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I`m looking at an Alfa 33 radiator at the moment, thinking it may solve the height issue?
Looks like I can pick up a new one on fleabay for about £50 which is only a tad more than what I got for an old spare vitesse one I had.
Not sure of any implications on doing this anyone have any thoughts?
It looks like it's 610mm wide by about 350mm high. I've just taken a few measurements from my vitesse radiator which is 500mm high by 450mm wide, while the mounting points are 500mm apart.
It looks like it would sort the height issue out, but how're you planning to fit a 610mm wide rad into a 500mm wide opening?
If you've got a simple solution in mind I'll be buying one of these myself!
Yep think Trev did fit a golf one, but without looking back, think he had some issues with the fan.
Yep that is the one I was thinking about ....Can`t see why I cant chop off the existing Rad mountings and fabricate some new brackets or possibly mount it further forward off the front bonnet hinge rail?.....I was going to have a measure and think this weekend......Some stainless rad pipes and silicone hoses mounted closer to the grille seemed to appeal.
I was looking at the Alpha one due to its reduced height...think the dims for Trev`s one were similar to the original so am guessing it sticks out the bottom like the other "dropped" originals?......The westcountry roads are so much better than ours cos they just have sheep and goats and things on them .....I can just imagine doing a nose over on all those bloody horrid sleeping policemen through Hales place and upto Kent uni
I've dropped mine and with a straight-6 there really i can't see much room to fit anything apart from the original either width or depth wise so height is all there is to play with. Unless you chop out the front cross brace, and i wasn't too keen on that.
But then again i don't expect to be taking it to the big-smoke and if i go fast enough i should be able to skim across all the ruts and dead sheep round ere like
This thread got me thinking and doing some measuring. I figured that given I'm going to slam my Spyder right down low, if I lower the original radiator it could end up fouling the speed bumps with catastrophic consequences.
It's nice and compact at about 360mm wide by about 430mm high and 24mm deep and if it'll cool a Honda 1.6 VTEC pushing out 170bhp it should do the job on the straight 6.
The Honda core size is 350 x 350 while the Vitesse is 400 x 400. Assuming the Honda rad doesn't have massively deep top and bottom tanks (which it doesn't appear to have from the diagram), this should give an extra 50mm (two inches) to play with height wise.
As Gary recommends dropping the Vitesse rad by 65mm the Honda one will only need to be about 15 to 20mm lower than standard.
I'd recommend a thorough flush of the cooling system and an electric fan upgrade (12" jobby about £25 from ebay) as the Honda core is only about half the thickness of the old Vitesse one, but I'm expecting new Japanese rad to be twice as efficient as old British rad.
When i get a chance i will post some more pics, took engine/gearbox out and the bulkhead. I will certainly be able to weld after this project... anyway pots are coked up, valves look stuck, pushrods were out of allignment, with one of them shaped like an 'S'... can't wait for next week to do some more.
Just received radiator, its very thin maybe i should of bought 2! very light, i think you could rest it on top of engine and there would still be a gap...
I know what you mean, I can't believe how light and thin it is.
I'm kind of hoping that modern materials and a far more efficient electric fan in place of the ancient crank driven one will keep the engine cool enough.
When are you going to get a chance to fit yours Gary?
It'll be a while before I'm ready to install and run mine, fingers crossed they're up to the job.
Don't wait for me, i'm watching you... still got to get everything off the chassis, shot bast and weld.
Ha Ha, ditto, although I'm looking to get the chassis finished and the engine back in and running by Christmas.
The dinky Honda radiator will certainly solve the space issue with a straight six fitted. I'm putting a heater in too so I'll have the good old Mini standby of turning the heater on full blast to keep the engine from boiling over.
It really is a nice, shiny rad for the price though.
Will report back once I've got it in and running, just don't hold your breath...
....Can`t see why I cant chop off the existing Rad mountings and fabricate some new brackets or possibly mount it further forward off the front bonnet hinge rail?.....I was going to have a measure and think this weekend......Some stainless rad pipes and silicone hoses mounted closer to the grille seemed to appeal. 
.....I can just imagine doing a nose over on all those bloody horrid sleeping policemen through Hales place and upto Kent uni 
