m 0]

The heat shield i'm still working on - I want some ally that fits over the rad and directs air into the filter, but need to work out how to mount it yet and how to bend it so it fits well - hopefully I can combine the heat shield, top rad mounts and air flow flap in one design.

 

what sort of thickness are you going to use? the ali sheet i've got at home will cut with tin snips and bend into shape by hand.

[Dream Weaver 2]

No idea yet Tom, will visit B&Q again this weekend for a look

 

The stuff you have sounds just the job though, so will go for something similar - like joris says, the rad heat shouldn't be too hot.

[petert 583]

I'm currently making something similar, but using a green panel filter (approx. 390x100x22) and 0.5mm stainless sheet. Stainless is a very poor conductor of heat. Aluminium is an excellent conductor of heat

[TT205 42]

Just trying to get my head round this - is there a reason you can't drop the fan cowling with the radiator so that the fan still hits square on to the radiator?

 

Is something in the way?

[16v205 9]

When I dropped my radiator I dumped the cowling and made a bracket to attach the pair of fans to. The bracket bolts to the front bumper support arms. They now blow central into the dropped radiator rather than just the lower half of the fan blowing over the top half of the radiator.

 

Rich

[Dream Weaver 2]

Rich, what did you do about mounting the grill with no cowling?

 

TT205 - I've kept the cowling as is so I could mount the grill as per normal and keep most of the setup std-ish - the fan is only sticking above the rad about 3" and I based the design on the DES developments bracket which keeps the std fan position.

 

The main problem with lowering the cowling along with the rad, apart from the grill mounting problem, is that you have to chop out the lower bar and re-weld it in place lower down which is a ball ache, especially as my front valance appears to be impossible to remove

[pug_life 0]

yeh i'm doing the full bar drop so will get some pics as i have to reweld it this weekend

requires more use of angle grinder and wire brush...

 

out of curiosity what have people done about the lower radiator pipe???

as the metal pipe on inner arch of O/S sits higher obviously...

[Dream Weaver 2]

I'm lowering the metal pipe tonight hopefully - if you take it off the chassis leg bit, there should just be enough movement on the hose round the back to swivel slightly thus changing the angle of the water pipe, and pointing it down towards the new rad position.

 

I'll then use some ally brackets to mount the water pipe.

[Robsbc 0 1 Cars]

yeh i'm doing the full bar drop so will get some pics as i have to reweld it this weekend

requires more use of angle grinder and wire brush...

 

out of curiosity what have people done about the lower radiator pipe???

as the metal pipe on inner arch of O/S sits higher obviously...

 

Revla who dropped the rad bought a rubber hose from Peugeot which is one continuous length and disposes of the metal pipe and the 2 short rubber pipes.

[DaveW 6]

Is that the hose from a tu engine 205?