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The photo shows my radiator mounts that have been tacked to the front of my frame since the photo was taken. In the photo the rad is hard mounted to the flanges, but I have seen many mounts that were cushioned by rubber washers or grommets. Is hard or soft mounting a matter of personal choice, or is one method preferred?

Incidentally, those mounts may also be known as 'Bubba's Repeated Activities Cause Knarly Extra Toil (s)'. Isn't there an acronym that would make that phrase shorter?

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Warren
Isuzu Pickup/SR20DE, +401 COLD frame
Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=11601

Soft is preferred.

When you rigidly mount something to multiple points of the chassis it becomes part of the load-bearing stucture. When that structure is bearing loads it will twist and warp slightly and a rigidly mounted radiator will be forced to twist and warp right along with it. And since radiators are made from aluminum, cracking from fatigue becomes a concern. Soft mounting isolates the radiator from the chassis.

That said, there's probably enough flex in those flanges that it's not something to be overly concerned about.

Greg covered it well. If you can get some rubber in there, it will be safer if you flex the chassis. Look into "vibration isolators" and you may find an easy option.
Cheers.

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Build log: viewtopic.php?t=9291

As there are threads in the rad bosses you could quite easily just screw in some mini exhaust bobbins , job done Some of these come with an 8mm metric thread and others with unf. The rubbers are about an inch in diameter and an inch long " ish".

Bob

International seller pack of ten http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CONNECT-MINI- ... 4861b749a4

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Build Log viewtopic.php?f=35&t=16640&p=187700#p187700

Mancave http://s1116.photobucket.com/user/mypic ... ow/mancave

Thank you all. Bob, the 'bobbins' look to be the bees knees.

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Warren
Isuzu Pickup/SR20DE, +401 COLD frame
Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=11601

+1 on the bee's knees.

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...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
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I also agree with the soft mount, I added a photo of my rad to show that not all radiators are made from aluminum, that you can still get a brass unit if you wish.

Al

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Super Seven 3.4

I think it bears mentioning, for anyone who may be unaware, that copper fatigues the same way aluminum does. Meaning that brass radiators should be soft mounted just like aluminum radiators and for exactly the same reasons.

If you do it right, I believe the hard mount is better, but as stated, its much harder to do....

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