Ok, so I've got a few weeks before my car gets out here to Hawaii. I've been looking pretty hard at all my possibilities to keep this baby running cooler. I don't want extremely low temps, I just don't want to be caught in the middle of Waikiki on a date or something when I have to put it over and pop the hood while the car cools down. There is a lot of bumper to bumper traffic out here, and I would like to be able to sit in my car relaxed instead of worrying if I'm going to be able to cross 3 lanes to the break down lane to let it cool off. I think eventually I'm upgrading the engine, but for now, I want to get it to running performance so I can save up and buy something worth the change. I'm going to start with a new radiator cap/hoses and air dam. My question, is if anyone has purchased either of these radiators for their car, and if one has proved better than the other. I grew up with this car, and it's always been a problem. I've just been able to deal with it before. The car has never been in traffic like day to day traffic is out here, and I'm just worried. Any other ideas are very helpful. I see something about dropping the thermostat. I don't want to drop to a 160*, it's too low for the optimum 190* that our cars seem to run at.
Thank you for the help. Like I said, I've got about 3-4 weeks to get this figured out. I appreciate all the input ahead of time.
Thanks,
-Jeff



Heres the site to the fluidyne radiator: http://www.modacar.com/products/Chev...amaro/MODARAS/

Heres the site to the Be Cool radiator: http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...10002_25670_-1

 

ive got a 500 horse motor, and im running a summit "direct replacement" 2 core aluminum radiator, high flow aluminum pump, low temp fan switch and a 3000cfm 14" primary fan, its MORE than enough for what i have, its actually too much this time of year, the radiators you listed are very good, and very expensive, but you did not list your future "power" plans, so this is all i can say at this time.

 

As of right now, I'm just getting it running well. I need to get it here and tune it up. But eventually I'm looking at a crate 350 from Jegs, unless I can find a better one somewhere else. I'm really looking for more HP. Don't want the top of the line racecar.. just an impressive daily driver/weekend show car. The body is pretty well there, it's an automatic right now. Thoughts of a t-56 swap with new rear-end up grade, headers and borla exhaust. Maybe a chip. Not sure. But I think that's really it. Prolly about $10,000 total is as far as I'm going for everything. Would you recommend your radiator over the fluidyne? Or am I making a good choice. I see you said it was expensive. But for performance, is it a good idea? I've ALWAYS had this over-heating problem, and it looks like it's a 3rd gen problem all together. So, maybe the new engine will fix it, but until then I'm doing what I can with the one I've got.

 

You can get your operating temps down by adding a 4th gen dual fan shroud, LS1 type, with the stock fans or after-market and keep your stock radiator until it needs to be replaced. After I added the shroud and fans on my `88 Iroc, 383 TPI no matter how hot it got this summer, it never ran over 200, even in heavy traffic. Check jaycorptech.com, they have Spal dual 11" fans with shroud for mid $200`s.

 

That will be the route I go first then, because even if it doesn't cool it down. I can still buy another radiator at a later time and still have a new fan for it. I'm assuming the thermostat sold with this would be the 195*, as they do sell both 185* and 195*. Thanks for the input. Very useful, because as of now, I didn't have any links saved for a fan.