456 radiator differences

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login my 1995 456 manual has a tiny weep from the radiator. I looked at the prices from Ferrari and couldn’t believe the prices.
I thought I’d been super clever by buying a used radiator for £300 then had it recored with a higher spec core for better cooling.
No that I’m ready to swap the leaking radiator for the ‘new’ recored one, I’ve noticed that there are different radiators for different assembly numbers!
The 2 Ferrari part numbers are 164615 for assembly numbers up to 20878 and 180895 for later assembly numbers. My assembly number is 19389.
The problem is that my second hand radiator was described as ‘456 radiator’ without a part number. I now know I was dumb, but how can I tell which radiator I’ve bought and recored? They look the same on Eurospares and my rad doesn’t seem to have a part number on it.

 

I took the restored radiator to the garage today, and we compared the two side-by-side. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two versions of these radiators is a small bracket on one side which connects the later radiator to the oil cooler. On the earlier version the whole cooler is welded to the radiator.

Fingers crossed, I think it’s going to work out as planned! ”

 

Very interesting!
On my '94 both coolers were welded together, but very poorly, so when I recored the coolant part I welded the oil cooler back the same way it was (but a bit better...) I was very much in doubt if I was doing the right thing, as I had only seen 456/550 radiators screwed together. My fear was that some PO had messed up the original construction and had put in some dirty welds instead. Glad I proceeded with the welding.