RF4Burns Build

[rf4burns]

ALL INFORMATION IN THIS BUILD IS PROVIDED AS INFORMATION ONLY :!: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR HOW THIS INFORMATION IS USED AND ANY OPINIONS STATED ARE THAT OF THE AUTHOR.*Unless otherwise stated, all images and written content copyright of author. Any unauthorized reproduction, copying, duplication, plagiarism, scraping etc is strictly prohibited

Radiator Replacement
So the time has come to replace the original radiator. This is the method that I used it is not the only
way to achieve this or necessarily the best way just the way I did it.
Remove bottom hose to drain coolant (the easy one to get to is under the car -note this vehicle has
an automatic and I don’t know if the manual is the same)

Remove the top hose, top to mounting bolts (10mm spanner) and overflow bottle hose

Begin to lift the radiator from the vehicle, as the radiator is removed you will need to disconnect the
fan and temperature control switch wiring plugs

This will allow complete removal of the radiator from the vehicle

The radiator should be stripped of fan, bottom hose, temperature control switch and placed aside
for reuse as necessary

A length of 50mm x 3mm x 3m aluminum flat was purchased from bunnings and was used to
fabricate the mount; a U-shaped section was bent to fit the radiator measuring approx. 38cm x 28cm
x38cm (this was cold bent in a vise using a hammer)

Holes were drilled in the bracket to allow the radiator to be bolted to the frame NB: the 91mm
measurement from the bottom of the U should be 81mm or your radiator will sit to high

4 off ¼” x 3/8” bolts will be required to fit the radiator to the bracket (a 7/16” or 11mm spanner will
be required)

A small piece was also bent for the bottom mount 170mm x 50mm (made to long to allow height
adjustment)

Remove the bottom radiator mount from the vehicle (2x 10mm bolts) accessed from below

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Test fit radiator

And bottom bracket

In my case the following measurements resulted for the bottom bracket

*see further on for how the 20mm was found

Two 8mm holes were drilled in the bottom bracket and it fitted to the vehicle using the original 6mm
bolts (10mm spanner)

The radiator position was rechecked and bottom bracket and frame marked (this is how I got 20mm
for this measurement)

The below measurement is what resulted for positioning of the bottom bracket

The radiator was removed from the vehicle and the bottom bracket welded in position Note: you
could use pop rivets or bolts for this it does not have to be welded

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Two brackets 65mm x 30mm were bent to provide top mounting these were welded inside the top
to the u-section flush with the top Note: these could be pop riveted or bolted along the top

The radiator was again reassembled and test fitted and holes marked for drilling with 8mm drill bit
as the two original 6mm bolts are used with nuts for fitting

Also, the bottom plug position was marked approximately

The unit was disassembled and holes drilled for the top mounts and temperature switch

The bottom plug was drilled (in my case 14.5mm and tapped 16mm x 1.5mm to accept my
temperature switch) and the hole in the frame adjusted to allow the switch access

O.k onto the fan fitting I initially was going to set this up as a blow fan but I ran into a problem with it
fowling on the top but I will describe two methods of fitting the fan not using the cable ties that are
supplied as I do not believe that these are a good long-term proposition
Method one: Nutsert
These used to be quite expensive but are now very cheap thanks to offshore supply

And many years ago I made my own nutsert fitting tool from an old pop rivert gun; any way the fan
was placed on the radiator to find a position that allowed two of the mount holes to be marked and
these were drilled and nutserts fitted

You will note that the core does not extend under the bracket and the nutsert can be fitted without
issue

Method two: Drill and bolt; the initial drilling is the same except that only bolts and nut are used to
hold the fan in position; the nut was held in position with a piece of plastic for fitting

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The foam strips supplied were used to ensure the fan does not vibrate against the radiator

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My fan was supplied with bullet type connects but I wanted to use the original connector so the pins
were removed from the old connector of the fan

You should end up with the below, a separate plastic bit and two spade terminals

These were cut from the fan and the end opened out and soldered to the new fan Note: do NOT
refit the plastic plug at this time

Fit the radiator to the vehicle; bridge out the temperature switch and insert the fan terminals into
the fan plug. Turn the ignition on. The fan will run, check the fan is going the correct direction; if it is
not swap around the position of the fan wires in the plug

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Once you have these correctly identified these, turn the ignition off and refit the plastic plug by
inserting the terminals into the rear of the plug (these only fit one way around) and plug in the fan

As my temperature switch is now on the opposite side of the radiator, I made an extension wire and
plugged this in as well

Now all hoses were connected and tightened all mounts tightened and the radiator filled with
coolant and the system bleed (brought up to temperature without the radiator cap off until the
thermostat opened and the fan came on, the radiator topped up and the cap fitted.) job done1