Instead I used the two drilled lugs on the back of the radiator, then bolted through the cradle with some rubber washers on. There is an added benefit of easy access to the drain plug. I then discovered that these lugs are a bit bendy so I beefed it up with a bit of angle firmly butting against the lower tank. I may get a second opinion on this but have the option of adding in some more angle under the rad itself as belt and braces peace-of-mind solution. When the rad was finally installed the upper mounts take a bit of the weight and its all pretty stiffly mounted so it should be fine. TA nice few bends of silicon hose will take up the movement between engine and rad.
The top mounts were the standard Dax mounts, just shortened slightly and bent a bit to suit, not too difficult. The rad is pushed as far over to the near side as it will go so that the lower outlet doesn't foul on the offside lower wishbone. This also helped the clearance on the entry with the bonnet hinge, which is another reason for the rad being angled back otherwise the hose would have to go straight through the hinge. Filler cap is accessible but rendered useless by the header tank, I'll blank off the outlet.
Anyway, enough words, pictures below explain it better.
Lower hose clearance with wishbone, and cradle.
Top bracket and clearance to bonnet hinge (I've checked it with the bonnet closed)
Front view - no rad/cradle showing outside of oil cooler, I feel a lot happier about attacking speed bumps! (although it does mean the next thing in the firing line will probably be the drain plug on the sump)
Edit - I did later take the radiator to a local engineering company and for £30 got them to blank off the cap and replace the rather bendy lower mounting tabs with some much stiffer studs. Post: Radiator Continued
I am looking to change the radiator on my Dax, I have an LS1 engine and just wondered if the Nissan rad had worked out well for you? Do you know the specs, was it a 3 core? Thanks for any assistance.
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