Sunday 3 April 2016

Polo radiator install completed

The Mk1 brackets left the radiator hoses a little low, bottom hose only just clearing the steering rack gaiter and top hose not quite right either.

Brackets

The adjustment I decided on was add some box section on top of the angle to lift the entire radiator up about 1". Majority of the weight should be borne by the original side brackets rather than directly through pop rivets.

I'm guessing the filled radiator weighs 6kg or so - hopefully the aluminium is up to the job of securing it while in motion.

The Polo radiator sits on top with its mounting lugs sitting in grommets in the tube. 

Fan sitting on the bottom tube and mounted to the rad tapped mounting points with cut down M6 bolts. With hindsight if I had mounted the fan on the bottom edge of the mounting tube, the top edge would have lined up with the  top of the radiator. I may need to add a baffle in there later so the fan airflow is all ducted through the matrix.

Pipes

I feel happier with the plumbing now:
    - Top tube kink/crank is just rotated to line up,
    - Bottom stainless tube shortened plus a 45ยบ silicone reducer,
    - Radiator 8mm take off blanked off with some silicone pipe and a bung
    - Radiator middle/thermostat outlet blanked off with the bung that came with the rad

There is a slight bend in the, supposed straight, top radiator silicone connector - time will tell if that causes a problem.

Checked for leaks first with the 'patent air pressure kit' then filled with coolant and ran the engine up to temperature until the fan kicked in a couple of times.

All looks good. Happy with that.

Update - 100 mile ish test run around Kent varied driving, motorway, A roads - all seems stable so far.

No comments :

Post a Comment