Radiator sources

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w. chen

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los angeles, ca
Hi folks:
Found several drops of coolant under the coupe this past weekend. Opened the hood to discover the water pump is on its way out. Removed the radiator today and took it to the shop. Shucks, the art of doing cleaning and rodding of radiators are going out of style. I can't find a decent one in socal. (If someone can refer a good radiator shop in the Los Angeles area, i would appreciate that too). The one I went today is closing for good this friday after 75 years. He says my cores are bad and need replacing though the tanks are still good. With all that expense of doing that, i would rather just get a new radiator. So i'm reaching to this forum to see what sources i can get radiators from. I've checked tomkinson and they have 2 kinds at $333 and $433. I want to call them tomorrow to ask what are the differences or perhaps someone on this forum knows. I also don't mind getting the aluminum ones I've read about too. I have the clutch fan on my car and I don't have clearance issues. But I would prefer an original sized radiator so I don't need to go scratch my head to butt the clearance issues. Thanks in advnace for your help.

w. chen
74 3.0 cs
 
When I redid my radiator the OEM was still available. That may be what Tomkinson has and the two prices may be for the automatic vs manual cars. The only reason I had mine redone was to convert to three row instead the two that the OEM has. Ask the shop to do yours before Friday, you will have the honor of being their last job in 75 years.

Fear not, any automotive art that goes out of style will be saved by DQ doing a detailed post with diagrams, pictures, and annotations in Spanish.
 
Both of those are listed for a 74, can't imagine there is any difference from earlier cars, also they are for manual trans. The more expensive one says for A/C cars per RealOEM. And both probably cheaper than a new core.
 
:-) W., just a thought- down here in Austin, the places that do recycling often do the re-coring and I think that's because they do allot of A/C, and that is essentially the same type of work, so a commercial A/C repair and recycling shop may be a place to look for a re-core. Worth a few calls-
 
I would have it re-cored with a two-row high efficiency core instead of a three row type. Make sure they keep the new cores as far forward on the tanks as possible (to give yourself plenty of clearance to the fan).
 
thanks for all the info

thanks for all the info. checking prices of a redone two row and two row hi efficiency persuaded me to go get an original from bmw at tomkinson. price is less than a new core two row. my machine has never overheated though it rarely ran just below the red box. most of the time, it sits at 1/3 and hot summer days a little over half with the a/c. just crossing my fingers i don't get a call from tomkinson that they are late or out of stock. this has been a bad year for the baby as it had been running duper good for the last umteen years with nary a cough but with over 300,000 miles, something gotta give. rear suspension redone with camber and toe kits installed, and now the water pump and radiator and next the rear diff rebuilt. again thanks for all the help and advise. merry xmas.

w. chen
74 3.0 cs
 
radiator replacement job completed

hi folks, just an update to the radiator job that i started beginning of dec. had ordered the radiator from tomkinson but turns out it is not stocked and it would take almost a month to get to me. and they wanted to add 50$ for additional shipping from germany to them. took the advice of kys911t and went to santa monica radiator. the proprietor, chuck, was very nice and offered a 2 row hi efficiency for less than what tomkinson was charging for a new one. so i went for it. 2 days and it was in my possession. he also showed me my old core, and it was equivalent to human's clog vascular system. surprising it carried me thru all those summers without running hot. replaced the rubber supports for the radiator and new radiator hoses and added bmw coolant. i didn't replace the thermostat as it was not an issue. had a good run today, and everything seems to be tight. temp needle was barely 1/4" above the blue square with the a/c running. later, the auxilliary fan kicked in briefly. thanks for all the advice. next job, diff rebuilt.

w. chen
74 3.0 cs
 
first - i'm glad you got your problem solved ... and that a forum member had the answer for you.

while on most parts, Tomkinson is cheapest ... but sometimes Penske is worth checking with ... especially when you get bad news like you got. i've had a few parts that Penske had to get from Germany ... and there was no extra charge to me.
 
Get and use a copper radiator for the E12 model, quite adequate, no plastic tanks. AND... much less expensive than you'd think.
 
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