Which Radiator Set Up Should I Use

[robbo_rb180]

i have 2 setups that i have and was wondering what peoples opinions were on the 2

1- r32 gtr radiator reco'd with 2x spal 10inch thermo's, pull through setup

or

2- cooling pro 40mm alloy rad with 14inch "generic" thermo fan, push setup on front of air con condenser

car is my daily that i sometimes take to the drags and do a few hill runs with.

which setup should i use?

or do i invest in a slimer spal 14inch thermo fan & mount it in pull setup with 40mm rad?

cheers

rob

[aleks]

I managed to fit a 13" slim spal puller (just) on the drivers side of my china spec radiator. The bloke at PWR said that probably wouldn't cut it by it self but there was zero chance in fitting anything else next to it.

I'll be surprised if a 14" puller will clear the engine, I have a 14" spal here and it doesn't fit the dimensions of my core height wise.... 378mm between the tanks, but you have a different radiator. the 14" spal is like 399mm by 410mm.

I could only fit a 8" spal on the passenger side as a pusher because of my oil coolers infront of the radiator but you could probably fit a 10" spal? as a pusher without anything in front. Whats aircon?

My memory is a abit hazy but the 13" and 8" gave something close to the same amount of flow as the 14" which what the bloke at PWR was wanting me to run, can't remember is that was the slim version or not.

Edited April 26, 2010 by aleks

[STATUS]

Trim the rad support to give you more room, i had the factory clutch fan setup in ours with the ASI radiator and it was perfect.... never overheated. The only thermos that would cut it once i fitted a bigger radiator (greddy sponsorship) were flex-a-lite slimline twins fans...

[aleks]

Engine fan would be the best way to go. What did you do underneath the radiator? did you move that forward aswell?

[STATUS]

On that car i fitted R32 lower rad support and castor brackets.

[GTScotT]

3 out of 3 coolingpro rads i have seen in the flesh or owned have had coolingproblems

1 of which the tubes expanded under pressure and wouldn't let air pass

never again from me

[robbo_rb180]

thanks for the info.

aleks- how thick is the spal 14inch fan. the current one i have is like 80mm. if its under 65mm it will fit.

i would cut the rad support but i just spent alot of $$ smoothing the engine bay.

aircon is a must in nthqld

[STATUS]

3 out of 3 coolingpro rads i have seen in the flesh or owned have had coolingproblems

1 of which the tubes expanded under pressure and wouldn't let air pass

never again from me

yeah we use jap or for cheap rads we use ASI, we have used about 20 ASI rads with no issues including 3-5 regular SAU track day junkies cars.

[Simonster]

Depends on how much you want to spend.

My S13 with 25 has a ARE radiator built to fit under the radiator support panel. Not a lot of capacity but man is it efficient. I use a 16inch SPAL 3000cfm, just awesome, fits no problem.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Best option is to cut into the radiator support (which I should have done) if you're planning to run pulling thermos, and if you're running A/C you don't have much options.

I had a 180SX with a RB20DET with full A/C setup, what I ended up doing was install a R32 GT-R Rad with 2x12" Slim Line Davies Craig fans pulling and 1x 14inch in front of the A/C pushing, had it hooked up to a relay and tridon temp swtich for all 3x to kick in when the water was warm and only 1x14" inch to kick in when the A/C was on using a diode.

But RB in a S13 will over heat, I suggest taking the A/C out and the condensor out and cutting into the radiator support and getting a nice thick ASI or KOYO radiator for a R32 GT-R and mounting 2x 14 fans pushing to cool the betch down

[yld:18e]

i have an rb20 in a 180 and use a justjap 40mm alloy radiator with 2x 12inch thermos pushing from the front, no ac condensor and haven't had any problems with over heating...

[STATUS]

i have an rb20 in a 180 and use a justjap 40mm alloy radiator with 2x 12inch thermos pushing from the front, no ac condensor and haven't had any problems with over heating...

done any track days?