Aluminum Radiators

eazy2g · Sep 24, 2010

I need a new radiator and and didn't see any reviews. I want to know if there is any difference between aluminum radiators or is it just a brand preference?

I see Mishimoto, Koyo, CX Racing, Fluidyne, and ebay...

Which do you have and what are your thoughts?

rhtwng2 · Apr 27, 2012

so it sounds like most of the votes are for the Mishimoto...however everyone has their own opinion on the different radiators. I have a twin FAL fan setup and am looking to adapt it right up...basically an in and out job...for a lack of better words...no pun intended or implied...

DECODER22 · Apr 27, 2012

i have used all the radiators above yes koyo and all the other high up company's have better quality control and are a very nice piece and are worth every penny were mishimoto has been getting a lot better with there packaging and quality but what makes mishimoto stand out is there lifetime warranty all you have to do is pay shipping. They don't even take the old radiator back i have seen a few mishimoto's leak 90% of the time its the people installing the slim fans and those cheap fan install kits were you push it threw the fins or i have seen people use zip ties and end up lightly crushing the fins just enough for a small leak.

TSiAWD666 · Apr 27, 2012

You know there's really not a lot of data on what these radiators do for you. You can try to use common sense engineering and say "they have more heat capacity for spikes" or "their design cools better!" but I haven't seen any data proving any of that leaving this as just pur speculation or fanboy hype. Regardless, these aftermarket radiators being the most obvious to people ("car overheating, must need new radiator!") often end up being the first attempt to resolve a cooling issue. For some it actually appears to work (i.e. alleviating their overheating issue), and for many they are insufficient. Step two usually comes in the form of ductwork, feeding the air from the mouth of the car (like it was stock, you know, that plastic ductwork you all threw away) to the radiator. This usually solves it for the street driven cars (though not so much for the track guys, they usually need a little more liked hood vents).

Of interest to me though is maybe the ductwork was all that was needed. I only just recently learned that one of the arguably most successful time attack cars in recent history, the Cyber Evo, races using an OEM evo radiator. No aftermarket nonsense there, just a regular stock oem radiator. AMG how can he do that, it's not entirely aluminum or super thick and has no fancy name?! Good question.

I actually wonder if the stock 2g radiator works perfectly fine even with an fmic in front if you just placed adequate radiator to bumper cover ducting like we had before the fmic was put in place (that's what that black plastic ductwork was for). I don't know if anyone's tested this, but if it works it would mean we're all doing a disservice to folks telling them to first blow hundreds of dollars on new radiators they don't need when they could just be cutting up some sheet metal off of cardboard templates, bolting into place, and sealing it all with aluminum tape, and be done.

Now I should say I am calling the kettle black here because I too didn't understand what the stock ductwork was and after getting an FMIC also was a lemming and bought a Fluidyne (which didn't work, still had to make ductwork when my car was a street car). Even now with my car being built for time trial racing I decided to err on the side of caution with cooling and went to an even thicker and more elaborate cooling system (thicker rad than all the aftermarket options, dual pass, swirl pot, header tank). So I'm not any better than anyone here... just pointing out anyone reading this thread in the future may want to try the cheaper ductwork option first and restore the airflow like you had stock before blindly following everyone else and trying bigger radiators that may or may not solve the issue.

rEclipserGST · Apr 27, 2012

Paid $160 or so shipped for an ebay aluminum radiator and two slim fans. My stock one was leaking topside near the plastic. Zero leaks since, thicker than oem, & sexier.

Pics should be in my profile.

DSMnOOb00 · Apr 27, 2012

Your right TSiAWD666, at the first sign of temp issues, I bought an aluminum radiator.. My logic was

"I want one, But would hate to spend 200$ for something I didn't need, but now I need it!"

99gst_racer · Apr 27, 2012

Great points, John. I agree about the benefits of ducting. It made a measurable difference on my car.

I also agree the the stock radiator performs perfectly fine for most people. The only reason I switched to an aluminum replacement was because I needed to be able to weld to it to modify the lower mounts and the hose connections. If it weren't for those changes, I'd still be rocking a stock radiator.

daren_p · Apr 27, 2012

TSiAWD666 said:
You know there's really not a lot of data on what these radiators do for you. You can try to use common sense engineering and say "they have more heat capacity for spikes" or "their design cools better!" but I haven't seen any data proving any of that leaving this as just pur speculation or fanboy hype. Regardless, these aftermarket radiators being the most obvious to people ("car overheating, must need new radiator!") often end up being the first attempt to resolve a cooling issue. For some it actually appears to work (i.e. alleviating their overheating issue), and for many they are insufficient. Step two usually comes in the form of ductwork, feeding the air from the mouth of the car (like it was stock, you know, that plastic ductwork you all threw away) to the radiator. This usually solves it for the street driven cars (though not so much for the track guys, they usually need a little more liked hood vents).

Of interest to me though is maybe the ductwork was all that was needed. I only just recently learned that one of the arguably most successful time attack cars in recent history, the Cyber Evo, races using an OEM evo radiator. No aftermarket nonsense there, just a regular stock oem radiator. AMG how can he do that, it's not entirely aluminum or super thick and has no fancy name?! Good question.

I actually wonder if the stock 2g radiator works perfectly fine even with an fmic in front if you just placed adequate radiator to bumper cover ducting like we had before the fmic was put in place (that's what that black plastic ductwork was for). I don't know if anyone's tested this, but if it works it would mean we're all doing a disservice to folks telling them to first blow hundreds of dollars on new radiators they don't need when they could just be cutting up some sheet metal off of cardboard templates, bolting into place, and sealing it all with aluminum tape, and be done.

Now I should say I am calling the kettle black here because I too didn't understand what the stock ductwork was and after getting an FMIC also was a lemming and bought a Fluidyne (which didn't work, still had to make ductwork when my car was a street car). Even now with my car being built for time trial racing I decided to err on the side of caution with cooling and went to an even thicker and more elaborate cooling system (thicker rad than all the aftermarket options, dual pass, swirl pot, header tank). So I'm not any better than anyone here... just pointing out anyone reading this thread in the future may want to try the cheaper ductwork option first and restore the airflow like you had stock before blindly following everyone else and trying bigger radiators that may or may not solve the issue.

Good post

Lots of people have cooling issues after a FMIC install & first thing they think is new rad. Think more often then not, a new rad will not solve their cooling issue unless they actually had problems with the stocker (such as blockages, etc). Sure an aftermarket rad will typically hold abit more coolent, which is a good thing but I think the biggest advantage over a stocker is metal welded end tanks as plastic ones will crack over time.

The most important thing, is airflow through the rad. Add a FMIC, its reduced, remove the stock ductiong, its reduced again, install a couple slim fans & its once again reduced. Then people wonder why the new rad isn't working any better then what they had.

Airflow takes the path of least resistance. Without any ducting, all that frontal airflow is going to try & make its way around the rad, not through it. If your going to remove the stock ducting, make sure you replace it with something. This will likely have the biggest impact on cooling.

As mentioned, most slim fans are junk. Most do not flow anywhere's close to what the stockers do. A couple of manufacturers do make good aftermarket fans (such as SPAL) that do flow as much or even more then the stockers, but they will cost you & typically the more they flow, the less "slim" they are.

I have a Koyo rad & a couple SPAL fans. My main fan is a 13" SPAL, believe it flows somewhere around 1800cfm IIRC. Alot of the other slim fans out there (in the typical 12" size most run) would be lucky to flow half that much.

GoCanes777 · Apr 27, 2012

Mitshimoto! I spent a pretty penny on flex-a-lite fans with the shroud thou hopefully it will be worth it once the cars outa the shop!

Ludachris · Apr 27, 2012

I like: PWR, Koyo, Fluidyne, Mishimoto... in that order. Love my PWR on the GSX. But I'm also a firm believer in ducting and allowing heat from the engine bay to escape through a hood vent. Doesn't matter which radiator you run, you need to help direct the air through it or it's a lost cause.

Funfettie · Apr 27, 2012

Mishimoto X line, Koyo, or fluidine. I run CX racing and it cools the 600whp E85 fed 2g GSX. pretty nice product

DSMnOOb00 · Apr 27, 2012

In suffering from over heating after ripping out the oem ducting, fmic, and cheap slim fans...

My first step is getting a fan shroud and reinstalling the oem ac fan (my first step is buying more stuff LOL

)

2nd replacing my heat oem o2 heat shield

3rd cutting the oem bumper for more air flow (removing that black trim in the bumper opening)

4th set fans to be on all the time with link

5th figure out some ducting

Ludachris · Apr 30, 2012

DSMnOOb00 said:
In suffering from over heating after ripping out the oem ducting, fmic, and cheap slim fans...

My first step is getting a fan shroud and reinstalling the oem ac fan (my first step is buying more stuff )

2nd replacing my heat oem o2 heat shield

3rd cutting the oem bumper for more air flow (removing that black trim in the bumper opening)

4th set fans to be on all the time with link

5th figure out some ducting

Save yourself some headache and move the ducting up on the priority list to the 2 or 3 spot.

clipto · Apr 30, 2012

I got the cxracing I payed $80 for it on ebay and temps are amazing. Really all aluminum radiators are the same imo to an exstent. So just pick up the one of your choice and price range.

Talondvr · Apr 30, 2012

99gst_racer said:
My Mishimoto has been working great for me. Great bang for the buck.

+1 here.

Ludachris · Apr 30, 2012

clipto said:
I got the cxracing I payed $80 for it on ebay and temps are amazing. Really all aluminum radiators are the same imo to an exstent. So just pick up the one of your choice and price range.

I disagree they're all the same, but their effect on a street car will likely be very similar. When you hit the road course things change a bit, so if you're planning to do HPDE days, don't buy into the mindset that they're all the same.

DSMnOOb00 · Apr 30, 2012

Well I installed my shroud finally, temps have really dropped. Although still abit on the hot side..

My next step is water wetter and cutting the bumper to finish things off

I know some good ducting would have done something similar. Well the shroud is a kind of ducting and has really made my temps manageable

It's just not all that easy to make an air duct without having access to the right tools and material. I know I can just throw duct tape but I really want to take my time when I finally decide to work on that project.

DSMnOOb00 · Apr 30, 2012

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DSMnOOb00 · Apr 30, 2012

FYI I have a el cheapo radiator and am more then happy with it. When I bought it it had leaking issues, but nothing abit of Teflon couldn't fix... Actually a lot of Teflon

this_tsi_8urV8 · Apr 30, 2012

What radiator and fan shroud? How many degrees did it cool by?

DSMnOOb00 · Apr 30, 2012

Well I dont have a water temp gauge but before the shroud, the stock gauge was all over the place..

Now after the shroud install, the temp only goes abit over the middle, not overheating but still warmer then normal.

The radiator was the cheapest one I could find on eBay... I paid like $190 plus shipping a no brand..

Same thing with the shroud 100$ shipped to my door with two 12"fans from DNA motoring

http://dnamotoring.com

I ordered it over the phone and paid with PayPal

I would recommend this shroud to anyone! Awesome buy, works great!

DSMnOOb00 · Apr 30, 2012

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Although the ac fan sits pretty close to the o2 housing.. I threw on the lower heat shield to help protect the fan

jmkoons · May 1, 2012

Fluidyne with dual 12" SPAL pull fans worked for me. I've also wired them together for max cooldown effect when either the A/C is on or when the temp sensor calls for it. This has served me well for the last 6 years for street driving, up to temps into the 80s.

Ludachris · May 2, 2012

DSMnOOb00 said:
Well I installed my shroud finally, temps have really dropped. Although still abit on the hot side..

My next step is water wetter and cutting the bumper to finish things off

I know some good ducting would have done something similar. Well the shroud is a kind of ducting and has really made my temps manageable

It's just not all that easy to make an air duct without having access to the right tools and material. I know I can just throw duct tape but I really want to take my time when I finally decide to work on that project.

Don't need much for some basic ducting - some thin sheet aluminum or steel from Home Depot's plumbing department (heating/cooling section), some aluminum tape, sheet metal screws, and maybe some weather strip and tin snips. If you want it to look better you can use some metal bending tools and some rivets, with some spray paint of course. You can get creative with the mounting to make it look good.

I'd much rather do all that than hack up my bumper - you can always re-do the ducting, once you cut the holes, they can't be uncut.

The fan shroud will certainly help, but you still have the problem of channeling all the air through the radiator, even when you cut the holes. The air coming through the holes will still be able to escape through the sides and the bottom once it makes it through the bumper opening and the FMIC. You need to seal the opening in the bumper cover to the FMIC to the radiator to ensure all the air that comes into the opening makes it through the radiator.

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Aluminum Radiators

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