31 replies to this topic

[maggies_minder]

i think the overall concensus is that this "cheap chinese" radiators seem to do the job,
obviously if you planning on some kind of hyper speed mini then a performance version is necessary but thats to be expected anyhoo.

id give one of these a bash for the money.

[Darkscamp]

This is like the one i got from a different ebay seller. Unfortunately the exact one i got from NutsMotorsprt in China is out of stock but this one looks very similar and has the fan switch hole. Even if you dont need the fan switch, it makes a very useful way of draining the rad as it comes with a blanking plug. I went for the metal blanking plug one as i wasnt to keen on the plastic wingnut ones.

Linky


Oh and on my recomendation there are now a few turbo minis running the rad the same as mine with no problems so they are up for some hammering . We are fitting one to a blowthrough supercharged 1380 early next year and i trust them

Edited by Darkscamp, 20 December 2010 - 11:33 PM.

[leaky]

I bought one of these. I'v not fitted it yet but for some reason the threads the bolts go on to seem crap. So I really dunno how I'm gonna fit it. Maybe I just got a dud one or something. I hope I can sort out a way of fitting it other wise it was a waste of £60.

Throw the original ones away and use new m6 bolts, all will fit easily this way. I had to open the fan shroud holes up very slightly, but the slight extra work was well worth it.

Cheers for that. I'll give it ago. What length M6 bolts did you buy?

[cambiker71]

I bought one of these. I'v not fitted it yet but for some reason the threads the bolts go on to seem crap. So I really dunno how I'm gonna fit it. Maybe I just got a dud one or something. I hope I can sort out a way of fitting it other wise it was a waste of £60.

Throw the original ones away and use new m6 bolts, all will fit easily this way. I had to open the fan shroud holes up very slightly, but the slight extra work was well worth it.

Cheers for that. I'll give it ago. What length M6 bolts did you buy?

I have them as spare in the workshop so just cut some long ones down with a hacksaw to make them the right length, I'd guess only about 7mm, just long enough to reach through a washer then the fan shroud with only enough thread to hold them in place, don't have them too long or they'll touch or even hole the radiator cores!!

Edited by cambiker71, 21 December 2010 - 09:53 AM.

[leadly]

Had these in my watch liston ebay for a while. Will deffo be getting one for my highly un-modified 998!

[WRLondon]

they do a good job
the welds arent perfectly finished but other than that great!

one major issue
being they arent uk UNF thread
but chinese common thread, so mine has been rethreaded for the proper thread lol!

[leelee2]

ive got one on my 1340 and it works really well. looks great too.
took just over 1 week to come.

[maggies_minder]

im almost definately going to get one of these over the coming weeks,
but i have one question...

i have a 94sprite which has the auxillary fan in the inner wing, now the plan is to rewire it to a switch inside the car so i can turn it on manually as i dont think it works at the moment.

so if i do the above i take it id no longer need a rad with the sensor mount on the bottom, front side of the rad?
and i could just use a standard one?

cheers.

[Mini Mad Drakeley]

i got one of the rads and found the same problem with the threads, i just re-tapped the threads already in it to be slightly bigger and the original screws go straight in, unfortunately when i put one of them in the head shreaded off and left a perfectly flush with the welded nut thing, dont know how il get it out if i bother, i might just bdrill another hole on the cowling and re-tap another of the nuts and use another screw thing lol but apart from that they seem quite good quality, the welding isnt perfect but it doesnt need to be to hold it together though lol and it has a draining plug aswell which the original radiators didnt

[freshairmini]

I have one toooo

They are very good price and hold the water so pretty good alternative is you've got the cash to spare, also when you order they give you a tracking number so you can follow its progress which is nice.

But as a few people found the threaded holes for the rad cowling are pretty poor and they dont fit the original bolts.
I also found on one they flooded the hole with weld so I couldn't use one. But I just forced the bolts in ...I prlly will come to regret that

[jamie@thefatgarage]

The expensive ones are better made, but the chinese ones I've seen are perfectly good and about 1/4 of the price. I have one and it's fine. The reason they are cheap is not all down to materials or quality. The main reason is welders in china will work for the proverbial bowl of rice a day and over here they want real money.

[sx_turbo]

i got one,

the reason being i work at a motorfactors and even our cost price was dearer than what 1 of these rads cost including postage, and they wont rot.

it turned up super quick which was impressive, but

the rad was warped slightly, and as you say the bolt holes for the cowling were in metric, i also had to redrill the couling as the holes didnt line up quite as they should,

it did fit in the end and to be fair didnt really take to long to do the modifications, the welds seem to be spot on, and it does look nice,

you can see why it's cheap, and to be fair when your on a budget you dont mind a bit of poor qaulity as you kind of come to expect it, as long as the radiator core works as well as it should all should be good,

while i'm here i'll make a complaint about the price of uk based radiator prices................... quite frankly uk prices are ****, yes the qaulity is slightly better but its not a great deal better and certainly nothing that cant be worked round.

[Cian 'the pain' MPI]

Got one for my mpi, perfect fit! Not the greatest welding but looks awsum!

[maggies_minder]

im almost definately going to get one of these over the coming weeks,
but i have one question...

i have a 94sprite which has the auxillary fan in the inner wing, now the plan is to rewire it to a switch inside the car so i can turn it on manually as i dont think it works at the moment.

so if i do the above i take it id no longer need a rad with the sensor mount on the bottom, front side of the rad?
and i could just use a standard one?

cheers.

anyone??
how hard is it to rewire to a switch?

[Tamworthbay]

Without wanting to upset any Uk makers who may look on here. One of our sponsors works as a race engineer at a major (well the biggest anyway) motorsport company in the UK and he came to a recent show with us. His opinion was that the chinese ones were 97% as good as the uk one and plenty up for the job. The only thing he couldn't understand was the price of the uk ones as he buys F3000 ones for less! Guess what - we are going chinese. I hate to do it as i wanted to be 100% British but its not possible at the price.