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BigCav

Alloy Radiator Questions

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Hi Guys

 

Considering a alloy radiator for one of my v8's, standard rads just don't cut it

 

Obviously there are a range of big name stuff, your pwr, aussie desert cooler and then there is your ebay specials

 

there will be quality differences obviously but there is also big price differences to consider too

 

does anyone know who has the biggest off the shelf radiator? i used to own a massive 5 core unit but iv never found another one

 

anyone able to offer some experiance? has the cheap ones been any good? are they standard size or oversize? who has the best value for money?

 

anyone ever had a custom radiator made? price?

 

i hope to use a single fg fan for looks and performance, i found with my 5 core the twins ef fans didnt work anywhere near as hard as with a factory manual 3 core, rarely had to turn them on past half speed, so i think another genuine ford big single fan that ford uses as the common twin thermos should be acceptable

 

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i've used both Aussie Desert Coolers and PWR in different cars (only one in an Xseries though)

steer clear of ADS, had a few issues with them (as have a lot of others)

PWR has been faultless thus far. and i honestly think i have had bought more than a dozen of them between mine and my mates cars.

PWRs design seems to be efficient.

 

dont know who does the biggest, but i do know there was a radiator shop in seymour (im pretty sure it was seymour) and the bloke used to do custom rads, everyone raved about him.

 

as far as cooling abilities, a copper (if your a millionaire) or brass radiator will be better at cooling than a alloy rad, alloy isn't as conductive. however finding a good condition rad to start with will be hard to find.

 

have you thought about the XABC 4 core radiators? they will keep just about anything cool.

 

i had one custom radiator made for an s13, cost $1300 with custom outlets, core size and end take positions. was for a drift car.

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If you are going the alloy parth give a cheap fleebay one a go. got one in one of my v8 cortys and unlike the aussie ones thay fit in place of a factory one

worth a shot for $300 if there shit binn it and move on mines working good  

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Why are you overheating?? 

 

I've used standard XF 6 cyl rads on my 351's for years, stock fan and good shroud, Give my cars heaps, and never boiled over.

Just asking...

man you seem to be one of the lucky ones my ute gets hot on the hot days it sits on 170f all day everyday but over say 36 degree day it will go up and the hotter it gets the hotter the engine will get till you have to shut it down althow not a engine most would use in a daily

 

 

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Why are you overheating?? 

 

I've used standard XF 6 cyl rads on my 351's for years, stock fan and good shroud, Give my cars heaps, and never boiled over.

Just asking...

 

Same... Running an apparently V8 spec rad in my XE 302, EF fans in series (half speed) and VDO fan switch at 87 deg. It only ever got warm sitting in shitty Sydney traffic in the middle of summer. Any other time, temp just sits above half. Cav you may have a problem elsewhere to be cooking it like that.

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mine is really only hot when stuck in traffic, unfortunatly in melbourne thats basically the whole 60km trip home lol

 

trust me i have covered every base, from the usual basic stuff to heads off with rebuilds and new gaskets, new dizzys with retiming, crane kit, new pumps, new radiators, new clutch fans etc, even changed from petrol to straight gas

 

clevos just run hot, especially considering this is a closed chambers head 351 with 302 rods, running somewhere between 10 & 11:1 comp with 30thou bore job

 

it not a new problem, the motor has been in the car for 10 years and iv put over 100,000km on it

 

from all my experiance the best sure fire fix for hot clevo's is a BIG radiator

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I find strange that the factory 3 core radiator is struggling to keep the car cool especially with EL fans on it. Unless your car is pulling insane numbers, i doubt that the radiator (unless is blocked or stuffed) and fan setup is the problem, the problem lies else where. A mate of mine is running a standard 3 core radiator with a clutch fan on his 550 hp 393 clevo in his coupe with no issues whats so ever. Another bloke i know is running el fans with a just 2 core radiator in his Xb with a 450 hp clevo again with no issues even on 38 degree days stuck in traffic. My advice is have a better inspection of the cooling system before you spend big $$$ on a radiator you don't need. Even a simple thermostat change to a different temp one can make a massive difference.

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I asked this question once b4 and got positive responses about the ebay alloy jobs.

 

The Clevo in Lucy stays nice and cool with a factory rad when im on the move but she really hates sitting in traffic. Airflow and heat transfer are your friends.

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Race radiators do custom. Good price and on par with pwr. Not on a xe but I got a 68mm alloy made and was $750. Made to order so allow 3 weeks.

It made a difference over a 57mm pwr one so bigger is better.

Remember a radiator is only as good as the flow so proper fan design, fan shroud and air flow into the radiator needs to be assessed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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ducting as in fan shrouding? yes, ducting as in the sheilds besides the radiator then currently no but i have had them in the past and didnt do anything, have chekced air temperature at idle and with the car not moving (as if im stuck in traffic) and it isnt recirculating hot air back around the front if thats what your implying

 

had to remove side sheilds to fit oil & trans coolers

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Have you checked your engine still has the plate under the thermostat?

 

yes, plate is still there and i have run 3 different thermostats including a flowkooler from the usa, im not to worried about the engine, it runs hot cause of the combo

 

i have literelly replaced every single thing related to cooling with the car, nothing i havent thought of

 

they are just under radiated as a car, doing a pre and post temperature drop across the radiator hoses with both this radiator and the older one, both of which were fresh rebuilds with a new clutch unit on oem fan mounted in correct shroud and they dont remove enough temperature out, the larger aftermarket radiators could, my last one was a custom unit and i dont know who made it, bought it from xrglen years ago, was hoping people had feedback on other units

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Must be your block, then Big Cav.?? Thin walled casting, core shift and all that jazz. Yep, clevo's run hot in XD shape, but, I personally have had no issues. (030"thou bore, closed heads PULP and Gas.)

 

PWR are good, V8 Supercars use 'em.  Aussie Desert used to be.....(think their Chinese now) not 100% sure. I went to my local radiator guy, and he said he could build a 3 core, brass/copper,if I wanted, but it was more expensive than a stock FoMoCo radiator. XF run their cooling tubes side to side if I remember right. Old stuff used to run up down, efficiency I guess.....

 

(Quick fix in traffic, turn your heater on full bore, it's another baby radiator.)

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Maybe something to think about, but  what I do for a living has lot to do with air movement, static pressure as well atmospheric pressure, air speed etc etc. In my line work we  run  fans that draw  air through cooling pads, blackout pads and some cases filters on a large scale. The structure of these are very similar to radiator structure. The air to be drawn require alot of effort from a fan. In some cases a fan can work an extra 10% to acheive the correct air movement for purpose intended. If any of these are either clogged, over crowded/cluttered to prevent stable air flow or in most cases of the wrong design for the purpose intended (fan not right size or cooling, blackout or filter wrong size) the result is reduced cooling/air movement, overheating and failure of fan by burnout. Since the problem only occurs at traffic condition and your fan been replaced it maybe struggling to draw air through radiator, oil and auto cooler and if you have air con also condensor as well. So with a clevo and worked that already runs warm and you don't believe its the motor then either something up front is clogged or not up to the task. Maybe oil cooler and auto cooler are creating dead spots on radiator due to structure as aftermarket ones are of a tight structure and don't take much to clog up or as you said you believe radiator is not up to the task due to size of radiator to exchange heat efficently. Ideas anyway for you, just hope it makes sense and sorry if its long winded got 1 more day before weekend after doing a 12 day straight shift and I am fucked. 

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you put up the wrong part number, its the one before the repco sign on the box down the bottom, RAD072 by the looks of it?

cav if you want a price on that shoot me a PM.

btw, wonder if maybe one of your coolant passages in the block has a bit of shit in it? also assume your running the high flow thermostat.

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What did you end up getting Cav?

I'm doing some research for a new one

Id be keen to try a cheap one but they are all standard width 56mm

Are there cheap arse ones that are wider ie like 70mm wide?

 

Edit: Just realised it's core width not overall width

So 56mm is fat enough

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nothing just yet, decided to overhaul the whole engine bay first and have ordered a derale dual stage thermo controller from the states that ill try with the std 3 core and fg fan first, im not expecting it to work 100% but I spent a bit of coin and these parts which will be useable on either option of radiators so ill see if its enough now and upgrade later on rather then blowing a shit load of coin straight away

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