radiator panel sizing

Before I cut the bottom of the radiator panel off, I made careful measurements – my primary measurement was the height on the holes on either side i.e. 26mm. My plan was to cut the repair panel to leave the hole size the same, as I was thinking that would give an accurate result. However, I have noticed that the repair panel is probably about 2-3mm deeper below the hole than the original (which you can see in the photo). So before I went any further I thought I would get some advice.

I could

1. Continue using the hole size as reference: cut the new panel accordingly and weld it on. This would give a result that was 2-3mm taller overall than the original. Would this still fit ok, or will I have issues (i.e. does it need to be the same height, or will everything still fit if it is a bit higher)?

OR

1. I adjust my approach, make the hole size 25.8, so that the total height matches the total height from before. To do this, I would have to cut the original panel higher up, and then cut the repair panel to fit my approach.

Any advice?

If it was me I would keep the total height the same. Saying that I doubt 3mm would matter on a Series or most Land Rovers come to think of it.

I would agree with that too, the panel sits on bottom and the wings can fitted to suit gaps along bonnet edge, did you measure overall height prior to cutting too and does that match with either of your options

steve2286w said:

I would agree with that too, the panel sits on bottom and the wings can fitted to suit gaps along bonnet edge, did you measure overall height prior to cutting too and does that match with either of your options

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i did measure overall height as well, but that was harder to be precise, as the top of the panel is curved.

I'm getting deja vu here as someone else was asking about this the other day. Is it too late to put the pieces back together in something like this.


That's what I did and it kept me all lined up.

that is a good idea, but too late now. I think the result is probably just a mm or two smaller than it could have been (i lost a bit when i was neatening up the matching ends prior to welding).
I wont find out for a while (i.e. a year) to see how well it fits.

LincolnSteve said:

I'm getting deja vu here as someone else was asking about this the other day. Is it too late to put the pieces back together in something like this.

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Steve, you always find good solutions to problems like that well impressed

I tend to get very OCD and hung up on things. I'll bet with just a few mm out you won't notice when you put it all back together. If I remember correctly that panel sits on rubber spacers on the crossmember doesn't it? The missing mm's could maybe be made up there. I'm beginning to accept that there will be more fettling on reassembly than i'm comfortable with. It gives me the screaming abdabs when my lovely prepared parts need messing about with once i've considered them finished.