Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Either way, the electric fan is better in traffic.

I had these copied from original, almost the same, but uses a slightly different radiator cap. This is a 2000 '68 aluminum radiator, profesionnaly welded not China. '69/'70 almost ready. 1600 will follow.

Very Nice!!!

Late answer but...
I think I am like you in that I would like my 68 as close to stock as possible. Having said that, the biggest problems I have encountered are heat related. This is an issue that can creep up quickly, might not be fixed on the side of the road, and can have catastrophic results. I kept the old radiator but upgraded the core. It should be more efficient and still looks stock.
The "really stock" radiator should be okay but, like insurance, this is a just-in-case upgrade.

Richard. Where was it made?? You say the radiator was not welded in China., however, you never mentioned where was it made and welded.. was it in Europe? I’m very interested in purchasing one but your prices are very comparable to custom radiators that are made here in USA... e.i. (Ron Davis).

Shamus.

Made in Europe by a excellent fabricator and comparable with Ron Davis. Made an agreement with them.
They are not cheap, but compared to have your stock radiator rebuild, the difference is not that big anymore.

I just received my amazon.com RA-Datsun70-3 aluminum radiator from DNAmotors.com for my SRL311 9909 It's advertised to fit 69-70 roadsters. It looks fairly well made BUT as I feared it is modeled on the wider radiators seen in the earlier models (~ 68). With the newer steering box after ~ VIN 9000 the radiators are made 3/4 narrower. This aluminum rad also has a fairly tall filler cap and I'm wondering about hood clearance too. The lower outlet is tilted upwards and i can see likely issues with the fan shroud. Small things but I can tell I'm going to have to do some mods to install it. Has anyone tackled this?

This has come up before and there are several threads here on how it was addressed, it's worth a search if there is nothing in the tech wiki. There is one out there that is correct from the factory - I think it is a Champion model? Not sure.

Thanks - There is a Champion one out there that is slightly different as pictured. Was leery because it says fits 68-70 (which made me think it was unlikely to be the narrow one. Also more expensive. I'll dig deeper on all the threads about this.

Just for clarity of discussion. I currently have in my Silver 69 2000 (VIN 9909) a leaking (weeping) radiator which is 3/4" narrower than the other radiator in my parts collection which is from a 68 2000. I have been able to measure the subtle differences between the 2 radiator vintages and will likely build a little story for the tech wiki section if there is interest. The wider 68 radiator clearly will not easily fit into my 69 because of the reduced clearance caused by the change to a larger steering box (somewhere I read that it was about VIN 9000). I have tried a test fit and it was going to be painful. It looks to me that DNA motors has used a 68 as the basis of their design.

I'm sure I'll be able to make this new DNA motors aluminum one fit with some bracket mods (its only metal after all) but I am slightly annoyed to have bought a rad that said it would fit a 69-70 model. Frankly I am more worried about clearance with the hood which will be more evident as I play with the mounting.

Interestingly, the visual differences between the Champion radiator and the DNAmotors radiator are very subtle. The upturned lower hose connector differences are peculiar. The drain plug on the DNA motors one is plastic whereas it is apparently brass on the Champion one. I can get a brass drain plug easily though. All else looks very similar. Both have higher fill plugs than the stock rads.

Anyone, please point me towards other forums if there is info I have missed

Eliza (stroked-70) is running a "re-cored' stock radiator - no shroud - 160 thermo, I think and NO problems. In traffic, high ambient CA temperature, hard driving etc. never moves beyond center temp marking.

Aesthetically, I MUCH prefer the stock radiator with satin/gloss black finish.

FWIW

Thanks Peter for that feedback. I agree. The stock radiator can perform very well. I have a 4 blade fan and 180 thermo and ran last summer with shroud out. No issues. I'm going to head down the re-core route to address the leak instead of trying to get this poorly designed aluminum radiator to fit. Note to all - the narrower radiators required with the upgraded (larger) steering boxes (see the techwiki steering box swap article by Eric Smeby) have a core width of 14 3/4 inches versus 15 1/4 for the older radiators.

The DNAmotors radiator deficiencies include specifying it will fit 69-70 but with core width of 15 1/4 wide it won't, an upturned lower hose attachment pipe (no possible justification), a plastic drain plug (cheap) and a very tall filler mount looking like it will hit hood (not confirmed but I'm not bothering to test that!). Welding looks fine (appears similar to Champion in pix). The Champion one has similar width core width description and a metal drain plug so differences look minimal overall - but higher cost.

Driving season up here starts in about 6 weeks. I better get on it!