Im about to go pick up an F-body radiator, but Ive been reading about alot of issues that come up. Some people just eliminate the oil cooler. I just bought a trans cooler and now Im getting this, and dont have the budget for an oil cooler as well. It almost looks like the oil cooler hose will loop around and screw back into the thing where the hoses come out. The fitting looks like the same size on both ends. Is there another approach here? Can I just take that hub thing off that the hoses come out of? I wouldnt imagine so.
Need a FAST response/F-Body radiator/Oil Cooler
- Thread starter VadersV6
- Start date
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Just do away with the oil cooler for now. The oil pressure will come up. Just change the oil at 2000 instead of 3000. Then later on get a heavy duty oil cooler if you can afford or feel its needed. Something with zero pressure drop & you will be good to go. The f body radiator cools great, better than the stocker & it is light. With stock fan & 160 stat mine stays cool at no higher than 185 in traffic. I havent even put the dual fans on yet.
These pos motors dont last long enough to justify spending alot of money on em. Keep it simple.
Just do away with the oil cooler for now. The oil pressure will come up. Just change the oil at 2000 instead of 3000. Then later on get a heavy duty oil cooler if you can afford or feel its needed. Something with zero pressure drop & you will be good to go. The f body radiator cools great, better than the stocker & it is light. With stock fan & 160 stat mine stays cool at no higher than 185 in traffic. I havent even put the dual fans on yet.
These pos motors dont last long enough to justify spending alot of money on em. Keep it simple.
Yep, pull off the "hub thing". Just swapped my 87 over to the f body rad last month, If you are going to run without a oil cooler. Remove your oil filter and behind it is a large nut can't remember what size, but pull that nut and the hub with the oil cooler lines will come right off. then just clean the surface and put a filter on, its really easy, If I didn't screw it up, then no one will.
Good luck, It is a great conversion, I am very happy.
Good luck, It is a great conversion, I am very happy.
Thanks for the quick responses. I bought the radiator and finished it up probably 4 hours after making the first post. I wasted about 1/2 an hour after putting radiator in my trunk, closing the trunk, and then realizing my keys were in there. I had locked myself out. I went back into autozone and bought a universal dipstick, and a set of needlenose pliers. I went to my car, and bent the dipstick into a jimmying tool and broke into the car. People were staring at me like I was a theif.
Autozone had the radiator in stock, (Autozone#- 433918) and I got lucky for once because the holes that sometimes arent plugged, were plugged, which saved me alot of trouble. As far as the oil cooler lines go, I had to get it done before it got dark, so I was out there figuring out what to do before I read the last post about removing the whole "hub". I ended up cutting the metal end pieces off the oil tubes, flaring the ends, and using my own hose to loop around. So I have no oil cooler. Just the factory end fittings, connected to a rubber hose that loops around. I wanted to do it this way so I could hook up an oil cooler soon.
The radiator is seriously a perfect drop in. Ive heard about the rubber mount pads having to be moved or something...not true in my case. It drops right in. I didnt use the tranny cooler hookups on the radiator cause of my magical exploding tranny line debacle last week that ended in me getting an external cooler. By the way, I did pull the new tranny cooler hoses off the steel tranny fluid lines, flared the ends, and then put the rubber hose back on with double fuel injection clamps like people suggested. Dont want those blowing off.
This is the best mod Ive done yet. There is a 3 mile, 6 degree grade that I climb up on the way to work every day. My temps have always risen from 175 to 205-215 by the time I reach the top. Its even hit 225 before in the dead of summer. Today, I went from 162 up to 168 by the time I hit the top, and within 15 seconds it had dropped back to 162 (this is where it runs all the time). A ****ping 6 degrees. This radiator cools really really well, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Autozone has a lowest price guarantee thing going on right now, so if anyone wants to get one of these radiators, now is the time. The price was $109! And the complaints about the radiator being out of square...not so with mine. Everything is just fine. Even if it was a little crooked, as long as the top and the bottom are co-linear, everything should be ok. It also helps if your cooling system is clean (water jackets in the block and everywhere). Ive dumped my coolant 4 or 5 times in the past year. It used to be really crusty but is now fairly clean. If you stick a new radiator on an engine with filthy cooling jackets, the new core will clog fast and kinda makes the whole thing a waste of time. Clean your coolant system first!
Autozone had the radiator in stock, (Autozone#- 433918) and I got lucky for once because the holes that sometimes arent plugged, were plugged, which saved me alot of trouble. As far as the oil cooler lines go, I had to get it done before it got dark, so I was out there figuring out what to do before I read the last post about removing the whole "hub". I ended up cutting the metal end pieces off the oil tubes, flaring the ends, and using my own hose to loop around. So I have no oil cooler. Just the factory end fittings, connected to a rubber hose that loops around. I wanted to do it this way so I could hook up an oil cooler soon.
The radiator is seriously a perfect drop in. Ive heard about the rubber mount pads having to be moved or something...not true in my case. It drops right in. I didnt use the tranny cooler hookups on the radiator cause of my magical exploding tranny line debacle last week that ended in me getting an external cooler. By the way, I did pull the new tranny cooler hoses off the steel tranny fluid lines, flared the ends, and then put the rubber hose back on with double fuel injection clamps like people suggested. Dont want those blowing off.
This is the best mod Ive done yet. There is a 3 mile, 6 degree grade that I climb up on the way to work every day. My temps have always risen from 175 to 205-215 by the time I reach the top. Its even hit 225 before in the dead of summer. Today, I went from 162 up to 168 by the time I hit the top, and within 15 seconds it had dropped back to 162 (this is where it runs all the time). A ****ping 6 degrees. This radiator cools really really well, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Autozone has a lowest price guarantee thing going on right now, so if anyone wants to get one of these radiators, now is the time. The price was $109! And the complaints about the radiator being out of square...not so with mine. Everything is just fine. Even if it was a little crooked, as long as the top and the bottom are co-linear, everything should be ok. It also helps if your cooling system is clean (water jackets in the block and everywhere). Ive dumped my coolant 4 or 5 times in the past year. It used to be really crusty but is now fairly clean. If you stick a new radiator on an engine with filthy cooling jackets, the new core will clog fast and kinda makes the whole thing a waste of time. Clean your coolant system first!
BRAD_PADGETT
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
Excellent post. I just finished the same radiator on my 85 hot air with an 87 ECM and 87 electic fan. Works great and I and these radiators blow away the stock ones. brad
Good to know. Thanks. Im pretty happy with my $109 radiator. It cools the engine so much better its unreal. Im not running an oil cooler now, but if you can keep the block cool, the oil should stay cool. I figure if you have to extend the oil cooler hoses to run this other radiator, you might as well just save some money and block it off, or get an external cooler. You could get an external oil cooler and an F-Body radiator for less than the price of this other one. But yours is still a pretty good idea for people who want to keep things a little more OEM looking.
Another thing I like about this radiator is the 1 huge core instead of 3 tiny ones. Its so big, its hard to imagine them ever getting clogged. I noticed that because the single core is so big, the velocity is really slow. The water sort of oozes through, but that will give the water alot more time to cool, and it probably doesnt work the water pump as hard. All I know is that it works great. Thanks to all the guys who recommended this radiator!
Another thing I like about this radiator is the 1 huge core instead of 3 tiny ones. Its so big, its hard to imagine them ever getting clogged. I noticed that because the single core is so big, the velocity is really slow. The water sort of oozes through, but that will give the water alot more time to cool, and it probably doesnt work the water pump as hard. All I know is that it works great. Thanks to all the guys who recommended this radiator!
