Well I know which one's Knighty's first choice, but putting a few caveats on it might change that.

My original plan was to use the Alfa 33 Rad behind the engine - theory being that pipework-wise it'll fit easily and it should cool it fine as long as it gets enough air flow even if that means diverting extra air towards it.

However my old Fiat rad was of the pre-header tank variety. I'm pretty happy with that sort of rad if the Alfa will run with it as it avoids the need to run the header tank and associated piping - I'm a big fan of going for the simple solutions!

I'm off to trawl through a few radiator sites (God I need to get a life!)
But if anyone knows that I can't use that sort of rad or has an idea of a rad meeting the following please shout :

Depth : Max ~23cm
Height : Max ~42cm
Width : Not so much of an issue

Preferable hose diameters of 32mm for ease of fitment.

Cheers

Paul.

I used a Mondeo rad reason being it's a tidy looking rad, but more to the point some of them, obviously including mine has twin fans. If you wire it from a capilary thermostat straight to the fans they really kick. I paid 20 for a secondhand rad and fans, then when I'd got it fitted and working right I paid £40 and bought a brand new rad. Where for £60 can you get a better set up. Have a look at my pics.
The reason for wiring them straight to the fans is Ford run them through a resister, then if engine gets dangerously hot it'll automatically bypass it in a faint attempt to save the poor old Mondeo, for what it's worth. I personally would sooner it saved my Fug. I think when Ford designed the Mondeo they had the kit car market in mind, put the engine in your Westfield, the rad in your Fug, the stereo on Ebay and weigh the rest in. :D :D :D

I must say I found Ebay the best site for general rad pictures..........whatever rad you do go for, just be sure you use twin fans, then you cant go wrong.

also steer clear of round tube core rads, you want flat tube.

Well not much action, but a bit of thinking over the last few days!

Current plan is to go for standard Alfa 33 Rad. for ease of install.

But to avoid having the header tank use an an in-line filler neck in the top hose, if it doesn't work out I can always remove it and plumb a header tank in later.

Once I've got the rad here I'll see what size fans I can get on there! Aiming for two fans.

that rad looks real neat set-up, seems Alfa eventually made the jump to modern technology and started using the flat tube core, which I'm told is about 30% more efficient........the original job I had was from a 1.5 sud and was a hideous affair.......if my Vauxhall rad ever fails I will give one of those a go, its certainly a nice thickness at 35mm.......I think mine is only about 25mm

have never seen one of those in-line jobs used, certainly looks worth a try!......but dont forget why they call it an expansion tank........to allow the coolant to expand or contract against a sizable pocket of air........if you dont have this you run more risk of popping a hose off, so take care.

the advert says its 520 x 300 x 35.........so me thinks you will just be able to fit two 10" fans, that will be ample, if not use two 9", as I'm using two 9" fans, and it works fine.........beware, the fan measurements are always the blade OD dimension, so allow about 2" more for the housing OD........so prolly best go for 2 x 9" fans

Cheers for the thumbs up on the radiator Knighty - it's good to hear it looks OK, they all just look like big black squares to me :rolleyes: Will order it later tonight with a bit of luck.

The in-line filler is definitely a "try it it might just work", if not the header tank will go on - I just think they look damn ugly and need to mount in an awkward place for these cars.

Currently tracking down fans : think I've found a place that'll do a brand new pair of either 9" or 10" fans with the fittings to mount direct to the rad for £80 - and they're close enough to me to pickup. Trying to go for new stuff in an attempt to get a bit of reliability.

Not sure yet whether to go with an adjustable fan sender or just a basic one. Adjustable would be nice but it's something else to have to mount. Might go with a normal one and change it for a lower temp one later if I need to.

Edit : These are the fans I'm looking at, just realised the guy has "or best offer" - looking at some of the completed items I'll hopefully be able to get it down to £70 a pair.

they look exactly the same as the ones I got for mine. I got mine from china for £75.00 inc shipping. They work a treat. You cant go wrong.

yup, exactly the same as mine too.......but I bought blowers, but he still sent suckers........tyhey actually do both, all you need to do is either swap the motor polarity, or unbolt the fan and swap it round.

I wanted blowers as I didnt want the fans visible from the back of the fug, I think it makes it look like a washing machine!

I dont actually run a fan switch, I just turn em on and leave em on.........I got my fingers burnt using the alfa fan switch.......but an aftermarket kit car jobbie will work fine I'm sure........the trick is to use a fan switch with a relay, as the current draw from 2 fans is too much for the fan switch, hence you need a relay

Grrr...

Why put a 25 Alfa Rads on ebay with a buy-it-now with instant payment required when you don't actually have any at all :angry: :angry:

stotty1943 isn't my favourite ebay seller at the moment!

Oh well I have a few other places to phone tomorrow.

well check this out then!

heres a standard one exactly like mine

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vauxhall-Astra-GSi-R...t=1218806936421

or if you want new, this one looks like a direct replacement for above, I'm guessing its a standard rad fitment in many vauxhalls, as this says a 1.7 diesel astra van, but even from the pics I can see the ports are in the perfecto position for the alfa boxer

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vauxhall-Astra-Diese...t=1218807701435

Cheers for those links Knighty,

Hopefully though it's all back under control! Shame as that's a very nice price on the new Astra one.

I currently have a company called appliedradiators getting one in from "abroad" (I think that's where they speak "foreign" :P ) and it should be with me Thursday.

They've been pretty helpful so far - I'll post how it works out with them as if it arrives they appear to be cheaper/more reliable than ebay.

Just off to take a peek at the rad space again as Rhyannon's just told me she's with you on the "washing machine" look :rolleyes:

Well it's continuing well today, after the above post I had a quick peek on ebay and got 2 brand new 9" blower fans with fitting kits for £60

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...:MEWN:IT&ih=016

good choice sir - as a point of note, I have since made up a duct that spaces the fans about 20mm away from the rad core, then forces the air through a complete rectangle, instead of just the two circles, I worked out this gives 40% more cooling area efficiency.........you have to work on the principle that ram-air is going to pretty non-existent at the rear of the fug, for your particular set-up, so you must maximise the fans area.........sure enough, this has knocked about 10DegC off my running temp.

I got the blokes at work to make one outof poly-prop.......but something like a nylon tray from a kitchen or DIY store will do the job just fine........just dont forget to cut the two big holes :rolleyes: