The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hello, on the tdcir2009 topic there were some pics of the ford rad of Adrie van Zanten. Here some pics and partnumbers.

1. Radiator is from a ford fiesta 1.8 diesel airco Valeo part no. 730484 and costs in Holland about 100 euros so that must be around 85-90 GBP.

2.Upper waterhose is a Gates 50-1298 and comes from an Hyundai Exel 1.5L '94-'96.

3.Thermoswitch is a Facet 7.5146. Lucas no SNB793 and comes from a Volvo 340/360. This type of switch Facet has a whole serie of different temps so you can choose your own switch on temp but the 7.5146 is ok. This one switches when the gauge is between middle and fourth line and switch off at one before middle.

4.V-belt for alternator use only is Gates 6210MC. Cranckshaft pully and alternator.

5.Derale electric fan 16612. This a 12 inch one and blows two times more then kenlowe.

6 Intermediate piece fot switch is a piece of exhaust Bosal 265-932

When starting grind off all the plastic brackets. The plastic rad housing is thick enough to smoothen it.
The little pipe you saw off and plug it. I made a threat in it an loctite a plug in it. Housing is thick enough.
What normally the outlet plug is you can make a threath in it also and loctite a pipe in it. Adrie did not and it is not neccesary but if you want it original you can connect the little upper waterhose to it.

The original dolomite radiatorframe you can use. You have to make a new upper and lower frame but that is very easy. Weld a few nuts on the inside to mount the side brackets. You can also weld the fan brackets on these if you want.
The side brackets you have grind off all the original mountings and wled some new ones on it. The frame is now attached to the left and right bumperbracketbolts. You also have to modify the left bracket to accept the u shape of the Ford rad.

The rad is free in the frame and is locked up by a few little rubbers, made from petrolhose.

The upperhose can be fit. The lower you have to cut. This cut is about 15cm from the rad side. When fitting the Bosal pipe the original hose is long enough. In this Bosal piece you drill a hole and weld a nut on it. This is where you fit the fan switch.

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Dont suppose you'd like to make a few would you and sell them on to us? if so how much....

At the moment i'm restauring an old house what becomes my new property. The house looks like a dolomite carefully stored in a chickedshed for 30 years.....................

So not much time at the moment.

Jeroen

Brilliant stuff Jeroen and thank you.

I have rung around to day and the rad costs less than a recon Sprint rad. I have a mate who works for Ford so should get one at trade price(ish).

This is a brilliant and simple conversion and involves no cutting unlike the Volvo 740 rad conversion. You can re-use the original Dolomite tinware so underbonnet appearance is preserved. Best of all, the donor rad is cheap and available literally everywhere. Surface area is about 30% greater than standard and the rad is thinner so there is more room to work at the front of the engine.

Thanks again.

Thanks Jeroen and Adrie, that's a great help.

I spent some time searching yesterday without success, everything listed for 98 Fiesta D over here looks like this:

Not correct. I'm sure sure my local factors will be able to work their magic with your Valeo part number

Tinweevil

The thing I dont understand is the need for a Ford radiator in the first place. Surely, if you have overheating problems you have a fault. Fitting a bigger radiator just hides that fault. I think its far more important to make sure everything is in first class order, especially that the engines internal waterways are clean.

There are several Sprints in hot places such as Austrailia, seemingly working without problem. My own Sprints gauge only goes a fraction over half way, no matter how hard I drive it, even hot days in heavy traffic are no problem. In normal driving the gauge only registers a 1/3. The biggest problem I have with heat is fuel evaporation.

triplecustard wrote:The thing I dont understand is the need for a Ford radiator in the first place. Surely, if you have overheating problems you have a fault. Fitting a bigger radiator just hides that fault. I think its far more important to make sure everything is in first class order, especially that the engines internal waterways are clean.

I totally agree. I have made the waterway's bigger. I also have a "main headgasket" I alsway's use this one when rebuilding an engine. I put this gasket on the engine blok and grind the waterways like the holes i made in this gasket. Then i put this gasket on the head and grind also. Now i'm sure the waterway's do line up and are big enough. Not lining up is a common problem with heads and blocks from a dolomite.

But in the summerholliday's i go with caravan to italy every year. When towing a caravan in the mountains and the outside temp is 35+ degrees i'm very happy with this rad. For normal roaduse in Holland the electric fan does not even start.

When replacing the std one this is also a cheap alternative.

Jeroen Rothman

A very interesting conversion.

However.... Do you think this one would work as a totally aluminium version?

I quite like to the look of ally rads - more racy, less hassle.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nissens-Aluminium ... 286.c0.m14