Here's some pics of the install on my Griffin radiator me and my brother put in, also i put in a TCI universal trans cooler. and after about a month and half id say everything is working fine. takes alittle longer for me to use heat inside my car even with a 185* thermostat. you can see how much i had to trim off the fan shroud to get the radiator cap to fit but it looks sweet.

 

theres 4 pics, wish i knew how to do more then one a post and cardomain doesnt work right for me when i try to post more then 1 in a post.

 

raditor and motor holds about 2 and half gallons of coolant/antifreeze with a bottle of Water Wetter.

 

last one , no more, and the trans cooler weighs like 2 lbs at the most.

 

that trans cooler line in the 2nd pic.


you should secure it in some way so that it doesnt rub on that metal part... or cut or bend the metal part..


otherwise it will rub into the line there... and one day, *splish*

out comes your fluid, and you wont have a nice day.

 

the line doesnt move enless u move it actually and the only thing its up against is the tranny its not pinched or anything

 

everything shakes some when the car is moving and the engine running... and you can be sure theres some air blowing thru that hole...


it looks great and everything, im just giveing you a heads up on a possible problem i found thru experiance....


and btw, it looks great... bright silver alum radiators look SOOOO much nicer then the dark stock ones. cool better too.

 

no problem, thanx for the tip, ill probably end up scuring it some how. and yeah bright alumin does look better then the stock stuff.

 

Very nice, I'm going to do the exact same thing around march when it gets warm and I need better cooling for my new 350.

So that griffin fit under the stock plastic radiator shroud with mininal work? What exact one did you get?

 

i got the 31x19 '' universal griffin radiator. there was sum cuttin along the side where the top and bottem of the fan shroud bolt together but it wasnt much really just cut alittle at a time and your goin to end up test fitting it over and over again till u get it right or the way u want it to be as close as the stock one was in there, also i couldnt use the rubber spacer things that are on top of the stock radiator becuz the fan shroud wouldnt come down with out breakin it if they where in there. i do have the bottem ones in but they also where trimed down to fit nicely.

 

My cooler looks very similar to that one. I havent hooked up the lines yet but I attached the cooler to the cross brace like you see in the one picture. This allows about 1/2" space between the cooler and the AC condensor, and I didn't have to go through both condenser and radiator. I don't know how you would only go through the condenser and get those little tie thingys on between the radiator and the condensor. I attached it with regular cable ties. They look at least as strong as the ones that came with the unit, by the way that look exactly the same as in the picture, the heads being little brown squares. I will take a picture and see what you think. The location is great, centered on the condensor, with good space between it and the condensor. The only worry is if the cable ties will be sufficient.

 

Same here too! I used cable ties on that "X" brace. Also, when i had AC in my car, it was difficult to get my Perma Cool Oil/Trans cooler lines all through the side without decent kinking of the lines, so i took out the AC all together. I have not used it in the 5yrs i have had my car so i really did not see a point to keeping it, plus changing plugs with my Hooker headers is very easy to do now with the AC out! For the oil cooler lines i did have to cut a hole in the side radiator support by my battery and run them along the frame to under the oil pan and inbetween that and the K-member. It was a tight fit and with AC in the car, it was not going to happen! Anyway, i hope my zip ties hold up. I'll have to run some more through the radiator like how TimZ2882 has them. That is how i want to mount my Spal fans too, with those "through the rad." zip ties.

 

water wetter works better with no anitfreeze!

 

do you have a heater core hooked up? i was wondering cause i was told that i would have to have some necks welded on to be able to use the heater core and such.but like alot of things i could have been told wrong.

 

well i know what u mean about he hoses for the heater core and well my coolin system isnt set up like that. my brothers on the other hand is on his 91 z28. the only way u can re-route things is to plumb the system like an early model 3rdgen , where u have the hose from the heater core connectin to the top of the water pump where there is a plug and then the other hose right to the manifold. im not sure how it will work with tpi cars enless it has the vbelt set up.

 

I have mine setup similar to what was just mentioned. One hose from water pump and one hose from the intake manifold. I just needed to find the proper fittings.

 

I purchased a Summit Race Radiator that is 31"X19"...I had to do quite a bit of modifying to make it work...





Your install looks great! I had to mount my tranny cooler behind my radiator because of the lack of room to run lines to the front of it. That is something I plan on taking care of one of these weekends

 

Wow that summit one is TALL.

My griffin is a 31x19 but doesnt stick up that high at all.

Now that I have enerything tore apart Im actually gona mod the lower rad support to drop my griffing down a tad more and set it in right so it looks stock. and do some custom work for a Intercooler up front.

 

Here is the griffin

 

did you guys actually drill holes through the radiator to mount the trans cooler? does the trans cooler utilize the tranny lines that go to the stock radiator, or do you run seprat lines?




CUNO, what the part # for that radiator? if you can remember.... all i see is Summit extreme duty radiators in their catolog

 

mine sits just like yours flrtin1


Kontrax,

No you dont drill holes through it. You just push the hold downs through the cooling fin area. look at a radiator outa a car and you will see what I mean.

 

The Summit part # is
SUM-380331

 

awesome, thanks man. i will post pictures when installed. time to take out the brand new stocker i just put in, heh. hey so with the radiator i have to run a trans cooler? since there are no holes for the stock lines...the trans cooler hook up to the lines that come from the tranny im guessing, never installed one as you can tell.

hey are those brackets fabed for the summit rad. or are those the universal brackets they sell in the catolog? your radiator doesnt move around at all? im noticing you have no rubber pieces between the radiator and the brackets

 

I purchased teh universal installation kit for the radiator...and had to modify 2 of the brackets to mount to the top of the radiator(just had to bend part of the brackets). The brackets come wth this rubber material that goes between the brackets and radiator...it is pretty thin but works great. It does not move around...and I am not sure if the radiator will fit under a stock hood either...you could of course always cut out the bottom bracket that is in the car and drop it down enough to fit without too much difficulty.

Yes, an aftermarket tranny cooler is required. It should come with the lines that you connect to your current lines and the tie things that hold it to the radiator come with it too. A really easy install actually.

 

awesome, thanks for the info man. im not using a stock hood. i have to get a cowl to fit the blower under it anyways so fitting the radiator shouldnt be a problem. im going to order the radiator and TCI universal trans cooler friday and maybe some other goodies to complete my engine bay. now i gotta sell my stock radiator which kinda sucks because i just got it for like 138 bucks and never even used it! lol oh well

 

F.Y.I.i just talked to griffin radiators today and they only charge $30 more to make one with a heater hose connection.so if there is anyone that wants a griffin thats needs that connection,you can give them a call and order one.the downside is it takes 2 weeks for it come in because its a custom build.you can get their number at www.griffinrad.com