shiny, new alum rad! (I'm easily amused!!)

[fiero308]

finally broke down and got my alum rad; only been planning it for about a year....
but I am pleased with the apparent quality; the welds look SUPER and the neck is nicely welded inside (pic 2);
the ladies in the house of course are STILL laughing at me.......
but that is ok.....

$289 incl tax, courtesy of Kenyon Racing in Kemptville (they had a sale on!!)

trying to remember the last time the INSIDE of a rad looked clean and shiny.  Oh, now I remember!  Never!

Now to install the sucker....... hmmmmm .......about 20 tubes of silicone seal..............

[fiero308]

and a pic to show the weld quality.
These are being used in stockers a lot, without any evident probs.  I understand they crank up the pressure to the 30 lb mark (not exactly recommended but it happens!)

[GoFast88]

You will be spending alot of time shinning 'er up. Can't let it get dusty, ya know. Whats the weight difference for the alum?

[fiero308]

yeah, I have been going thru Cdn Tire looking for aluminum rad polish....... must be out of stock...   
But from a performance point of view, it is prob a BIT lighter than the stocker, but MUCH more flow area and capacity; it is significantly thicker; bigger surface (I have to mod my front rad area a bit to 'squeeze' it in!) it is about 26" wide x 19" high; a stock Chev size and hose pattern (which matches); and I will have to trim the flanges on the inside front frame rails a bit to get it to go.  I will reinforce them to replace what I remove.

But it will be a nice snug fit and give me lots more cooling capacity which is my MAIN goal, as the 3.4 dohc has a HUGE rad (compared to the fiero) even tho I know that guys with swaps are running stock fiero rads and they seem to be doing the job (somehow???)
I will weigh it and take pix of my stock rad and this one for comparison and post them.
One less thing to go wrong, (overheating) is the way I am looking at it.  Overheating is one of the two biggest engine killers.  Ask me how I found THAT one out!!!!   
Oiling will be another issue to deal with but I will get there.....

[fiero308]

little update here - esp. for guys who are running swaps......
attaching a couple of comparo pix to show overall size and core thickness.  The core is over twice as thick PLUS being larger (on this 26x19 size, that is)
so a LOT more cooling capacity; TONS.  The stocker looks pretty skinny beside this thing.....
I expect that will result in a lot less fan operation too, because of higher radiated heat dissipation simply due to surface area.  Less alternator operation means less parasitic drag on the engine too.  SO........my aluminum rad is going to contribute to improved GAS MILEAGE!!!!!! LOL
This rad DOES weigh a bit more than the stocker; but it is a pound or two.  Not an issue.

[RGBaker]

I assume you have to increase the total volume of coolant in the system, which will add a few more pounds too ...

More to the point, how many litres does this rad add to your total?

GB

[fiero308]

well the rad will obviously add to system total but the 3.4 dohc engine will hold more too of course; having significantly larger heads, cam carriers, and thus more cooling passages, so anything I say would be a guess right now.  But I should take a pic of the 'original' 3.4 rad out of the Lumina (if I still have it!) and compare THEM.  It is easily twice the size of the little fiero rad.  And the engine (in the lumina) gets whatever extra benefit of front-end cooling altho I expect that is treated as a freebie.....
So it is pretty surprising to me that the stock setup works as well as it does!!   

[GoFast88]

and I will have to trim the flanges on the inside front frame rails a bit to get it to go.  I will reinforce them to replace what I remove.

But it will be a nice snug fit

A pic, after your done your install, will show that it the the best upgrade for anyone who has a leaky rad and thinking of buying a stock rad.  Its cheaper than an Archie 4 core with the import duty and all.

[fiero308]

yeah, Brian; I will make sure.  I think my major prob will be finding suitable heavy rubber insulators for this rad.  It will be a while but I will be sure to list it. 

And I agree; that it would be worth a hard 'think' for anyone with a swap.
I did an autopsy on a 350 that overheated and blew up...... EVERYthing inside broke.  Pieces of the block, connecting rods, bits of pistons, the camshaft..... you name it!!  It was total, catastrophic failure and it made a lifelong impression.  So the simple rad is maybe a bit under-rated in the importance department.....