Are there no radiator repair companies in the UK any more, might be a choice worth investigating! SF radiators were without question well made and reasonably inexpensive, but sadly now gone. I would explore more avenues. I found the aluminium replacement radiator in my Roadster kept the running water temp much lower/cooler than the original rad, which may effect engine management systems.
IMHO it's simply not worth even attempting to fix the plastic side tank radiators used on the later Classics as per OP. They all seem to leak eventually and you would be simply putting good money after bad.
I had heard of the more efficient cooling of all aluminium rads causing issue on lower power 4/4's, ironically overheating due to increased hysteresis effect on thermostat. Simply cured I believe with lower opening temperature one. A small price to pay for a radiator that stays water tight.
Richard,
You may well be very right on the viability of the repairing the plastic ones, however a good radiator manufacturer could use the rad template to make a replacement. I certainly known a few of the aluminium replacements to have problems/weaknesses. I believe it was Heinz that may have highlighted the hysteresis effect re 4/4. My Roadster ran much cooler and had an much extended warm up period, which a different radiator open temp may have cured. I wasn't into experimenting, I'd just preferred the same spec of rad operation that the engine management system was geared for, as other than the broken pipe junction, the original rad worked well and within the operating window expected. Never too sure what long term impact of introduced changes can have on quite sophisticated management systems, which may finish up with you chasing you own tail, when faults arise.
It's amazing in all my decades of many cars ownership, the only one I have ever had to change the rad on was a Morgan and its a continuing common problem on them.
