gvr4 aluminum radiator question

[DDM]

Hello, i just broke my radiator today and figure i might as well just go for an aluminum one. I cannot find a gvr4 specific aluminum radiator. Only ones i found were a 1g one. From what i understand if i get a 1g radiator then i need 1g water neck. The problem is that a gvr4 water neck has a what looks to be a coolant temp sensor. 1g does not. Also the 1g radiator doesnt look like it has a plug for the fan sensor on the bottom of the radiator. Thats fine because i was thinking hardwiring slim fans anyway, but what do i do with the sensor on the water neck?

 

[turbowop]

Ebay Aluminum Radiator

 

[James]

Wonder how much that is after all the fees and whatnot

 

[DDM]

The thing is that its in China. I accidently ordered some foglights from China and its been 2 weeks and still no word. Plus the fact that i could get screwed over. Im trying to have the car ready to go for factory mod. Doubt the radiator would make it here in 19 days.

 

[James]

Didn't someone say the Napa oem replacemt was aluminum or something? About a month ago.

 

[LIV4PSI]

The core is aluminum, the end tanks are still plastic. I'm not sure that's what the OP is looking for.

 

[JNR]

Shame they don't make an oem replacement (copper/brass) that are easy to find?

I wouldn't get an aluminum one *unless* it had more cores/surface area, or else it won't as well. Also, just because china bay has aluminum doesn't mean it's a good design or mfr-ing practices (most notably with the brazing, etc.).

Does Rockauto carry anything? Keep looking, as something is out there that is oem and not plastic. [EDIT - wow, well did a quick search and most all of them have plastic tanks now, ugh...I have a CSF (nothing special) that is all metal [copper/brass] and guess I'm going to keep it then and repair the pinhole leak than try to find a replacement...how sad they all went to plastic; I'm sure *something* is out there, but not going to spend th time to look for it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif ]

 

[DDM]

I would rather just get an aluminum one. I just got off the phone with a local parts store. Its 130$ for an oem replacement with plastic top/bottom. If something breaks i usually go with aftermarket lol. I got a buddy who's actually on this forum that has a koyo rad in his car. Its a vrt4 specific radiator so i know they do exist. Also i found some aluminum ebay radiators that say members are located in china but they ship from san francisco. Anyone dealt with anything like that? Quick shipping?

 

[JNR]

I did an edit...but yeah, if plastic is OK, they have all sorts of them out there, pretty cheap ($100-$170).

 

[DDM]

The china aluminum one is suppose to be bigger and better. I am also worried about the manufacturing process. Probably will buy one off ebay because i really..really..really hate that plastic stuff.

 

[DDM]

Also does anyone know the deal of where to relocate that coolant temp sensor from the water neck if i do decide to get all the 1g stuff?

 

[JNR]

Yeah, I hate that plastic stuff too and they're prone to cracks and stuff down the road. Such a toss-up though if I'd take a chance on a china alum. radiator or an oem replacement, but chances are they are made in china too, like everything else these days /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I'm just surprised we can get away with a single row radiator (oem) so effectively, but then again this engine is pretty small, I suppose.

Well good luck on the ebay one if you go that route and keep us posted on the quality, etc. of the unit.

 

[EMX5636]

The sensor has a fitting in the DSM outlet too. (the top one is for A/C only anyway). The DSM water outlet has the space for it in the pass side of the top half.

 

[citymunky]

I don't know if they still make them or not, by my car came with a OEM replacement 2-row Modine radiator. (Brass with metal end caps)

If not, people have used EVO III rads---> Koyo

 

[turbowop]

What's wrong with the plastic endtanks? That's what pretty much all the OE's are using now. I just pulled the stocker off 1051 finally. 140k miles and 21 years. And the plastic endtanks are actually still fine. I swapped the radiator with an aluminum core/plastic endtank unit while chasing some cooling issues. Both radiators perform EXACTLY the same. I was just chasing my tail due to ECMlink reading higher temps than Pocketlogger. Brass/copper may perform better, but in our case, it's irrelevant as an aluminum core produces the same end result. If my car does fine with a plastic tanked, aluminum cored unit, I think 90%+ of others on this site won't have an issue with one either. Maybe if you're looking for aesthetics, or are actually road racing...

 

[JNR]

Plastic end tanks are asking for problems and do not last as long, but like everything else, it's done for cost savings. I'm sure they're fine most of the time and there isn't much else out there anymore, but given a choice it would be foolish to choose one over a metal end tank (copper/brass or aluminum)...of course, we're stuck with whatever is available and you'd probably be alright for some time, but I've had issues with plastic end tanks (new cars), as have a lot of people I know...they get replaced under warranty and maybe they were just defective batches, but never had any issues with metal ones. It's pretty much common knowledge (I thought) that the plastic ones suck and people like to replace them with the metal ones when the time arises.

 

[ghostinthevr4]

Quoting DDM:
The thing is that its in China. I accidently ordered some foglights from China and its been 2 weeks and still no word. Plus the fact that i could get screwed over. Im trying to have the car ready to go for factory mod. Doubt the radiator would make it here in 19 days.



No it won't take 19 days to get to you, it'll be there within the week you order it. I think there originally made in china but ship from somewhere in the U.S. mine came in three days! One thing you will have to do is tap the fitting for the coolant temp sensor at the bottom of the radiator, when you get it your sensor won't fit so keep that in mind. I can't rember the type size either I'll have to check later.

Depending on how your UICP is setup its gonna be a tight fit if your running a big turbo, if your still on a 16g size turbo you'll be fine.

 

Silla all-aluminum galant radiator.

I know Andy's Auto Sport isn't the best place to shop, but it's ok to look around.

 

[alansupra94]

I run a 1g Fluidyne radiator and 1g neck+base with no problems. The only thing about filling the system is that I do it using the upper radiator hose (going to the radiator) and wait for the coolant to start running out of the 1g neck. After that, I just do a basic bleeding and I am good to go.

 

[JamesFoster]

I just installed an EVO3 radiator I bought on eBay. It works great and fits perfect, other than sitting about an inch lower.

The only thing you have to do, is install your thermosensor (the sensor that turns the fans on) in the thermostat housing instead of the radiator because there is no bung for it.

That's what I did and it works great.