SuperD Radiator Mount Problem

[EddieJ]

Ok our radiator has been on our minds for a while. When we removed it last October time during its strip down we noticed that the bottom mounting plate which should be riveted to the bottom section of the rad is holding on by what can only be described as rust, see the photos:







The rad core was good when we removed it as she was a running tractor and we drained all the fluid so we dont want to go down a new radiator route.
We have a local repair guy willing to take a look but on the phone he was tutting and 'hmmmn'-ing.
Any one made a fix for a problem like this before, we're considering a fabicated clamp/bracing of some sorts.

Thanks

[Bensdexta]

I suggest you phone Deeside Radiators, nr Chester who are ex Serck folk and rebuild quite alot of Fordson rads inc mine & do a nice job. They may have some original parts to repair yours with.
All the best

[john.n]

best i can think of would be pop rivit the mount plate back on then put some rad sealent in when you put it all back together. or after drilling the holes use some epoxy resin round the holes and rivit it all back together. al depends on how good the rivits are though.

[Tubal Cain]

Standard pop rivets have a hole straight through them, if you go down this route then you need the sealed type of rivet which is shaped like a top hat. The only problem is that they are aluminium and will probably result in electrolytic action between the rivet and the brass header leading to eventual failure.

Gerald

[john.n]

you could use copper rivits.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MAMOD-SPARES-COPP ... 2ea6bae360

these are designrd for repair of steam models.

[pjjms]

Stainless pop rivets are avilable

[tmc]

My dexta's rad mount is held with 5mm steel pop rivits ( Mole Valley Farmers if you have one near ) then the Vapormatic coppery
rad sealer that seems very good.

[EddieJ]

My dexta's rad mount is held with 5mm steel pop rivits ( Mole Valley Farmers if you have one near ) then the Vapormatic coppery
rad sealer that seems very good.

Thanks TMC. I knew someone here must have dealt with this before. How long have you run with your 'repair'? (<-- I'll resist calling it a cheap bodge as any bodge that works is afterall a repair!)

[EddieJ]

A quick update on this. Eddie put together some plates to fix the broken rad mount, they fitted tight enought so no fixing was nesasary:



However we water tested it and it leaked from a couple of places.

After pricing up a few replacement rads we plumped for a repair and recore from Loughbourgh Radtiators for £130. They did a good job and the mounting bracket is finally fixed and one more issue checked off the list.

[JC]

It looks good. Glad you got it fixed.
I used to have a friend that owned a radiator shop, so radiator repairs only cost me a couple of beers. He sold it a few years ago, so I've had to polish up my soldering skills.