radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

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Melchior
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Joined: Thu May 03, 2018 11:44 am

radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

Post by Melchior »

Hi,

I purchased a radiator blind and when assembling the restored item to my 250 GTE I realized that it fits to the cooler / into the car perfectly but it is too short. This does mean that approx. 12cm/4,7inch length are missing – the fourth mount for the fourth screw isn´t even reached as the two guided rails at the sides are too short – see pictures attached. I also attached a picture from Kerrys restoration guideline. You can see Kerrys cooler with the assembled correct radiator blind on it which is clearly longer than the one I have.

The seller claims now that there have been two factory fittet versions, a long one with full length and a shorter one which was used for deliveries to countries with hotter climate. Sounds possible but could also be a sales man´s explanation...

Does anyone of you have a radiator blind which is shorter then the height of the cooler (with only 3 screws to fix it)?

regards,

Martin
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250 GTE #3631 (series Ii)
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Tom Wilson
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Re: radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

Post by Tom Wilson »

The explanation does not make sense to me. The blind has a variable adjustment, so if one did not need full coverage, don't put it all the way up! If the factory was truly worried about hot climates, they would not have installed the blind in the first place, or as has happened with a lot of our cars, just throw it away later. I think you have gotten a blind for a different car. Do you think the seller has an in-depth knowledge of these cars or is just a guy with a spare blind to sell?

My car is a late series III and is in the same shop as the 6th GTE built, so I asked my mechanic to measure them both to see if there is a difference in radiator size between the early and late cars. Will let you all know what I find out. Regardless, given the location of the mounts on your car, you have the wrong size radiator blind...
Tom Wilson - Series III 250 GTE, SN 4247 GT
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Dbdavid
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Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:10 pm

Re: radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

Post by Dbdavid »

Hi Martin, my car #2677 has the shorter 3 hole blind. It is off the car so I can measure anything you want.

Dave
Melchior
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Re: radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

Post by Melchior »

Hello Dave,

That sounds very interesting - can you messure the length of the guiding rails at the side please.

Thank you very much!

Regards,

Martin
250 GTE #3631 (series Ii)
Melchior
Posts: 149
Joined: Thu May 03, 2018 11:44 am

Re: radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

Post by Melchior »

@ Tom: thank you for asking your shop technician - let’s see what he says. As David seems to have a shorter version too I see a slight chance that there was a shorter radiator blind fitted from the ferrari factory. It could be that the drivers forgot too often to release the blind after the car had reached the right temperature and to give some safty against total overheating a shorter version might help?!

That is only an idea without any proof of course, but it might eell be that there was a shorter version that ended at the third mounting bracket.

The seller is GTO- engineering, so they should know the business. They claimed again that they stripped several GTE’s for parts and have several short version radators in stock....

It would help significantly when other owners confirm whatever length they have at their radiator blind.

Regards,

Martin
250 GTE #3631 (series Ii)
Dbdavid
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Re: radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

Post by Dbdavid »

Hi Martin, here is a photo of mine. Let me know if you need any other measurements.
image1.JPG

Dave
Melchior
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Re: radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

Post by Melchior »

Sorry for the late reply - lengh is exactly the same at my ‚short‘ version. Are we the only two that have this short radiator blind or is there someone else?
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tyang
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Re: radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

Post by tyang »

The first picture on Kerry's site of the radiator blind was actually taken by me of a radiator blind I was fitting to a car.

I have the original one from my car and it measures about 16 inches long, so it's a longer one. My car is a 330 America, but should have all the pieces found on a SIII 250GTE.

Tom
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Re: radiator blind - are there two versions,a long and a shorter one?

Post by 330GT »

There is a radiator blind on eBay. No sizes nor what model car it came from though.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferrari-250-Ra ... 46a18bb76d
Regards, Kerry
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