
Radiator bracket standard conversion to S?
-
- 998 Cooper
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 4:25 pm
Radiator bracket standard conversion to S?
I am in need of an S bottom radiator bracket - the last bit I need to get my car on the road. Rather than try to import one from the UK and waiting two weeks for it, I'd like to find out how similar the S bracket is to the standard 850 one (apart from the extra bend). Can one perhaps just bend an 850 bracket into the S shape and turn it into an S bracket or are the dimensions significantly different?


- Spider
- 1275 Cooper S
- Posts: 4805
- Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 6:10 am
- Location: Big Red, Australia
- Has thanked: 125 times
- Been thanked: 34 times
Re: Radiator bracket standard conversion to S?
There were at least 5 different off sets across those bottom brackets (all under individual P/Ns thankfully), there may have been more.
With one of our local suppliers, we looked at all these brackets and as best as we could determine, they were all bent up from the same stamping, so to answer your question, yes, I'm quite sure you can.
With one of our local suppliers, we looked at all these brackets and as best as we could determine, they were all bent up from the same stamping, so to answer your question, yes, I'm quite sure you can.
Last edited by Spider on Wed Jan 28, 2015 7:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
-
- 998 Cooper
- Posts: 583
- Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:51 pm
- Location: west country
- Been thanked: 38 times
Re: Radiator bracket standard conversion to S?
As Spider says, the blanks are the same. I've done a few of these:-
Increase the lower bend on the standard bracket to 90 degrees
Then make a second bend 1 inch above that and parallel to it, I forget the angle but if you mount the bracket to the motor it should end up vertical.

Increase the lower bend on the standard bracket to 90 degrees
Then make a second bend 1 inch above that and parallel to it, I forget the angle but if you mount the bracket to the motor it should end up vertical.

-
- 998 Cooper
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 4:25 pm
Re: Radiator bracket standard conversion to S?
Brilliant! Thanks a lot Spider and Bob for the replies & Bob for the very helpful picture!
- KA2S4
- 998 Cooper
- Posts: 342
- Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 7:27 am
Re: Radiator bracket standard conversion to S?
I have done this too and it worked well, the 2nd bend is not parallel to the 1st from memory though, so care needs to be taken getting it right.
J
J
-
- 1275 Cooper S
- Posts: 1285
- Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2010 11:55 pm
- Location: Tasmania, Australia
- Has thanked: 4 times
- Been thanked: 17 times
Re: Radiator bracket standard conversion to S?
I did some work on the radiator in my Traveller a little while ago. It was made all the trickier by the previous owner having thrown away everything (radiator, shroud and brackets). I sourced what I believed were correct parts for all of it, as well as a selection of alternative lower brackets from different models. None of them were a good fit. The radiator was always sitting too high and the fan blades were hitting the shroud. In the end I had to alter the bend on the 'original' bracket several times to get it all fitting nicely. Its a good fit now, but it was quite a lot of trouble to get it looking correct. Maybe even the correct brackets had a bit of slop in the tolerances.
Tim
Tim
1951 Morris Commercial J Type Van
1955 BSA C11G
1961 Morris Mini Traveller
1969 Triumph TR6R
1977 Leyland Moke Californian
1955 BSA C11G
1961 Morris Mini Traveller
1969 Triumph TR6R
1977 Leyland Moke Californian