Posts Tagged ‘car radiator’

We’re in the Croydon Advertiser 04/05/12!!

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

Nothing like a mention in your local paper to make you feel special!!

Here’s a copy of the article and a link to it :


Croydon Advertiser Article 04/05/12

Croydon Advertiser Article 04/05/12

Aaron Radiators celebrates 50 years in Croydon


Firm drives into a confident future

Aaron Radiators marks fifty years as a family company

WHEN William Stringer founded his car radiator firm in 1952 (edit – make that 1962) he dubbed it Aaron Radiators to ensure it a top spot in the phonebook, helping draw in the customers.

Now with the company, based in Whitehorse Lane, South Norwood, celebrating its 50th anniversary as a family firm, the Stringers are ensuring the company maintains its ranking in the industry.

SUCCESS: Gerald Stringer (centre) and staff and two classic Rolls Royce radiators they are working on

William Stringer himself died four years ago but the company’s eight staff still includes his wife, Jane, who is managing director and her son and daughter, Gerald and Laura.

While the family ethos of the company has not changed, it has had to adapt to changing times which have seen the small radiator manufacturing companies challenged by an influx of large motor parts concerns.

Gerald Stringer, the company’s sales director, said: “There is so much competition these days.”

Aaron’s has also had to face the fact that the quality of radiators has had to improve.

When the business started, the life-span of a radiator was around two to three years. Now they can last ten to 15 years, although the effects of that economic challenge are offset by the fact there are a lot more cars on the road.

The edge in the industry has not stopped Aaron’s from still being involved in the manufacture of radiators, for both cars and heavy plant machinery.

But for Mr Stringer one of the most radical decisions the company has made to cement its future is to move into what he describes as “the bespoke side of the industry.”

More effort is now being put into reconditioning radiators for classic cars. Combining this with making an increasing impression on manufacturing radiators for kit cars, Mr Stringer is driving towards a confident future.


http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/Aaron-Radiators-celebrates-50-years-Croydon/story-16021458-detail/story.html

Upgrading Classic Car Radiators (particulaly Jaguar)

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

This is based on an article that was published in Jaguar World magazine 6 or 7 years ago, I wrote the article aimed towards Jaguars of the 60’s and 70’s but the information is relevant to all makes of car of that era.

Since the 60’s many models of Jaguar have had problems overheating, specifically certain E and S-types. The main problem was the efficiency of the radiator and fan system, which can usually be remedied by replacing the radiator core with an upgraded one with more tubes and a higher fin pitch (and usually a completely different system of manufacture.)

Aaron Radiator replaced and upgraded the radiators on these models (sometimes when they were still new!) and still offer this upgrade service today with even higher efficiency modern cores than previously available or the ultimate in cooling- complete replacements in Aluminium.

Up until the 70’s most Jaguar radiators used a ‘Cellular Film’ core (Pic A). This has the advantage of being very robust and durable (many cars still have the original film cores, even though they may be 30 years or older!) but it is not a particularly efficient design. This led radiator design to favour ‘Packed Construction’ (Pic B) or ‘Tube & Fin’ (Pic C) cores which were lighter, more efficient and cheaper to make.

Bad design in fans and cowlings (fan shields) meant that many vehicles still overheated. Sportier cars were pushing out higher power than ever before from engines packed into a much smaller space as vehicle aerodynamics came into play and bonnets got lower. Upgraded electric fans can help remedy this by forcing more air through the core and replacing the fixed fans can increase power lost through driving the fan.

A – ‘Cellular Film’ core

B – ‘Packed Construction’ core

C – ‘Tube & Fin’ core

Types of core upgrade available

Two types of upgraded core are available. An ‘X-type Packed Construction’ core (Pic D) has more tubes and a higher fin pitch to increase the surface area the cool air flows over. The X-type is the most efficient core available in copper and brass and is available in many different numbers of row (thickness.) An upgraded ‘Tube & Fin’ (Pic E) is also available which, though not quite as efficient as the X-type, is more durable and resistant to vibration.

If your car is having problems with overheating, the core might be corroded and a build up of deposits inside it can restrict water flow. Older types of anti-freeze were not as good at resisting corrosion and sometimes radiators have had an under spec core fitted in the past. The difference in cost between fitting a replacement core that has the same cooling capacity as the original and upgrading one is not considerable as the only extra cost is the higher price of the core.

A – ‘Cellular Film’ core

B – ‘Packed Construction’ core

C – ‘Tube & Fin’ core

Rover P4 Radiator

Friday, January 9th, 2009

This is a Rover P4 Radiator before recoring. On it’s right is a Aston Martin DB214 radiator. Turn around on most radiators like these is 2-4 days.