I'm about to install a new radiator. I want to bring my car down from 220+ to under 180, but I want to collect some more information before I go spending money. My question for those of you running aftermarket radiators is this:

1. Which radiator?
2. How much did it drop your operating temperature?
3. Approximately how much did it set you back/where did you get it?
4. *Honestly* how inconvenient was the installation, keeping in mind that I don't have enough time to make a big project out of this--I'm willing to pay quite a bit more for a custom fit just to be able to drop it in in a day and be done with it.

I'm considering the BeCool version, because it's a custom fit, and all the posts I've seen indicate that it's good for a 25-50 degree drop over the stock radiator, but if I can avoid paying $500, I'm all about that.

Thanks in advance for any info,
Willie C.

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86 Trans Am WS6

It takes some ***** to do your quarter-miling on foot.
Recent ET's:
@Atlanta 50.80
@Southeastern 50.62
@Mtn Laurel 50.04
Future mods: More endurance workouts and some 300 meter repeats. Projected E.T., 49.8

 

Hey,

I did the new radiator thing already and just went with a local aftermarket 3 row.

There are 4 row rads out there but I was told you would have to do some mods to get it to fit properly.
Again this is what I was told.

Mine dropped right in and was installed in under an hour.
It's really easy and nothing tricky about it.
I found a good 20° drop in temp after the new radiator and adding waterwetter.

Our temp stays right at the first mark on the gauge driving in any condition. It does get hot while in stop and go traffic but then drops back down again when you get out of traffic.

We paid $125 for a 3 row standard radiator. If you look around you might find better prices than that, but at the time our single row radiator sprung a large leak and we needed one yesterday and did not have the time to check prices.




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91 Mystic Teal RS Convertible. 305 TBI, Auto, stock.
125,000 miles and still going strong.
Only minor mods planned for the near future.
Like headers, flowmaster exhaust, some ignition mods, K&N airfilter, Perhaps a chip if needed.
Waiting for the motor to blow up so I can install a ZZ4 crate motor. Let's just hope it don't blow up too soon.

 

I have a BeCool in mine. It was a great fit. I got it from Summit for around $500 and saw an average drop in temp of 30 - 40 degrees.

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1984 Z28 350
Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you down to their level and beat you with experience
My Web Page

 

I got a radiator from performance radiator(there is a store near my house). I noticed a huge drop in temp, though my car was overheating all the time, so it helped a lot. I got a 3 row aluminum rad for $120. they have a website performanceradiator.com. I installed mine in 30 minutes no problems.