Radiators...

[Turbo6Smackdown]

Not trying to be a jerk or anything, cuz that's not my style but... Who would buy an aluminum radiator for our cars, for 250, 350, even 550 dollars, when a camaro radiator is 99 dollars at autozone...
Do these radiators cook dinner too? Is there something you guys aren't telling me? Cuz they dam sure better cook you dinner for that price.. AND blow you afterwards.

 

[bishir]

Does the Camaro one have an oil cooler and transmission cooler too? Some people want to pay less for something that fits like factory I guess. I bought a high quality aluminum radiator for an old Mustang I once owned and it wasn't cheap either.

 

[INEEDAGN]

F body is a good bang for the buck, but it doesn't have an oil cooler and it has crimped on plastic end tanks. Also pretty sure the autozone specials aren't put together in this country.

Some of us want an all welded factory fitting style radiator with dual coolers and are willing to pay for it. Kind of like saying "why get a dual BB turbo when a journal bearing style works just fine?" Or why get a late model maf when people run 9's with a stocker, or aftermarket valve covers when you can just run spacers to clear the rollers, or buy a spool when you can weld the gears, etc..

No offense taken btw.

bob

 

[RobsIron]

Cuz I don't want a $99 Chinese radiator to "cook" and then "blow" up my $10k American motor.

 

[wile87]

hey rob, not to bust your balls but most of us don't have a stable of what $100,000 grand easy of rides. you can just toss ten g's at thier engine so why not throw five hundo into a rad. i know he's being cockey about it, but hell i know more then a few people run that rad with no problems and see his point

 

[RobsIron]

hey rob, not to bust your balls but most of us don't have a stable of what $100,000 grand easy of rides. you can just toss ten g's at thier engine so why not throw five hundo into a rad. i know he's being cockey about it, but hell i know more then a few people run that rad with no problems and see his point

I know your not bustin and I wasn't bragging. :smile:

Ever since day one of me working on my cars I always paid extra for quality parts, oil and gas. Even when I was broke which has been for most of my life. I learned early in life that time is the most valuable thing we have and I don't want to do things twice.

If more people thought the way I do China wouldn't own the US now. I know its unavoidable to not buy cheap stuff sometimes, but a radiator is in the top ten key components of any vehicle...especially here in Florida.

 

[WH1_T-Type]

Easy...quality and cooling ability. The expensive radiators are built as said above, then they also have a three row design...the $99 special at the Zone just doesn't have that.

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

I've read MANY threads, about people running the F body, and they're temps staying very low. And many more, (one of which was initiated by myself a long time ago) bitchin about how the f body doesn't have any internal coolers, and how the experts chime in, on why it's actually better to mount both your coolers externally.

 

[INEEDAGN]

I'd like to see some "experts" real opinions on the value of liquid to liqiud heat exchangers compared to liquid to air. liquid to liquid is something around 8 times more efficient than air per square inch. And if you keep the coolant temp in check, that's a lot of cooling capacity without having to buy decent coolers and find room for them.

you're probably the same guy that buys the $20 parts store tranny cooler and runs it by itself with a high stall converter. got news for you, my pts rad has more tranny cooling ability than the vast majority of aux. tranny coolers. and if you spend the money for good coolers you are approaching the cost of a good radiator.

still no offense btw.

 

[wile87]

rob, see your point. i'd like to see these ext coolers are that cost as much as an alum rad. no matter what kind of system you have, max airflow is an absolute necessity, that's a given.. upgrading your fan is a easy and cheap way to upgrade cooling. as far as china made parts. if they aren't made there then there most likely coming from ol' mexico

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

Liquid to air intercoolers... Tell me, what happens to the cooling ability, when the hot air heats the liquid up to a temp that's inadequate? And, you said, if one can keep the liquid temps controlled, it would be better. Ok, well if you had a capability to control those liquids, then why wouldn't you just use that capability to cool the air going thru your intercooler then?

 

[Alumitech]

I know your not bustin and I wasn't bragging. :smile:

Ever since day one of me working on my cars I always paid extra for quality parts, oil and gas. Even when I was broke which has been for most of my life. I learned early in life that time is the most valuable thing we have and I don't want to do things twice.

If more people thought the way I do China wouldn't own the US now. I know its unavoidable to not buy cheap stuff sometimes, but a radiator is in the top ten key components of any vehicle...especially here in Florida.

There is something to be said about Quality .
The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten !!!
Most manufactures in the industry have gone over seas .. one reason this country is in so much trouble .
the auto zone rad .. imported from China ..thats why you can buy it for 99 bucks .
Now everybody has a budjet of what there willing to spend ..you will never change that with some people .. others prefer good quality American made parts if you can find them .
I may be the last hold out continuing to build Quality American core and componants Aluminum rad in the USA .
there are Customers looking for what I do and are willing to pay for that Quality...I hold no grudge for the guy trying to save a buck and get it done as cheep as they can fabbing to make things work ,investing time and frustration to save a buck .

so we will always have 2 schools of thought when it comes to guys and there cars .

I have heard the words by many car builders ..good parts arent cheep ..and cheep parts arent good !

by the way sweet ride you have there .. looks like alot of passion went into it .

here is a recent post for those interested
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/ge...31-new-aluminum-radiator-grand-nationals.html
Don

 

[INEEDAGN]

Liquid to air intercoolers... Tell me, what happens to the cooling ability, when the hot air heats the liquid up to a temp that's inadequate? And, you said, if one can keep the liquid temps controlled, it would be better. Ok, well if you had a capability to control those liquids, then why wouldn't you just use that capability to cool the air going thru your intercooler then?

Liquid intercoolers generally don't work as good because the heat exchanger at the front of the vehicle doesn't have enough surface area to do its job and either not enough fan or no fan at all. sort of apples to oranges but I see where you are going with it. The only point I have left to make is that I can keep my temps right at the thermostat setting on all but the very hottest of days and that's with the stock fan, which will be ditched as soon as I get time to fab the brackets and wiring. My trans and oil temps are going to follow the coolant temp very closely thanks to the pts rad having larger than stock coolers installed (bruce warned me that they were longer and that i'd have to stretch the lines a bit and he was right) and that's as cool as they need to be.

I don't need to debate this any longer. under the right circumstances I may have stuffed an f body rad into a tr but with my current combo and future goals I felt it was necessary to have a better radiator.

have a nice day.

bob

 

[GNBRETT]

Cuz I don't want a $99 Chinese radiator to "cook" and then "blow" up my $10k American motor.

lol.... that's kinda what I was thinking.

 

[Gary Wells]

Cuz I don't want a $99 Chinese radiator to "cook" and then "blow" up my $10k American motor.

X2 or X3, whichever applies.

 

[Gary Wells]

There is something to be said about Quality .
The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten !!!
Most manufactures in the industry have gone over seas .. one reason this country is in so much trouble .
the auto zone rad .. imported from China ..thats why you can buy it for 99 bucks .
Now everybody has a budjet of what there willing to spend ..you will never change that with some people .. others prefer good quality American made parts if you can find them .
I may be the last hold out continuing to build Quality American core and componants Aluminum rad in the USA .
there are Customers looking for what I do and are willing to pay for that Quality...I hold no grudge for the guy trying to save a buck and get it done as cheep as they can fabbing to make things work ,investing time and frustration to save a buck .

so we will always have 2 schools of thought when it comes to guys and there cars .

I have heard the words by many car builders ..good parts arent cheep ..and cheep parts arent good !

by the way sweet ride you have there .. looks like alot of passion went into it .

here is a recent post for those interested
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/ge...31-new-aluminum-radiator-grand-nationals.html
Don

Welcome aboard, Don, very informative response, thanks for the info, and if I ever have to switch to an aluminum radiator, you will definitely have my consideration.

 

[SGRIM]

There have been cases of the $99 rads busting open intakes under BOOST! I would NOT put on a car with any power... Think about it, why don't we have plastic intercoolers?

 

[Reggie West]

I bought a BE COOL radiator at least 6 years ago. Its on a T Type with all the accessories on the motor. It is nowhere near stock with iron heads and it never gets above 180 with the AC on full blast in dead stop traffic or crusing at 70 down the road and it gets 110 out here no problem.

That is with a trans cooler and heat exchanger in front of it too.

The oil and trans lines hook right up.

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Keep in mind though that the radiator oil cooler is an issue when you lose a motor, I didn't trust my flush job on my stock rad after motor 1 said, Bubaye, so I ditched it and went F Body.

The Alumitechs are nice but are $450 and up so you can buy a lot of external coolers and temp gauges for that extra $$ if you're concerned about temps.

In order for a plastic end tank to blow apart you'd need some massive pressure in the cooling system, pressure found from you blowing a headgasket up and with a ton of boost, so you're already screwed. I blew my headgasket at 26psi and didn't see anything wrong with my plastic end tanks so it's going to need more than that to cause a problem.

 

[turbo nasty]

NEW PRODUCT FOR BUICK GRAND NATIONAL

26.25 core A-86/87-A GN W/trans and oil cooler and adaptors $525.00


More than $300 on their site. Were are you getting 300 from by chance?

As far as plastic end tanks take a look at the duramax and powerstroke radiators.