Alternative radiator for Vitesse?

Dazzled by the lights of a car waiting to leave a side turning, I managed to plow into a flood last night at about 40mph. The fan lost a few vanes into the radiator so I need a replacement in a hurry. My choice seems to be 125 quid or so plus surcharge plus a couple of days for carriage or a trawl around the local scrapyard to find something that can be made to fit. Anyone had any luck fitting a radiator from a plentiful "modern" car to a Triumph Vitesse, GT6 or similar?

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke
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Willy - Canley Classics are doing a 10% off deal and I think they have rads in stock for a Vitesse. There was a guy recently on one of the lists who managed to make a Citroen BX diesel rad fit but I can't remember whether that was to a GT6 or a Vitesse.

Reply to
J

Go down to your local radiator repair shop and get them to recore it most manage a 24 hour turn around,cost circa 50 pounds depending on the local labour cost in your loca area.

Reply to
dilbert

90 + vat but as you say it is a next day service so definitely an option. Thanks for the suggestion.
Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Thanks, I didn't spot any discount on their website, but even with it, at 125 quid + postage both ways a local recore has to be a better deal.

Excellent, plenty of BX diesels around. Vitesses and GT6s are both listed as having the same rad so that's OK. First stop tomorrow then is the scrappy, followed by Serck's for a recore if the first comes up blank.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

In keeping with the BX, there was someone on one of the Triumph boards a year or so ago that had fitted a Pug GTi radon his Spit. Might even be the same as the BX one. Looked like it was meant to be there :)

Reply to
Stuffed

Bit of a puzzle this, I've just spent half an hour going through the local scrapyard's collection of radiators and bought one marked Cortina (Mk3 the bloke reckoned). An old Carlton (Mk1) would have fitted too but was a bit shallower. All the Citroen and Pug ones were wide and shallow with no chance of fitting. Unless they're shallow enough to sit _above_ the chassis members instead of between them? Anyway, I've got something that'll do and looks authentic, though I'd have prefered a modern lightweight type, so thanks everyone.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

I thought the GT6 rad was a different shape - taller and fatter - I'd double check that before assuming they are the same. Let us know how you get on

Reply to
J

I've just dropped my original one in for recoring after spending the evening reshaping the brackets on the Cortina one, slipping and making it leak like a sieve. One day I'll learn!

Anyone else having one of those weeks?

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

In article , J writes

Absolutely right. The Vitesse has a wide radiator mounted above the chassis rails, like the Herald and Spitfire. The GT6 bonnet line would make such a rad impossible to fit unless it was only 8 inches high. The GT6 rad fits between the chassis rails and has a slight swan neck on the cap to keep it within the bonnet bulge. It's also a good bit thicker than the Vitesse one.

Reply to
Robert Pearce

Nah, my Vitesse (Mk2) has a narrow radiator that fits between the chassis rails. I haven't see that many others but I'm sure they were all the same. The engine bay side valances bolt to the side of the rad, so would need modifying if it was wider. It's like these:

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are all Mk1s so perhaps mine has been bodged in the past.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Interesting. Both my Mk1s have had wider rads. I'll confess I didn't check the width against a Herald (or indeed inspect its location) because the car isn't here ATM, but it's definitely _NOT_ the same as the GT6 (which is here).

OK, I've just checked the workshop manual, and now I do remember more clearly. The Vitesse rad fits between the chassis right at the very front, where the rails swing outward, thus making the gap a fair bit wider than it is on the GT6. So I was wrong on one point, but J was definitely right about the two rads being quite different.

Reply to
Robert Pearce

That's a relief. I'm aware that my Vitesse has had the front few inches of the chassis replaced after a crunch and worried for a moment that someone had used the front off a different model!

Talking of worrying, I wish the guys who recored the rad had warned me to flush it out before fitting it. The residues from the flux or whatever they used produced a mayonaise far too similar to the effects of a blown head gasket for my peace of mind!

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

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