Fosseway 'Marston' radiator

[Charlie N]

Its nothing to do with me but I found this little beauty whilst trawling the internet yesterday.

http://www.fossewayperformance.co.uk/fl ... -radiator/

I only wish they were available when mine sprung a little leak!!

[Dave K]

They were, Mike Frank of Coolcat corp made them, I have one on my car but at a third of the price. Northampton Auto Rads also make a version which has been available for more than ten years, I'll leave it at that :(

The Fosseway one does look very good.

Dave

[Charlie N]

Good point, well made. I just liked the fact they were British made and look of a fantastic quality.

Also, looking at the Coolcat one it looks they have left out some of the fin detail. There also appear to be far more exposed welds etc.

I wonder what the shipping charge is from the states?

[Dave K]

Good point, well made. I just liked the fact they were British made and look of a fantastic quality.

Also, looking at the Coolcat one it looks they have left out some of the fin detail. There also appear to be far more exposed welds etc.

I wonder what the shipping charge is from the states?

Shipping is about $50 plus import tax and VAT. I was lucky I escaped all of that.
You are right the fin detail on the Coolcat one is lacking but anyone opening my bonnet wouldn't see immediately that it wasn't the real thing.

The Fosseway one looks very similar to the one Harry W pointed out a while ago, probably one and the same.

Dave

[Heuer]

I have the Radtec version on my FHC - ?1,085 + VAT:

http://classicalloyradiators.co.uk/prod ... -1961-.htm

Coolcat Corp version (unpainted only) - $990 + shipping + VAT:

http://www.coolcatcorp.com/Merchant5/me ... ry_Code=CS

Fosseway Performance - ?1,095 + VAT:

http://www.fossewayperformance.co.uk/fl ... -radiator/

NAR ?POA. no picture available:
http://www.nargroup.com/historic.html

Perhaps I am missing something here but Radtec, NAR and Fosseway say this style of radiator was only fitted up until October 1961 but as far as I am aware the Marston aluminium radiator was fitted up until almost the end of 3.8 production. Glausager says "It is speculated that later 3.8 cars may have had a copper (brass) radiator as did the 4.2 model but it has not proved possible to verify this."

This is a 1964 un-restored 3.8 OTS #881640 with 20,102 miles from our 'Factory Fit' thread:


This is a 1963 FHC #887530 with 27,000 miles on the clock and has not been restored from our 'Factory Fit' thread:



Not sure if this is down to lack of knowledge or a cynical marketing ploy on their part to give the product some 'exclusivity': "It was only fitted to the 2,616 flat floor cars ever built". Not that rare then even if it were correct!

If anyone is thinking of buying one of these (and I have to say they are very good - I am using the original fan and it rarely comes on even in heavy traffic) you need to specify the black sides because a) that is the correct colour and b) it would be almost impossible to do a good job with a rattle can. You can buy a reproduction Marston plate from Coolcat Corp to complete the ensemble.

This is the iconic view from the front of the 3.8 which the 4.2 does not have - the exposed aluminium radiator core:

[Dave K]

I have the Coolcat corp 'Marston' plate somewhere, I removed the original plate from my original rad and fitted it to the Coolcat one.
I have to say I was a little nervous drilling the top of the rad to fit the screws but it went OK.
Had the Radtec one been around when I needed one I would have gone for that since it looks the closest to the original.

I have seen the NAR ones at Stoneleigh and they are awful, thats being nice.

Dave

[Heuer]

The Coolcat Marston plate is self adhesive but also has the four screw holes. I chickened out drilling the top plate of the Radtec because you can't see underneath so I stuck it on and then cut off the heads of some very small rivets and glued them in the holes. My only disappointment with the Radtec was they used a metric thread on the drain hole so the standard tap would not fit. Easy enough to drill out to the correct size and put a UNC thread in but I can't understand why they did not do it in the first place given the securing bolts are UNF.



Expensive but superb if you want the car to look original.

[Heuer]

Had a closer look at the Fosseway 'Marston' radiator and it does seem to be a better copy than the Radtec. Specifically the machining of the fins is closer to the original and the top and bottom plates correctly wrap around the side tanks and do not show a weld as the Radtec does:




The Radtec:


That weld:

[Heuer]

Apparently Fosseway have amended their website to say their Marson copy is applicable to all 3.8's.

[SteveG]

Having stopped at the Fosseway stand for a chat at the Classic Car Show, NEC last week I was really impressed by the quality of finish and attention to detail of their products.

[Herblay]

Reopening an old thread, is there any technical advantages on the Fosseway 'Marston' replica? Its website just states that "We have combined a 60mm version of the same high performance core that we use in our other E-Type radiators with header tanks machined from solid billet aluminium". So my assumption is that it is indeed superior to the original unit, and probably best suited for use in hot Summer days. Any experiences?

[ETTony]

TBH i took my original rad and had the core renewed with a modern kit.
Top job, the original looks retained.
I then fitted a Fossway fan.
Belt and braces.

[Sarthe72]

The Fosseway, when I wanted one, was on three month backlog and £1,500 delivered. I found this from Welsh in the USA for $800 and had it two days later by FedEx
Alloy Rad 1 by Tony Brown, on Flickr

This was a few years back and the radiator is fine. I use a CoolCat fan with it.