Squid4life
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2004
Alright, most people have seen the thread I started about the ALRADCO radiators that Peter sells as a vendor on this board:
http://turbobuick.com/forums/threads/aluminum-radiator-american-made-by-alradco.341844/page-3
Well, I finally made time to do a few things I really needed to do. A few weeks ago I picked up a front mount intercooler. It is an old Eastern unit, and although works great (much better than the stock IC) it restricts just about all airflow to the rad. I will add pics this weekend if I can. The eastern is long enough, wide enough, and thick enough to cover the entire grille opening. Also, it is not all fins, a lot of the area covered is by the solid tanks. There is only about 6" tall of the finned area. So, in other words, the radiator has its work cut out!
As of the first few days of driving it, in the warm SoCal temps (~75 degrees), sitting in traffic, driving on the highway, and city driving, etc you can tell it blocks the air. I now use the fans instead of leaving them off all the time. But, the temps whether driving, city or highway, sitting, etc still stay low between 160-170. I thought it would go higher, but again this radiator really works its ass off!
This is with a 160 stat, stock water pump, radiator area not boxed in, and watching temps both with a gauge and scanmaster. I am using the internal oil cooler in the rad too, which has helps my oil temps and pressure a lot, and did not affect coolant temps!
In the next week or so, I will be running the trans fluid through the internal trans cooler in the radiator as well. I welded a bung on the pan during a trans service, and have mounted a trans temp gauge next to the console so I can record temps. There is a lot of talk lately about "do I need an oil cooler and trans cooler separate from the radiator???" and with summer coming up there will be lots of guys asking about heating issues, radiators, coolers, etc. Adding the trans cooler to the front mounted IC and oil cooler should about max out this rad, so stay tuned.
http://turbobuick.com/forums/threads/aluminum-radiator-american-made-by-alradco.341844/page-3
Well, I finally made time to do a few things I really needed to do. A few weeks ago I picked up a front mount intercooler. It is an old Eastern unit, and although works great (much better than the stock IC) it restricts just about all airflow to the rad. I will add pics this weekend if I can. The eastern is long enough, wide enough, and thick enough to cover the entire grille opening. Also, it is not all fins, a lot of the area covered is by the solid tanks. There is only about 6" tall of the finned area. So, in other words, the radiator has its work cut out!
As of the first few days of driving it, in the warm SoCal temps (~75 degrees), sitting in traffic, driving on the highway, and city driving, etc you can tell it blocks the air. I now use the fans instead of leaving them off all the time. But, the temps whether driving, city or highway, sitting, etc still stay low between 160-170. I thought it would go higher, but again this radiator really works its ass off!
This is with a 160 stat, stock water pump, radiator area not boxed in, and watching temps both with a gauge and scanmaster. I am using the internal oil cooler in the rad too, which has helps my oil temps and pressure a lot, and did not affect coolant temps!
In the next week or so, I will be running the trans fluid through the internal trans cooler in the radiator as well. I welded a bung on the pan during a trans service, and have mounted a trans temp gauge next to the console so I can record temps. There is a lot of talk lately about "do I need an oil cooler and trans cooler separate from the radiator???" and with summer coming up there will be lots of guys asking about heating issues, radiators, coolers, etc. Adding the trans cooler to the front mounted IC and oil cooler should about max out this rad, so stay tuned.
