Radiator Upgrade

[QUICK STORM]

what is the typical route for you guys making higher hp take when upgrading from the stock radiator. i just want better cooling. TIA:tup:

oh and i did search, just want a little more than go to a local salv. yard and get a HD rad from an s-10.

 

[Tooky]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

I'll tell you the advice I've never seen anyone give. Stick with the stock radiator, stock shroud, and that WONDERFUL stock mechanical fan, unless you have cooling problems!!! I have a stock motor but have gone 11.7s and I have road raced (REAL road racing on an IndyCar road course) for 200 miles and it did an admirable job! Highest temps for my 160 stat were 178*F. All my friends who have put electric fans or aftermarket radiators in, can't seem to keep theirs below 200*F on a hot day. This applies to all my friends with other brand modified vehicles as well! I'm pretty much the only one who can keep my temps always near the thermostat rating (I never see beyond 168*F on my 160*F, except when the AC is on, or I'm road racing, or it's brutally hot outside).

Think about it. Your "upgraded" motor is really no different than what any S-10 Xtreme came with from the factory (Vortec heads and a larger cam than a SyTy). There's no reason to believe it needs increased cooling. If it was a high compression stroker then maybe.

Every time I see someone's datamaster and their temps are 180-200 at wide open, I get a chuckle!!! Because 9 times out of 10, if they've got a 160 stat and they're seeing those kind of temps, I can tell they're not running the stock fan and radiator shroud anymore.

:2cents:

PS: If you're still not convinced; I've got just the story. A friend paid $3000 for a high end custom fabricated aluminum "RACE" radiator / intercooler combo, top quality stuff, with electric fans of course. His engine temps fall right in line with what I've talked about above. His "RACING" Radiator has got nothing on my stock setup!! DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU... Just trying to save you some money.

 

[live1053rulz]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

oh wow :eyes:

 

[sytyguy]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

I'm using a stripped down stock-style radiator (no oil cooler, no trans cooler, and no heater ports) with a Flex-A-Lite 220 electric fan setup (dual 12" fans in one enclosure). With a 160dF t-stat I see no more than 164 degF no matter what I do (and I live in South GA). With a 140dF t-stat I see no more than 149dF under the same conditions. My entire cooling system consists of:

- Aforementioned Radiator
- Flex-A-Lite 220 Electric Fans (wired to ECM control)
- No shrouds
- 160 or 140 degF thermostat
- New stock water pump
- Stock upper/lower coolant hoses
- A/C Delete (so that condensor isn't in front of radiator)
- Tranny Cooler relocated to rear (so that it isn't in front of radiator)

Basically, a radiator, low temp t-stat, dual 12" electric fans, and nothing blocking airflow except the grill. Never a moments trouble in 5 years (and counting) and I drive it daily in 100+ degF GA heat and have even done a few 30 min sessions @ Roebling Road Road Course.

Take it FWIW.

Hood

 

[Tooky]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

Well those are some mighty impressive temps you've got on your truck, Hood. I wonder if the direct airflow to the radiator is the biggest factor? My friend with the DeQuick racing radiator has a big intercooler in front. And some of the others have A/C condensor.

I have full A/C in mine plus the 28,000gvw B&M trans cooler, and mine works great. I have the stock trans and oil coolers functioning as well.

I guess to each their own. I'm just trying to point out the pitfalls I've seen of the electric setups I've encountered. If all my friends could get theirs to work like yours, I'd be happy for them. The thing I envy about the electic fans setups are that they must make the engine look a lot better and easier to work on.

 

[sytyguy]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

I wonder if the direct airflow to the radiator is the biggest factor?

Doubtful, as I same the same results when I had A/C and the B&M 28k cooler up front.

I guess to each their own. I'm just trying to point out the pitfalls I've seen of the electric setups I've encountered.

I understand, and wasn't insinuating that you had spoken a mistruth. I, likewise, was just pointing out the benefits and results I've seen with my particular setup. You could slap my setup on another SyTy and have different results, I'm sure, but it works famously for me.

I have nothing against the mech fan setup, but after seeing various water pump impeller shaft failures (including an 8k mile Syclone nearly throw a fan through the hood while taking out the turbo, radiator, etc...) and tearing my arm all to hell from years of working around that thing, I decided to axe it at first chance.

Hood

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

I have electric fans and I agree the mechanical fans work better. I have the same fans as Hood, but a different setup. My temps usually are just over 160 driving around. However, I can not really get them lower than 160 on a hot day (liek he can). I didn't have any problem at the track with high coolant temps (always under 170)

However, If I have my AC on for long periods of time (20 minutes) and on a hot day my temp creep up around 180 though. I imagine if I raced it like Tooky does, I would see higher temps.

 

[Don W.]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

Driving to Tom's gig last Sat in 110* weather with the AC on my Sy (all stock cooling system except 160* stat.) stayed at 180-190 UNTILL the traffic stopped. Then it would go to 200-210. So each time I went to stop&go traffic I just clicked off the AC and all was well. As soon as I was moving again back on came the AC. Remember OAT's were 110* +. Normal weather = no problems. I suspect, based on the above, that my fan clutch is weak but I haven't changed it because under normal conditions all is well.

 

[gjp]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

I was thinking of going to a direct fan?? It worked good on my elcamino but I would get fan noise. I just dont like clutch fans. This is a good question, I to would like to lower my cooling temps. In the same heat I saw 190* freway temps without the ac on.

 

[QUICK STORM]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

well it looks like i will stay with what i got for now

-stock radiator w/ transcooler
-stock radiator upper and lower hoses
-160* thermostat
-edelbrock water pump
-Volvo E-fan w/ sonoma gt lovers mounting kit
-A/C delete w/condensor removed infront of radiator
-B&M transcooler nearer to pass headlight but still in the airflow of grill

should i lose the transcooler in the radiator and heater hose ports, basically the same radiator as you hood? if i do go with a stripped down style radiator how do i still utilize the heater core?

 

[jbone]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

do you have to go with a radiator that doesnt have the built in tranny/oil cooler lines if you wanna go with a B&M tranny/oil cooler? If so does anyone have a part# for the radiator w/o the built in lines that is a replacement for the stock sy/ty one? Thanks

 

[SY2455]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

For my stock Radiator set up, the biggest cooling gain was adding a fan from a 2001 GMC Safari. This fan will use the stock Syclone fan clutch and has 11 fan blades. 99% of the time it runs at the 165* temp unless it over 110* outside than it will run about 195* until the fan clutch kicks in and bring the temp down to 165* again.

 

[gjp]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

For my stock Radiator set up, the biggest cooling gain was adding a fan from a 2001 GMC Safari.

Is that a direct bolt on?? $hit if it works in Riverside, it will work in San Jo. My mom used to live down there. Hotter then hell

 

[SY2455]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

Is that a direct bolt on?? $hit if it works in Riverside, it will work in San Jo. My mom used to live down there. Hotter then hell

Yes, It's a direct fit. GM part # 15976889 list price $71.78, my cost was $50.24

 

[QUICK STORM]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

well it looks like i will stay with what i got for now

-stock radiator w/ transcooler
-stock radiator upper and lower hoses
-160* thermostat
-edelbrock water pump
-Volvo E-fan w/ sonoma gt lovers mounting kit
-A/C delete w/condensor removed infront of radiator
-B&M transcooler nearer to pass headlight but still in the airflow of grill

should i lose the transcooler in the radiator and heater hose ports, basically the same radiator as you hood? if i do go with a stripped down style radiator how do i still utilize the heater core?

any help hood?

 

[turbodog]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

It has been ~110 degrees here up until this week. I was miserable, and so was the truck (stock cooling, 180 degree t-stat). A/C (134 conversion) blew hot at stoplights, coolant temp soared unless I was going at tleast 40.

I put in a 160 t-stat and a new, heavy-duty thermo-fan-clutch. Now, life is good. Coolant stays below 170, A/C blows cold even at stoplights (except when I first start up, fan isn't pulling air thru at idle until coolant hits ~150).

I do hear the fan now, as the engine revs come up pulling away from a stoplight. After several seconds of driving, it fades out as the fan clutch disengages.

I could not definitively diagnose my original fan clutch as being bad, but just spent the $60 hoping it would help.... it did. Something others might want to check out if their cooling is marginal, especially in stop and go driving.

 

[sytyguy]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

any help hood?

If you pick up a radiator for a regular 2WD, manual tranny, 4.3L truck (the 2.8s and 2.5s have smaller, thinner cores) you can get one w/o the tranny or oil coolers, but still retain the heater ports. Fact is, I had to get different style tank put on my pass side to get rid of the heater ports as I couldn't find a radiator that had all these features and still had the same core size, outlet size/placements, and fill cap placement.

I'll say this, I'm a fanatic about maintenance and cleanliness, so there is no build-up in my cooling system, no trash (bugs, leaves, etc...) blocking airflow, no weak components (dying water pump, collapsing hoses, etc...), or the like. This is the biggest difference for me, as I'm giving my setup the chance to run at it's healthiest. A lot of people forget about the cooling system as long as the temp gauge looks okay, but you have to treat it just like the rest of the truck and pull maintenance intervals on it as well.

FWIW, radiatorbarn.com has various styles of our radiators with pics/dimensions if you wanna go check out some (they're a little high on pricing though, IMO).

Hood

 

[Daron]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

This thread recently ressurected via another topic...
We have discussed this over the years, and hood brings up a good point that our radiator endtanks can be swapped out. When I went with a bigger turbo 5 or so years ago (?) I wanted to get rid of the heater core bung and internal tranny cooler. They were in my way.
I went to one of my local mom and pop radiator repair places and had them swap the endtank out with one that didnt have the tranny cooler, or the heater core port. The guy had this big catalog of radiator parts and we went thru it and found the perfect endcap (older corvette I think). I had my radiator serviced and the new endcap installed and havent had cooling issues ever in the Sy (has ac). The Ty on the otherhand doesnt much like AC, hot weather, and stoplights. Time to get to work on it...

 

[V6 Kompressor]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

Had a hard time finding this thread, doing a search for Astro fan Blade... Maybe it will show up now.... My 92 ty engine had a six blade aluminum fan blade w/ clutch on it, where alot of the ones i saw on here only had a five blade stock one and they look to be made of steel. Hmmm..

 

[cloneman315]

Re: Radiator Upgrade

A radiator out of a newer s10 with the coolers seperate,Also with a edelbrock wp and fans is the ticket.