Rick,they are in mobile plant not defenders,cores simply crumbled out.We have changed from CAT OAT to Cummins across the board,even in CAT gear. Pat
Rick,they are in mobile plant not defenders,cores simply crumbled out.We have changed from CAT OAT to Cummins across the board,even in CAT gear. Pat
Try Auto Cool, Hall St, Yarraville 9362 7799 - they were recommended to me by Graeme at Brit Car Components. I didn't get a whole new unit but a brand new copper core for about $450. They do really nice work. I took the old radiator in to get rodded (for less than $200) when I replaced the head due to a gasket failure - but it was not up to scratch and had pulled away from the fins in places where it was over pressured - anyway, they were honest and upfront about the work. Now the TDI sits around the low 80's around town and fully loaded pushes to the mid 90's up the freeway hill to Ballarat. Always used to go over 100 before.
Just resurrecting this thread to add options here as I am radiator shopping. It kept coming up in my searches.
At the moment...
M&D Engineering in the UK are selling standard copper core radiators (BTP2275) for £105. Postage to rural QLD is £60. Total landed about AU$305.
Heavy duty 4-row copper from M&D is £195 with £60 postage, so landed about AU$470.
They have an eBay site:
RADIATOR FOR 300TDI STANDARD TYPE (BTP2275) | eBay
Cheapest recore I could find for my existing copper radiator (3 row) is $450.
Fenix alloy from Sydney local stock is $320 delivered.
Yours,
Andy
Finally had mine recored with a Redback core.
It uses 3 x 16 x 2mm tubes with dimpling to create turbulence in the coolant for better heat transfer, has 57mm core thickness and uses Redbacks CT finning which they claim uses the same fin design as they (PWR) use on their F1 and racing rads for better heat rejection.
Quinny the rad bloke fabricated a new divider plate and eliminated the bleed altogether, reckoning the larger volume tube size in the new core will allow the thing to bleed itself.
We'll see how it all works over the next few weeks.
What did it set you back Rick?. Pat
Forgot that, didn't I !
$550 Pat, the core itself was $350+
worth it if it works, will watch for eventual report
(facing a similar situation with my D1)
I hope to soon get around to organising a few bits to have the same effect as the "tropical mod" which could be quickly and easily installed into any 300Tdi radiator. Note how the hole needing plugging can be readily seen if you remove bottom radiator hose and drain coolant and also remove plug on top of tank. After dark, look down hole when plug removed while shining a torch into bottom pipe which bottom radiator hose attaches through. Can see a bit of light around edges of baffle plate but largely through hole maybe 14mm in diameter that needs blocking. Original top radiator plugs penny pinching Land Rover bean counters had installed and another the same on top of thermostat housing were plastic. If have not been replaced with a brass ones, they should be. Is not economy as they are prone to blow out, which can result rapid loss of coolant. Then a cooked motor if it is not stopped quickly.
I have a lathe and spare brass plugs (on which the thread is half inch British Standard Pipe) Intend to put a 6 mm threaded hole through the middle of one for this application.. Best way of drilling a hole in the middle of a circular object it with it in chuck and stationary drill in tailstock. Need appropriate size hole for tapping M6x1.5 thread into, eg 13/32 of an inch. I also obtained a short bit of aluminium rod about an inch in diameter. Intend to bore and tap an M6 thread up the middle of this and then turn a bit maybe an inch long down so that is maybe 18 mm diameter one end and 8mm the other. I also recently bought a piece of stainless steel M6 threaded rod. (About $5 for 1 metre) Can then screw it through this conical aluminium plug and secure it with a stainless steel locknut - maybe a nyloc one. Note stainless steel bolts, etc seem readily available in Shepparton which has food factories in the area.
This aluminium conical plug on the end of a length of stainless steel rod can be readily inserted into the unwanted hole, which is apparently there to allow water to escape upwards if in vary cold climate radiator freezes. Expands as it turns into ice. This is not a problem in Australia but having hot water going straight from the top to the bottom tank bypassing the radiator core makes overheating more likely under hot conditions..
The axis of the thread of the top radiator plug is out of line with the hole down in the middle of the tank that needs plugging. Therefore it is not possible to have one end of a single piece of threaded rod though the brass plug the other though the tapered aluminium one that goes partly through and blocks the unwanted hole. Anticipate solving this with a short piece of threaded rod in the brass plug, a long one in the tapered hole blocker and making a crude universal joint by bending ends of the threaded rods into interconnecting eyelets using heat.
Adjustment of the threads would be partly trial and error. Would be necessary to have tapered plug starting to enter unwanted hole before threads of brass plug start contacting. When brass plug is screwed right in, best adjustment would be having the tapered plug just "bottoming" in its hole.
Anyway, I think this proposal is worth trying in preference to having the top radiator tank removed and replaced to do the "tropical mod" If not done right first time, the latter could cause more problems than it is worth.
not knowing your location ...
Bendigo radiators has been well known for quite a while in this department.
From memory close to $700 though for the HD 4 core(76mm core) type!
Hope that helps.