Not Ranked
Little known facts about radiator manufacture
Little known facts about radiators:
I was doing some consulting work in a small rural town (village) in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa and staying in a B&B. The owner found out about my Cobra and said he made the radiators for the Cobra manufacturers in Port Elizabeth and invited me to tour his “Radiator Works”. I agreed and boy was it a revelation.
It turns out he makes radiator assembly lines for many of the automotive manufacturers world-wide. He then took me through the process. Radiator manufacture requires absolute accuracy with precision fit to enable oven braising. Everything has to be an exact touching fit. The slots in the header and footer plates for the tubes are spark eroded, the fins are embossed and folded from Aluminium foil using meshed “cogs” that only one manufacturer in England is able to produce because of accuracy requirements. Tubes are manufactured to similar accuracy. Accuracy for all core components is better ½ a thou.
If I recall he has a doctorate in Thermodynamics and is consulted on by many manufacturers for the design of their cooling systems.
He also manufactures one off radiators in his factory for enthusiasts like me.
|