Upgrading Radiator

[horrace]

Hey guys i was reading through threads about aftermarket radiators and was thinking of getting one before summer hit as my system needs a flush anyways and the cooling pro ones are nice and cheap. But it doesn't seem there are any for auto cars with a cooler in the radiator for the auto tranny, so i wanna know if anyone has one (i think the r33/34 one is direct fit from memory) and you are running your car without it and just you the front mount tranny cooler (upgraded obviously) bypassing the one in the radiator.

Thanks for any help, i have two weeks off work coming up so i planning heaps of maintainence/mods in that time and this is one of them.

[iamhe77]

I have a custom radiator on my M35 which does not use the OE radiator cooler (at the moment).

I am running 2 trans coolers in line as our transmission run damn hot.

What do you want to know?

[horrace]

just if it's cool to bypass it and just run an upgraded front mount kind of cool inplace of the crap factory front mount oil cooler. will it cause damage etc. I see the radiator one as more assisting with warm up anyway rather than cooling, i was just wonding if other people are already doing this without problems.

[iamhe77]

There is a noticeable difference with getting the trans up to operating temp... during a Melbourne winter (re: F**king cold).

As such, I would like to get my OE one put into my radiator, but cooling wise, I think you would need more than just 1 trans cooler if you deleted the in-tank one... especially for a Perth summer.

[rb26stagea]

Go to supa cheap and buy the Davies Craig trans cooler, which comes with all lines etc.... Pull off the Davies Craig sticker, and voila! You'll find it's a PWR unit for HEAPS cheaper than PWR sell it for... Just helped GreenGhost fit one to his Stagea: heaps better than the factory (RB25NEO) one...

[horrace]

yeah i have a davies craig one (the same as in the tutorial) fitting it tomorrow, i still have my standard radiator atm. So i might need to run a couple of coolers if i delete the in-radiator one the ey? anyone out there with a series 1 done this upgrade?

[rb26stagea]

GreenGhost kept the factory trans cooler, and just ran the DC/PWR one in series... the more cooling the better if you're planning more power...

[horrace]

/\/\

hang on a sec i'm going to replacing the radiator so i cant keep the stock cooler if i dont that, which is why im asking, obviously while i still have the stock rad in i will retain both.

[rb26stagea]

Ah! My bad: I meant that 2 coolers are better than 1: I forgot that the S1 and S2 have different setups: My car was already converted when I got it...

[QWK32]

do you have a S1 or S2 stagea? S2 stagea's have the cooler/heater in the radiator and a separate auto cooler. i think S1's just have the radiator cooler.

Edited August 27, 2009 by QWK32

[horrace]

dunno about that mines a series one ind it has both for sure. Not the first one iv seen either, man if it was manual it would make this alot easier.

[rb26stagea]

[KiwiRS4T]

S1 Stagea has auto fluid going through the radiator and then through a tiny little bar cooler. If you are going to upgrade the radiator you should get one (they are available) with the connections for the auto trans fluid. Running two aftermarket trans coolers will not do the same job as the radiator initially helps bring the auto trans up to operating temperature more quickly and statistically the majority of trips are short ones.

I replaced my radiator with a thicker one with the auto trans still running through it and got the largest (V8) Davies Craig (Supercheap) trans cooler as well.

[horrace]

thanks mate that is what i would be after, where did you purchase it from, how much? brand? BTW i also have the V8 trans cooler inplace of the standard bar cooler.

Edited August 27, 2009 by horrace

[RubyRS4temp]

I've already got a separate trans cooler and I'm buying a alloy rad soon.

[horrace]

/\/\/\

what options you looking at?

[KiwiRS4T]

I won't be much help to you being in NZ because I didn't buy a Japanese racing radiator but just got a generic National Radiators unit from my local repair shop for about $150 (he just looks in the catalogue for one with the same dimensions only thicker and with the auto fluid and rad hoses connections in the right place).

[horrace]

/\/\

now thats not a bad idea, the other thing i was thinking of was it cant be that hard to add a pipe running through the bottom tank of an aftermarket one, might cost a couple of hundred bucks but would be well worth it. what does everyone else think?

[horrace]

i emailed PWR they do one for an auto R33 would be direct fit, comes to $990 delivered, pretty steep for a street car so i think ill be steering clear of this one although im sure the quality would be awsome.

[DaveB]

$990 OUCH.

However, working by that logic a R33 auto radiator will fit??? That means there are lots more options; and there are group buys open on SAU from time to time as well.

Edited August 29, 2009 by DaveB