28/29 rad shells compatibility

[Tony Press]

That's good to know the early shorter rad shell finishes when the magneto finishes... 

Well, almost! In fact the raised nickel-plated shells were introduced in August 1928 at A6-9330 (chassis 67024), the first coil engine was fitted to A7-1280 (68814, engine 69000) and not standardised until A7-1569 (69135). The RK (wide-door saloon style) was not standardised until A7-6400, so there were both mag-engined and coil-engined R saloons with the larger radiator.

Bill Sheehan has asked me to post this reply-

Jon - There is a difference between the 28/29 radiator shell and those fitted to Nippys, albeit not a lot.  The neck orifice is larger; the bottom front face does not have the two-bolts protruding (although there were a few Ulsters with the later no-bolt version); only one of the external holes on the shell lower sides agrees with the mounting holes on the earlier shells & it is not slotted; the steel reinforcing internal brackets are longer and the channels are shaped differently; the two mounting brackets for the tank base are entirely different.  Also you mentioned scanning factory drawings, but I feel you place too much reliance on their accuracy - they don't always agree with what metal the factory produces.  Re your striving for a  horizontal line - on bonnet drawings they may look level with the ground, but every Seven I've worked on had a rise of at least 1/4" from front to rear on the bonnets.  I've checked with 3 owners of 65/Nippys and they agree that theirs have a rise of 1/4".  A small difference such as that would hardly show on a small drawing.   Hope this helps.      Bill Sheehan