I am looking at putting a new radiator into my 86 Trans Am. Should I stick with the stock or should I go with an aftermarket radiator? Any sugguestions?

 

If it's stock or close to stock, I would stick with a factory replacement from a parts store with a good warrenty.

There is a huge thread regarding aftermarket all aluminum radiators and some have had poor results with them.

 

I am looking into my setup too as I just got the motor/tranny dropped in. I don't want to have to do any crazy modifications to an aftermarket rad. But I want to keep this brand new motor as cool as possible.

 

More important than what kind of radiator you have is what thermostat and fan switches you have. The stock setup is set up to run very hot. I push over 500RWHP in my TTA and run the stock radiator.

 

The factory system fan doens't turn on until 225*. Running anything less than 300hp will be fine with the factory system as long as the fans and cooling system is working properly. As 89milletbird mentioned, some people run factory radiators on high hp motors. I use a BeCool alumium radiator on my 330hp 350 and I like it but...do I really need it? I probably could have saved the $700 and kept the factory set up.

 

Now that bring me to my next question. I was going through my engine comparment and I had noticed 2 things. One the a/c was removed by the previous owner. He just cut the lines and unplugged the adapters. But he also has installed his own fan but has it on a toggle switch. I am not a big fan of the toggle switch just cause its not to hard to remember to turn it on. So I was going to attach it to the factory plug. Then I had noticed it turned on right when the key is turned. I didnt think that was correct. Then I had found this (see picture). I know 2 wires are for the fan and Im not sure what the others are.are they a/c? And should I just replace the pigtail or the whole harness?

 

Wow...

That's the fan relay switch. The two outside fat wires are the power in and out (in to the relay, out to the fan). The two inner ones go to the ignition and I believe AC. The one wire that he has spliced in looks like he has the ignition wire hot-spliced to the "power" wire, bypassing the relay. The key is on puts power strait into the fan power in. Pull that off there and we'll do some more troubleshooting.

The system works by the switch in the passenger head grounding internally when it gets to it's set temperature sending the signal to thre relay. the relay trips sending power through the system. Alternately, when the AC is on the fan comes on "all the time" regardless of AC temp.

With that green wire removed so there are only the four wires on the relay, put the key in "run". the fan should now not come on....

That said, now put the key in "run", unplug the switch in the head (Should be just below the dip stick---the one on the bottom of the block farther down is the knock sensor) and ground the wire that went to the switch. The fan should turn on. If it doesn't, hook the switch and wire back together (This tests the whole circuit). With the way he has it spliced, he's keyed it so the fan comes on as soon as the ignition gives the relay power which tells me at at least part of the circuit is good.

Now pull the relay by the firewall (the one in your picture). Short the two outer fat leads on the connector you removed the relay from together. (you can use the wire you just removed). This bypasses the operation of the relay by putting power strait through the system. It may spark a little, but, with the key in run, the fan should start. If it does, the relay is bad (possible switch is still bad, but definitely the relay is bad). Repalce the relay and it should work properly. If it does not work when doing this then there is an in-line fuse that probably blew in the harness that needs to be replaced (Since we know the fan does work, it's not the fan motor).

If the fan motor spins when you short the wires and you have bought a new relay but the fan STILL doens't run when the motor gets to operating temp (230* or so) after this, pull the switch connector off the switch on the passenger head and ground it. with the car in "run", the new relay installed, the fan should kick on. If it turns on then the switch in the head needs to be replaced. IF it does not, you've still got some issues we need to track down.

Hope this made some sense...haha!

 

He has the fan ran directly to the battery. He has the power to toggle switch back to the fan and then to ground. Theres no fuse or relay at all. And I got looking closer to the fan factory plug. I noticed that the negative wire either got caroded or somehow shorted out and melted cause its disconnected and all green colored. So my guess is he didnt look into why the fan wasnt turning on so he just threw his own fan and switch in himself. Kind of halfassed looking to me...

 

By the look of that relay, I would try and find a donor car with a better looking switch because that one is ugly...

 

I really hate people who are lazy in troubleshooting and do chop-jobs.

 

I wish I was there to look at it and we could see what was really done and what is and isn't there.

 

I will take pictures of mine so you can see what the correct set up looks like.

 

Ok thanks I willhow take some more pictures to kind of show how it looks

 

For the donor car would you sugguest just the plug or the full harness?

 

With the issues you have, you may want the entire harness just in case hse cut stuff out rather than simply bypassing it.

 

This is part of the compartment

 

The first picture is of where you can see where he just cut the a/c.

The second picture is where the plug is. I forgot to post a picture of the shorted plug or something.

 

Full picture of engine compartment

 

Does he have power going strait from the battery to a relay/toggle switch, then down to the fans? is there any other "original" plugs down where they would plug into the fan?

and do you have one fan or two?

 

Right now I have one fan but I am plannig on putting two fans in. And I do have the plug from the original factory fan but as you can see in the picture I have posted that the negative wire is caroded horribly... And he has the wire going straight to the battery to the switch. Then to the fan and the fan to the ground. There isnt any relay or fuse or anything..

 

use the radiator for a 350 car. its a little better and works like stock

 

I've never seen a different radiator listed for 350 cars.

 

Your right. I remember there used to be different one as in the 350 cars had "HD cooling" or so they said

I do distinctly remember a time when the 305 and 350 radiator had different part numbers

Never heard of this brand but rockauto carries this

VISTA-PRO Part # 438918 {#951}
BRASS TANKS WITH COPPER BRASS CORE; W/H.D. COOLING; W/AC; W/MAX COOLING$210.79

 

Ok so I got my new pigtail plug for my relay. But it has 6 wires instead of the 4 that the jun one had. The old one looked like it had 5 but one of the plugs broke out so its just grounded to the body is my guess any idea what the 2wires going into the on inlet is for?