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Advise on Purchase of a Radiator

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  • Advise on Purchase of a Radiator

    The radiator came apart on my 93 Festiva so it's time to buy a new one. I looked on RockAuto and there are 3 radiators listed that are made by different manufacturers; OSC, APDI/PRO and SPECTRA. Can anyone tell me if there is a difference in quality between the different manufacturers? I would rather not have some piece of junk that will only last a few years just in order to save a few bucks. Thanks.

  • #2
    does the Aspire Radiator work? have factory one if it will fit
    Doug's Daily Driver (Dad): '91 Ford Festiva L Manual "Old Yellow" got with 40,xxx mi... about 52,xxx mi. give or take now

    Austin's Daily Driver (mine) : '91 Ford Festiva GL Automatic "Whitie III" W/ 0.40 over aspire engine from '94 Aspire "New Blue" rebuilt 92,xxx mi. then... about 96,xxx mi. or more now (on body)

    Doug's work car: '95 Ford Aspire Manual "Whitie II" w/ swapped stock aspire engine from '95 Silver Aspire and has
    it's 5th transmission! 75,xxx mi... now with about 130,xxx mi.

    Sold! '89 Ford Festiva Manual "Gaystiva" (sold to my Uncle) - got with 163,xxx..... now 163,xxx Sold!

    TRANSFERRED! '89 Ford Festiva Automatic EFI "one hit wonder" Given to
    bolokid - got with 210,xxx ...... now with 210,xxx miles TRANSFERRED!

    '94 Ford Aspire SE Manual "Assfire" - got with at least 350,000 mi

    SOLD! '90 Ford Festiva L Manual look for Narion (or click the username) it's new owner on the forum! - got with 193,xxx miles... now has 193,xxx miles give or take SOLD!

    R.I.P '91 Ford Escort GT w/ bad engine..... stripping for parts then off to the scrapper!

    R.I.P '91 Ford Festiva Manual "Lil Red Rocket" bought brand new in 1991 with ~120 mi... ended with 227,xxx mi.


    R.I.P '97 Ford Aspire 4 Door Automatic "Ford Metro" parts car - got with about 144,xxx mi.... ended with 144,xxx mi

    R.I.P '95 Ford Aspire Manual Silver (one owner and one family car) got with about 50,000 miles ended with about 90,000 miles

    R.I.P '94 Ford Aspire Manual "New Blue" got with 150,xxx.... ended with about 200,xxx (it's engine is the .40 engine in my GL)

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    • #3
      Originally posted by old yellow View Post
      does the Aspire Radiator work? have factory one if it will fit
      Aspire rad is very different, much wider.
      90 Festy (Larry)--B6M (Matt D. modified B6 head), header, 5-speed, Capri XR2 front brakes, many other little mods
      09 Kia Rondo--a Festy on steroids!

      You can avoid reality, but you can't avoid the consequences of avoiding reality--Ayn Rand

      Disaster preparedness

      Tragedy and Hope.....Infowars.com.....The Drudge Report.....Founding Fathers.info

      Think for yourself.....question all authority.....re-evaluate everything you think you know. Red-pill yourself!

      Comment


      • #4
        PM sent
        Ian
        Calgary AB, Canada
        93 L B6T: June 2016 FOTM
        59 Austin Healey "Bugeye" Sprite

        "It's infinitely better to fail with courage than to sit idle with fear...." Chip Gaines (pg 167 of Capital Gaines, Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff)

        Link to the "Road Trip Starting Points" page of my Econobox Café blog

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        • #5
          Suit yourself, I recently replaced my original radiator with one off ebay for $61 shipped. Crazy that you can buy any new radiator for that kind of money. Only ones available are the ones for automatic tranny car, but work fine in a manual car. New one looked as good as original to me and functioning fine. I personally wouldnt be surprised if all the brands out there came from same factory. Cant be that many factories producing a radiator for a 25 year old car that was only sold in this country for four years.

          My original had started doing that burbling thing after slow climb up a big hill, signifying its getting clogged. Still amazes me how small these radiators are. You want insurance, replace all hoses, radiator cap, and the thermostat while you are at it. Also flush the engine and heater core and clean out the overflow tank.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by fusiblelink View Post
            Suit yourself, I recently replaced my original radiator with one off ebay for $61 shipped. Crazy that you can buy any new radiator for that kind of money. Only ones available are the ones for automatic tranny car, but work fine in a manual car. New one looked as good as original to me and functioning fine. I personally wouldnt be surprised if all the brands out there came from same factory. Cant be that many factories producing a radiator for a 25 year old car that was only sold in this country for four years.

            My original had started doing that burbling thing after slow climb up a big hill, signifying its getting clogged. Still amazes me how small these radiators are. You want insurance, replace all hoses, radiator cap, and the thermostat while you are at it. Also flush the engine and heater core and clean out the overflow tank.
            +1 on all the above.
            90 Festy (Larry)--B6M (Matt D. modified B6 head), header, 5-speed, Capri XR2 front brakes, many other little mods
            09 Kia Rondo--a Festy on steroids!

            You can avoid reality, but you can't avoid the consequences of avoiding reality--Ayn Rand

            Disaster preparedness

            Tragedy and Hope.....Infowars.com.....The Drudge Report.....Founding Fathers.info

            Think for yourself.....question all authority.....re-evaluate everything you think you know. Red-pill yourself!

            Comment

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