So. After stuffing around heaps with getting the clutch fan to fit back in along with the nizpro style intercooler, The room between the fan blades and the radiator was very tight - but it cleared everything. Seems that at some stage, something has moved ever so slightly and one of the blades on the clutch fan caught the reinforcing bar running down the middle of the radiator. My question is: is it ok to remove this reinforcing bar? Will this make my radiator too weak (eg, will just explode if it gets hot) - or will it be ok (eg, its just there as a precaution). Removing it will give me all the clearance I need while not having any chance of the blades catching again (and not reducing the effectiveness of the fan by trimming the blades even more!) Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

I removed that bar from my radiator about a year ago to fit a thermo fan .Havnt had any problems so far.

I can't recall any of my vl's ever having that bar on the radiatior.

***ing dose the **** off...

well.. I removed it.. Hasn't exploded yet!

its there to stop the rad pulling apart when pressurised.It will probably work without it but the amount of pressure cycles it can handle before the tubes start to bow will be lessened.