Radiator Replacement?

[rigo_jaime]

so my stock radiator is going bad and I took it to a radiator shop but they said it was bad and couldn't be fixed. Any recommendations for a replacement? thanks!!!

 

[Squid4life]

ALRADCO!!! Best out there. Vendor here, American made, etc. Can't beat it. Do a search on ALRADCO and you will see all their praises.

 

[psycho6cyl]

alradco. will not be disappointed. they were having a special. look in advertisers section

 

[Nick Micale]

so my stock radiator is going bad and I took it to a radiator shop but they said it was bad and couldn't be fixed. Any recommendations for a replacement? thanks!!!

It is strange that they did not offer to replace the core with a new high efficiency one as we have recored hundreds of GN radiators?

"Assuming" you have a 1986-7 GN, the cooler end tank is unique to only these 2 years because of the tranny cooler fittings, so if you do not recore your stock radiator, at least save that tank and coolers for someone that may want to retain the original stock parts.

 

[forzfed]

Nick makes a very good point! I had my stock rad re-cored to a 4 core high efficiency, cost me $175 years ago. In really hot and humid days the highest temp I've seen is around 175'F with the a/c blasting.

 

[rigo_jaime]

cool thanks for the feed back guys what would be a good price? i see these radiators are pretty pricey for the GN's

 

[TRICKSIXPA]

I just went somewhere and they gave me a price of $300 for a re core. I have a recore in my WE4 and it runs cool but thats a stock car. My GN has an Alradco and it is so much more superior than these cheap cores they throw into regular radiators. Its two row radiator but the core tubes are HUGE!! Great flow.

 

[Stage24u]

cool thanks for the feed back guys what would be a good price? i see these radiators are pretty pricey for the GN's

3rd Gen F-body radiator $80 w/ warranty from O'Reilly/AutoZone/etc , junkyard Intrepid fans $25-$50, and mix in some RMI-25 $10 with water.

Ran same combo, and was always at 165-175, with 160 Tstat in SoCal heat.

Instead of spending $450 on a radiator, then adding fans, find the most cost effective route/parts for your build, and take the remaining $$$$ and put it towards your trans, converter, etc.

 

[rigo_jaime]

Dude told me 650 for new one out the box and 470 for rebuilt to like new condition -___-

 

[fast86gn]

Another thumbs up for Alradco. I have one in my GN and they are F...ing awesome! You'll spend a little more but well worth it!

 

[TLIMITED]

Dude told me 650 for new one out the box and 470 for rebuilt to like new condition -___-

You need to find another "Dude"

 

[robzombie]

Another thumbs up for Alradco. I have one in my GN and they are F...ing awesome! You'll spend a little more but well worth it!

Is there really any other replacement RAD for our cars ??


HELL NO!!!!

Worth every penny. With all the questionable/poor quality parts out there being sold for our cars it's hard to know what you will be getting these days.

I think that Peter is doing the TR community a great service by offering a quality part at a fair price. Especially if you look at the competitions price on an aluminum rad of totally inferior quality.

I love that it looks stock with the stamped tanks versus the welded sheet tanks that look like in my opinion and as a welder myself I can appreciate the added details that come with buying an ALRADCO for the same money or less.

Like mentioned above in another post, the core itself is also of better quality than the other [vender] aluminum rad that I had to ditch because of a bad oil cooler and it cooled no better than my stock rad.

As far as F-body rads or their equivalents go I hate them and they are under 100.00 bucks for a reason. It doesn't have the oil cooler and isn't a direct bolt in although it isn't hard to install. Plastic tanks belong in the junk yard and they will be there long before a quality all metal rad will be because the tanks crack or the rubber gaskets blow out. They also don't look right in the engine bay. Just my opinion.

As is the case in most things, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

Thanks again peter for a quality product and although I would buy from you again you'll have to wait twenty years or until I get another TR.

 

[usetaboost]

If I was going to do it all over again I would have looked into having a GOOD brass core done on my stock radiator. The fbody is a cheap, light replacement. Exactly what it is meant to be. I think I saw maybe a 20* drop. Yeah that's quite a bit, but I'm sure the 25 year old core wasn't exactly efficient as it once was. I saw an additional 15-20* drop with the intrepid fan setup. I'm not hellbent on pushing the fbody radiator, but I will push the intrepid fans. So far the highest I've seen the car get with the fbody/intrepid setup is 188. That is with a/c on, very thick 4 row front mount, stupid high humidity at 88*. I was getting in some boost around town also. Take it for what it's worth. The radiator in nice condition should be good enough on these cars. The fan on the other hand is a dinosaur. Most that are old as mine probably pulls more amperage on start up than the intrepid fans do. My stock fan pulled so damn hard when it started the car would damn near die. Shit wears out. Shit clogs up. It may not leak, it may still spin, but it doesn't mean it's still good.

I finally completed this mod a few weeks ago with the fans and harness. I think the fans need to be done on EVERY car, even stock ones.

 

[GNRick]

I wouldn't buy old used up Intrepid fans from the junk yard. I had the Ram Chargers dual fan and both fans crapped out after a few years. Replaced it with dual Spal fans and no problems for about 5 years now. They aren't that expensive on Ebay either.

 

[robzombie]

I wouldn't buy old used up Intrepid fans from the junk yard. I had the Ram Chargers dual fan and both fans crapped out after a few years. Replaced it with dual Spal fans and no problems for about 5 years now. They aren't that expensive on Ebay either.

I used to run the dual fan setup that came with the other rad/fan setup that I had issues with, and when I replaced it with the ALRADCO I also changed over to an S95 fan and my car has never run cooler in 100* heat and the AC on.

I like the looks of a single fan and the fact that it moves 4,500cfm is awesome. Most dual fans don't even move that much.

In my case having a huge F/M I/C I believe that it's more important to move enough air though [all those restrictions] to keep temps down than having a great rad, but now that I have both, cooling problems are a thing of the past and I can concentrate on other mods that will make the car more dependable like getting a TR6 from Bob in the near future.

 

[usetaboost]

One other thing about the intrepid fan is that there are 2 different styles of blades. One is the regular, and the other is HD. As far as motors crapping out, I can get them for 9 bucks a piece. Better then running the stock original with an obsolete motor. I got about 160 in my setup and its leaps and bounds ahead of the stock junk.

 

[pkschul]

I just got my Alradco radiator yesterday. I'll let you know how it works out.

 

[GNRick]

One other thing about the intrepid fan is that there are 2 different styles of blades. One is the regular, and the other is HD. As far as motors crapping out, I can get them for 9 bucks a piece. Better then running the stock original with an obsolete motor. I got about 160 in my setup and its leaps and bounds ahead of the stock junk.

I bought a couple Valeo motors off ebay for about $10 each, years ago. I sure wouldn't want to have to change one on the road though.

 

[Squid4life]

Fans are very important and I plan to run the whole ALRADCO setup on this next car; rad and fans. On my car I sold, I had the ALRADCO rad, stock crappy fan, and a horribly restrictive front mount IC. The tanks blocked over half the grille opening, horrible design! The ALRADCO rad alone kept my temps at bay with that setup much better than the stock rad and even the F body rad.

I am a cheap ass, but there are some things I will not skimp on. I don't want to have to drive and watch the temp gauge and I don't want to have to check the rad periodically to make sure the seeping end tanks aren't leaking too much (F body). I want to bite the bullet, spend a little extra, and be DONE! Can't wait for the new car to be delivered and will be ordering up the ALRADCO setup ASAP.

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

Be sure to tell Peter up front if you want both fans to run above 160 or one fan to run up to whatever before the 2nd fan kicks on.