Do you have an aluminum alloy radiator in your X?

Chris Obert

Chris Obert

autocrosser, X driver
I am servicing a client's car that has one of those aluminum radiators, that were so popular on this forum, installed. Last week during a test drive it started leaking from the front right corner of the car. I discovered the o ring on the drain petcock has failed!

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I spent some time locating a replacement o ring that claims to be made to withstand boiling water and antifreeze. Had to buy a bag of them. Would not be a bad idea to carry a spare, as this could strand you on the side of the road.
I want to make a bit of profit and get my investment back, so for $5.00 you get one mailed to you in an envelope. If you order off my web store under 10286885, mention this post on xweb in the notes and I will refund the shipping the web store calculates when we process your order. Or, order one by phone or email.
 

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Chris,
Thanks for offering us the replacement O ring. I need to replace my radiator but at the moment don’t have the funds to do so. I will probably be purchasing a couple of those from you in the future (or shortly).
And a little profit never killed anybody unless you are the mob... then it could... I’m saying.
Thanks again,
Mike
 
Mike,
I have since discovered that adding a 14x18 copper ring between the bleeder screw and the rubber ring is required, so if you order mention you also want one of those. I have a pile of them for no charge (with the above purchase), until i run out...
Meanwhile if you have a radiator issue the only advantage I see in the aluminum alloy Chinese radiator is cost. The original radiator cools well, if it's clean. On my own car I would use the original radiator. But if your concerned about cost, you gets what's you pay for!!!

Thanks for understanding about profit. You would not believe how many folks thinks us vendors should sell them parts for less than what we paid for them... We need to make profit so we can continue to supply the parts for the cars we love!
 
Chris,
Folks forget that market dictates price. A lot of vendors forget that too but it is to a point. If a vendor doesn’t make enough to keep the doors open and provide for their family then there would be no incentive for the vendor to stay open. Profit is the incentive for a vendor and the reason for them to provide for us customers.
There are not a lot of Fiat/Bertone part vendors so everything should be done possible to ensure we take care of each other.
Let me get two from you for installation in my future radiator.
Would $10.00 do it with the copper ring?
I will PayPal you the money.
Thanks Chris,
Mike
 
Just out of curiosity, which brand radiator uses this? I have a Vicks Texas Heat that has no drain and I am looking to replace it....
 
Mike,
Got your order, thank you. The shipping will be refunded to your pay pal account, and the copper ring will be included (but not on the invoice).

Ecohen2,
Honestly, I have no idea what radiator Vicks is supplying. My client has the radiator that was offered thru this site years back, I think Matt took over the rest of the deal, but am not positive. I have only ever offered the original radiator, and I have sold a LOT of those...
The aluminum radiator I am servicing has the drain on the lower right side.
For my own curiosity, and since the Vick's radiator has only been offered for a few years, why is yours ready to be replaced already? Accident, or some other reason? I always like to hear from the trenches as that is where I do most of my work, so it keeps me informed as to what to keep an eye out for in the future.

And for the rest of you, the car I am servicing has the 1600 stroker crankshaft installed in a 1500 block. I offered these crankshafts years back (and still have stocks), and other vendors have also offered them. VERY impressive how much low end power this car has! Every 1500 SOHC engine rebuild that goes thru me from now on, will get this crankshaft "upgrade" suggested. Yes, it's more money, but the pleasure of an X that keeps up with, or pulls away from, the other traffic makes you love the car even more.
 
Chris Obert said:
Mike,
Got your order, thank you. The shipping will be refunded to your pay pal account, and the copper ring will be included (but not on the invoice).
Click to expand...
Chris,
I haven’t submitted an order, yet. Maybe a different Mike.
What is your PayPal account. I would like to send you $10.00.
Thanks,
Mike
 
Tavalin said:
Chris,
I haven’t submitted an order, yet. Maybe a different Mike.
What is your PayPal account. I would like to send you $10.00.
Thanks,
Mike
Click to expand...
Might be me. (Mike adams) I go by odie since '88 or so. Something about I bounce all over with caffeine like odie from Garfield and odie

Odie
 
Hey @Chris Obert the Vicks radiator is apparently leaking through the weld seams.. It isn't enough yet to prevent me from driving the car, but you can see the droplet and smell the coolant after a drive.. I had posted another note earlier about this and apparently it is not uncommon...

Ed
 
ecohen2 said:
Hey @Chris Obert the Vicks radiator is apparently leaking through the weld seams.. It isn't enough yet to prevent me from driving the car, but you can see the droplet and smell the coolant after a drive.. I had posted another note earlier about this and apparently it is not uncommon...

Ed
Click to expand...

Here is my experience with the first generation ...

I bought the first generation of aluminum radiator from Vick Auto in the winter of 2011 and I have the same problem as described by Ed ...
drop of refrigerant after a drive.

Furthermore the inlets and outlets doesn't have exactly the original size, they have 32mm (1 1/4) instead of 35mm (1 3/8).
Don't forget this is for the first generation of aluminium radiator of Vick Auto. I don't know if the new Vicks Texas Heat have the same issue about inlets outlets size.

Currently I am looking at the one proposed by Henk... to be continued.

Yves
 
Well, wonderful. I've got a Vicks aluminum radiator that's waiting to go in my Scorpion, but now I'm wondering if it's more trouble than its worth.
 
Hey all the Mikes, pay pal to fiatplus@aol.com works.

Sorry to hear about the welds leaking. Now I know where to look when one comes in. You could probably get a good welder to grind out the bad areas and reweld, but then the next weakest point would then fail.
 
Last fall, I got my original radiator rebuilt with an all copper core (including fins) for just a little more than one of those aluminum radiators. There is a factory in Benicia, CA that will turn around and build an X1/9 core in about 24 hours. I dropped my radiator off at what must be one of the few real radiator shops left in the area on a Monday and picked it up Thursday morning. I was originally planning on getting an aluminum radiator but as I read through the archives here, it became clear there could be issues with build quality, and fitment, not to mention electrolysis vulnerability with an iron block.
 
Chris Obert said:
Sorry to hear about the welds leaking. Now I know where to look when one comes in. You could probably get a good welder to grind out the bad areas and reweld, but then the next weakest point would then fail.
Click to expand...

After all the work on this car, last week there was a puddle on the ground under the left front... The aluminum radiator had started leaking at the weld junction near the lower hose outlet!
After discussing this new issue with the vehicle's owner, he felt that trying to get the alloy radiator radiator repaired seemed silly.
Now the car has the original stock radiator, after being rebuilt, installed.
 
I had one of the Chinese radiators that were initially made by a group purchase in this forum. It had a petcock on the lower right sealed with an o ring. I no longer own the X but the radiator performed very well for me. For a while I was dealing with air intrusion (unrelated to the radiator) and was impressed with how effective it was even with considerable air in the top.

My X was babied and only driven about 5-6k miles and a few years on that radiator and was very satisfied with it. However, I often wondered how well that o ring would hold up so this seems like a valuable solution from Chris if you have one.
 
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