- Joined
- May 28, 2001
I did an install of Alradco's new radiator and big dual fan and thought I would post up the steps.
You can see the difference in the stock radiator and the new one. This one is powder coated black and the shroud is as well.
After removing the stock fan and radiator make sure you keep the rubber spacers at the top and bottom of the old radiator. You will need them.
This new radiator bolts right back in the stock location but don't bolt it up if you have the shroud as well. The new shroud covers all of the fins on the radiator. The shroud is secured by placing it inside of the bottom radiator support. There are no bolts to secure it. The holes that are cut out of the bottom and the top of the shroud DO NOT line up with the stock bolt holes on the car. You dont need them so don't freak out.
The top of the shroud is held in place by the upper radiator support bracket. You may need an extra set of hands to make sure the shroud is lined up with the radiator as you snug up the bolts.
You will need to reuse the bolts that hold the clamps around both AC lines, they go back in as before with no problems.
Before the fan install this car would heat up to 200 degrees in stop and go traffic and would not cool back down. Even when you would get on the freeway it would cool down after 10 to 12 miles of steady speed. This stock fan was wired to come on high only and still would not cool off.
With the new radiator and fan the car can get up to 180 in stop and go traffic and it cools back down to 160 every time.
First off, the radiator and shroud are nice pieces. Good fit and finsih. The wiring supplied with it is quality stuff as well.
I had talked to Pete at Alradco about a couple of observation about the kit. The dual fan kit is set up to run only one fan on low or both on high. One single fan can actually bring temps down with the car up to temperature sitting at idle. We let the car run in park, it heated up to 185 and one single fan brought it back down to 160. I would like to see both fans run on low or high. I think it would only help keep the car cool in traffic, especially when outside temps are hitting 105 degrees or more sometimes. I believe Pete will be addressing that shortly.
The supplied wiring harness was just a little tight when it came to routing the positive and negative terminals up to the battery on the car. I suggested to Pete to add about 8 to 12 inches to those wires so they can be routed around the front and sides of the battery so the installation could be a little neater.
As you can see from the photos, the intercooler pipe from the turbo to the intercooler has very little space between it and the fan. We are getting that remedied with a U bend of pipe so there will be sufficient space between the pipe and fan. We reclocked the compressor side of the turbo but that alone was not enough. With all the different pipes and intercoolers out there you will have to look at space between the pipes on your car. It can be done.
All in all this is a very good product and it works very well.
I hope this will help some of you.
You can see the difference in the stock radiator and the new one. This one is powder coated black and the shroud is as well.
After removing the stock fan and radiator make sure you keep the rubber spacers at the top and bottom of the old radiator. You will need them.
This new radiator bolts right back in the stock location but don't bolt it up if you have the shroud as well. The new shroud covers all of the fins on the radiator. The shroud is secured by placing it inside of the bottom radiator support. There are no bolts to secure it. The holes that are cut out of the bottom and the top of the shroud DO NOT line up with the stock bolt holes on the car. You dont need them so don't freak out.
The top of the shroud is held in place by the upper radiator support bracket. You may need an extra set of hands to make sure the shroud is lined up with the radiator as you snug up the bolts.
You will need to reuse the bolts that hold the clamps around both AC lines, they go back in as before with no problems.
Before the fan install this car would heat up to 200 degrees in stop and go traffic and would not cool back down. Even when you would get on the freeway it would cool down after 10 to 12 miles of steady speed. This stock fan was wired to come on high only and still would not cool off.
With the new radiator and fan the car can get up to 180 in stop and go traffic and it cools back down to 160 every time.
First off, the radiator and shroud are nice pieces. Good fit and finsih. The wiring supplied with it is quality stuff as well.
I had talked to Pete at Alradco about a couple of observation about the kit. The dual fan kit is set up to run only one fan on low or both on high. One single fan can actually bring temps down with the car up to temperature sitting at idle. We let the car run in park, it heated up to 185 and one single fan brought it back down to 160. I would like to see both fans run on low or high. I think it would only help keep the car cool in traffic, especially when outside temps are hitting 105 degrees or more sometimes. I believe Pete will be addressing that shortly.
The supplied wiring harness was just a little tight when it came to routing the positive and negative terminals up to the battery on the car. I suggested to Pete to add about 8 to 12 inches to those wires so they can be routed around the front and sides of the battery so the installation could be a little neater.
As you can see from the photos, the intercooler pipe from the turbo to the intercooler has very little space between it and the fan. We are getting that remedied with a U bend of pipe so there will be sufficient space between the pipe and fan. We reclocked the compressor side of the turbo but that alone was not enough. With all the different pipes and intercoolers out there you will have to look at space between the pipes on your car. It can be done.
All in all this is a very good product and it works very well.
I hope this will help some of you.
