Radiator recore???

I had my Boxer recored at Sims Radiator in Clamblee/Atlanta a couple of years ago for about $300 as I recall . I had them recore it with a heavy duty core that helped cooling substantially. The Sims Chamblee location has been rebuilding Ferrari radiators since the 275 was a new car. www.simsradiator.com

 

My 328 is usually serviced at Maserati St. Louis. When my radiator had a small leak, the dealer took it out and I brought it to a "generic" radiator shop
(I know them) and paid $75. This was back in July this year. My car has been leak-free. Unless they're gonna do all the work (including installation), $300
seems fair; but just re-coring, sounds like too much (based on my experience).

 

mjames, I had my 308 radiator rebuilt this past spring by a local shop to fix two leaks at the seam between the tank and the core. He unsoldered the top and bottom tanks cleaned, rodded and bead blasted everything, and soldered it back together. We did not have to replace any parts. He did say it is a tricky job because of the construction, and how close the tubes are to the edge of the tanks (it is easy to mess up the tube joint). Working perfectly - 4 hrs labor @ 60/hr $245.00 If you have to drop in some parts your guys are not so far off.

 

Sounds about right, in the ball park. You might be able to save a couple of buck by shopping it around, but you're better off paying a little more if it's a quality shop. Ask them if they can use a high efficiency core. It will buy you more cooling for the same thickness.

 

I think you'd be much better off putting in an aluminum radiator. It is lighter and runs cooler, particularly if you do any track work. QV London will help you get one. Ask for Phil.

 

Aluminum is lighter, but brass dissipats heat much better than aluminum. The reason an aftermarket aluminum radiator outperforms an OEM unit is because it has more cooling fins, not because it is made of aluminum. A brass radiator with the same number cooling fins will outperform an aluminum one. Plus having your OEM radiator recored will keep it original for concours purposes or just because original is better IMHO.

 

I had Ron Davis of Arizona fabricate an aluminum rad for my 308QV. The work was excellant. I understand given the same number of fins the brass performs better by dissipating more heat, but shedding that 22 -25 pounds of dead weight sure was nice.

I also repalced the fans with two new 12" Spal fans, that made a real difference. I also added a 5" fan to the oil cooler.

I'll post some pictures if you are interested.

Phil

 

Yes I agree brass is better for radiators. I think the price for a recore is a little high. I had a custom core built (4 pass) once and it was $260 and that included repairing one of my tanks. If they stay around $300 that would be acceptable but above $340 that is robbery IMHO.

 

i would very much like to see a few pics, as this is something i would like to try on my recent addition. thanks !

 

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13757

 

Phil,
Please post (may be you have in the past?) How was the oil cooler fan wired up? To a thermostat? or just to a switch in the cockpit?

Dave

 

My setup is no where near as drastic as the photos in the link provided above. Although, that is a great job.

My radiator and fans are a stock fit repalcement, I still have all the front end "stuff" in place. It was a little hard removing the stock radiator and installing the new one. Mainly, because I wanted to keep the lid in place, and did not want to remove the a/c condensor. I work by myself, and although I am a tool nut I don't have everythign I need like coolant evacuation equipment.

The front fans are pushers, mounted where the stock fans where. This was the biggest change to the car, I had to hack off the stock fan brackets and I used 4" U-bolts to hold the new fans on. I had to modify the new Spal fans somewhat, they come built into an outerbody sort of fan guard, which I had to remove in order to fit the 12" fans.

I left all the original wiring in tact, and simply ran new wiring from the battery through in-line fuses, relays and grounds into the new fans. My goal was to be able to put back everything stock if I ever wanted. The fans (all three) work when the water temp reaches 195, the thermostat in the radiator closes, which grounds that circuit, thereby powering the relays (3 of them hidden behind the spare tire well), which power the fans. If I shut the car off, the fans continue to run until the water temp cools below 195F degrees. You could also change this to where the fans shut when the car powers off, by moving the relay power wire to a power source which is hot only when the car is on. But I liked the idea that the fans would cool the remaining water in the rad as I walk away from the car.

The oil cooler fan is a puller type, and is wired to the relay up front. There is a tube under the car which other wires run from front to back, whcih I used to route the rear fan power wire. I mounted the rear fan using some old radio shack radio mounting brackets, I think it looks like it was made with the car. The only mod in the back was I had to cut an "T" elbow in one of the blow-by hoses into just a "T" in order to reroute the hose to make room for the fan.

All in all, I am quite happy with the setup. The radiator cost me about $740 from Ron Davis. Another $300 for fans. Probably another $200 for incidentals (wire and related crap). I live in a suburb of NYC, Staten Island, where the driving is mainly "light to light", and the car always ran very hot. On a highway doing 60, no problem, but local - where I drive most- the car ran 220-240 degrees. My setup solved this, the car pegs at 195 and doesn't move from there.

My next addition, three little leds mounted in the cockpit that light when the fans go on, so I have another indicator to watch so I don't overheat again. My recent problem was caused by a ground wire coming loose causing the fans to never turn on. The wire was not connected correctly when I first installed it, so I went through the entire setup, rebuilt all ends, encassed each wire in a teflon mesh to guard against abrasion, so now I am confident the setup is completed.

I will try to post some pictures this evening.

Phil

 

Having technical difficulties posting the pictures....will try again tomorrow, sorry.

Phil

 

Sorry it took months for pictures. I had to wait for Santa Claus to bring my son a digital camera.

Here's some photos of my radiator and fan setup.

Phil
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Nicely done, especially the oil cooler set up...it indeed looks "factory". The one thing I wish Ferrari had done with the 308/328 series was have a factory in-line thermostat for the oil cooler, just so oil temps would come up faster. It takes a long time to come up to operating temp on a cool summer morning...and may never come up in the winter time. On my 355 (with thermostat) oil temps come up to operating temp in about 3 miles of driving, regardless of outside temp.

 

Even the hands of a monkey will not allow for removal with the valence in place. When I did my rad I removed the hood, bumper, grill and lower valence. Once this is done, removing the rad is easy. 3 Tips though:

1. When you re-install the rad, leave the front apart, fill the system and check for leaks. You don't want to take everything apart again cause of something silly.

2. The AC core does not need to be disconnected or removed. Plastic zip ties can be used to support it out of the way and makes removal and replacing easier.

3. The hood hinges will be a royal pain when fiddling with fitting and removing the rad. I used elastic bands to the keep them in the 'hood open' position. Just hook elastics over the hinges, over the front of the car and hook the ends to a bumper mounting tab or bolt.

With regards to the re-core. I re-cored my OEM rad and have had NO problems with temperature even in the hottest conditions with the AC on. Make sure that the rad shop is good and that the replacement is DEAD ON. If the brackets are off by a fraction the rad will not fit. If in doubt talk to the rad guy and make sure he has gray hairs; experience counts for a lot here.

 

I also repalced the fans with two new 12" Spal fans, that made a real difference. I also added a 5" fan to the oil cooler.

I'll post some pictures if you are interested.

Phil[/QUOTE]


Hey Phil,

How and where did you mount the fan for the oil cooler??

Did you use a thermo switch to actuate the fan???

chris

 

Hey Phil,

How and where did you mount the fan for the oil cooler??

Did you use a thermo switch to actuate the fan???

chris[/QUOTE]

Chris,

I used the water temp unit to trigger three relays, one relay controls each front fan, and the third controls the rear oil cooler fan. The water heats up sooner than the oil, so the oil fan goes on before the oil heats up to operating temp. But it doesn't make much of a difference overall to getting the car up to operating temp.

The three relays are installed (hidden) behind the spare wheel well. The power wire to the rear fan runs down under the car through a conduit, and comes up through the engine compartment in some wire cover.

I wanted the oil cooler fan as where I live (a suburb of NYC), local driving is light to light, and on a hot August night there is no air running over that oil cooler. This seems to have helped thus far, but I didn't get it installed until late in the summer (2004). So the real test will be in 7 months from now.

Phil