Replacement radiator

[colonel mustard]

Evening all,
I have an original Coventry radiator overhauled and recored last year and it was ok albeit a leak from the drain plug. When I pulled the engine out at Christmas I had the drain plug sorted, radiator was flushed and pressure tested and all ok. Finally reinstated the engine after a full rebuild, again and all was working fine until a I spotted a leak from the bottom of the core. Now I have to pull the radiator out and looking to by new (not original I know but fed up with issues) so reading through the forum it appears the below radiator might be ok? Any negative comments on this at all?

http://www.minispares.com/product/Class ... 0to%20shop

Look forward to your thoughts
Happy Easter all!

[Peter Laidler]

Couldn't you just get the people who fixed it RE fix it, properly this time? You're taking it out of the car anyway

[colonel mustard]

Thanks Peter
Yes I will probably send back but starting to loose faith tbh! I have a rolling road booked in for the end of the month so need an alternative to keep within timescales (ideally)
I hear varied reports on the new stuff but having something that will work straight out of the box is preferred.
Hope that makes sense?

[Terence]

I’ve been using the MS Super 2 core you linked for years ,works excellent.
I was not fussed about period correct, but did want something that worked in the very hot summer heat that occurs in my location.
I recommend these to all the local mini enthusiasts.
Edit: you will need metric fasteners for the shroud, and they will need to be shortened. 8mm IIRC

[colonel mustard]

Thanks Terence
Do you have a photograph with it installed at all? Ideally something that looks similar to what I have would be a bonus!
Thanks again for the recommendation

[Fanfaniracing]

Hi!

I use this 2 Core Radiator for some years now and it works well.

I had Problems in the beginning with overheating but this was mainly caused by the inefficient 4 Blade Fan and a soiled engine Block.
Most of the time it's not only the Radiator causing Overheating, a rusty soiled Block can hardly transfer the Heat to the colant and cause engine troubles.

I flushed and treated the Cooling System serval times with a special product and since rusty coolant is history.

Can post a picture of the Radiator in place shortly as i will take the mini to a Run this afternoon

[kit of bits]

I’ve used minispares 3 core rads on my last 3 projects and they’ve all worked well
D

http://minispares.com/product/Classic/C ... o%20search

[Fanfaniracing]

Here's mine

DF124892-B082-4A39-AED8-F316CB88B323.jpeg

[Terence]

Thanks Terence
Do you have a photograph with it installed at all? Ideally something that looks similar to what I have would be a bonus!
Thanks again for the recommendation

Here ya go.

[colonel mustard]

Perfect, thanks all,
Looks like on the 2 and 3 core it’s a cooper S style hose required?
By the looks either the 2/3 core are an option and both equally as good?
Looking through previous threads it looks like quite a few are using the 2 core.
This is to go onto a 998 mk1 cooper, stage 1 and ported head, circa 60bhp - which one would you choose? Equal performance? Same cost as well (with a few pounds) it also mentions possibly re drilling the two piece cowl to fit the 2 core but fits ok on the 3?
Thanks in advance

[Spider]

It irks me to say it, but all the Copper Mini Spares Radiators I've had that I bought over about a 4 - 5 year period all leaked (that's about 9 or 10 radiators off hand). Some out of the box, some soon after. None leaked from the joints, I found the cores in them VERY light in copper thickness and on comparing weights, they were less than half the weight of the original cores. All these leaks were from the tubes themselves cracking. I also found the sides on them very thin and break in short time.

I now have the firm who used to manufacture them for our local factory make new cores for me.