Bill, you surely know more about this than I do. I am just relating what I
was told by the shop owner who did my radiator. He's been doing radiators
for many decades (fixin' to retire this summer) and all the local vintage
car owners swear by his work. Anyway, I think his point was that these
specific MX cores were easier to repair than the typical Al cores. Maybe
his point was "compared to". But who knows, I know less than zilch about
welding, so I'm just going on what I've been told.
Rich
----- Original Message -----
From: William L Leacock <roverbilly@juno.com>
To: <lro@land-rover.team.net>
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 1:56 PM
Subject: LRO: Radiators
Rick writes.
Cheaper than most quality
aluminum cores and the added benefit here is that it's made of copper.
Impale the radiator with a tree branch or an antler (yuck) and put a nice
hole in the radiator and it can be welded right up with ease compared to
the
Al units.
You are mistaken Rick, a copper? brass radiator cannot be welded up with
ease. Typical brass tubes are around 0.004 inches thick (0,1mm) and
welding this material is beyond the capabilty of most welders. ( I know I
have made thousands of miles of the stuff, the welder alone is a quarter
of a million dollars) Many brass tubes are made by the lockseam process,
the tube joint is made by soldering, as opposed to HF welding. This too
complicates the repair process. Original LR radiators were made with
thicker material, possibly 0.008 inches in the fifties.
Even soldering is very difficult on this thickness of material, since
typically it is very difficult to clean and the heat is dissapated
rapidly, and when it is overdone the holes siimply get bigger.
On the other hand typical aluminum tubes (which I am responsible for the
manufacture of over a hundred thousand miles a year) are of the order
0.012 inches(0,03 mm) and a very competant TIG welder can repair tube
leaks. Many of the OEMs do this.
For both types of radiator epoxy resins are suitable providing the area
of the leak is cleaned. Silicone RTV works very well if the area is
clean.
Regards from Western New York State
Bill Leacock.
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