I just bought one for my IROC since the stock radiator (already the biggest one made from the factory) couldn't handle the 406 in summer traffic. Anyway, this thing is already a PITA. I thought it was supposed to be a drop-in, but not even close. I've had to tweak the hell out of the mounting tabs just to keep it from rubbing on the driver's side core support.

Anyone know where I can find the adapters to convert the male flare fitting on the transmission cooler lines to the female pipe(?) fitting going into the radiator? You'd think BeCool would supply those but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I can rig something up, but nobody around here has the exact adatper I need. Besides, I don't want to n!gger it up by having a bunch of adapters inline together.

The 2nd & bigger problem is what to do with the sensor mounted in my stock radiator about halfway in between the factory trans-cooler inlet/outlet holes. I assume it's a temp sensor for either the computer or the dash gauge. There is no provision for it in the new radiator which I have triple-checked is supposed to be the right one. The sensor isn't a threaded-in style so just drilling a hole in the tank of the new radiator doesn't seem to be an alternative. Any ideas?

thanks!

 

Yes, it was a PITA for me also. The radiator is a very tight fit, so if your chassis is slightly "tweaked", you could run into fitment issues in the area between the tanks and the "frame rails". I relocated (TIG welded) the upper locating tabs on the radiator so I wouldn't have to use the cheesy upper aluminum spacer that they provided. I believe I was able to do this though because I don't have a condenser in my car. After that, it was a drop in, and I also converted to the factory dual electric fan set-up at the same time. You'll be very pleased once you get it installed, because it cools my 509 BBC quite nicely.

The NPT pipe to inverted flare fittings should be available at your local auto parts store. If not, try a hardware store that specializes in plumbing supplies.

The sensor you describe is more than likely a coolant level sensor, which doesn't have to be re-installed, but has to be grounded to avoid a low coolant light from coming on. Disconnect it and see if your low coolant indicator light comes on, just to be certain. My car didn't have one, so wasn't a concern.

 

anyone know if this was with the more expensive direct fit radiator or did you guys have the more generic one?

 

Mine was the direct fit version.

 

and you still had those problems...that bothers me way to much money to have to deal with any problems.

 

The cooler line fittings on our cars are 5/16. Be Cool uses 1/4 on their radiators. They do have a fitting to adapt the trans lines to the radiator.

Part # BCI-72001 – 1/4 in. MP x 5/16 in. inverted flare transmission cooler fitting. $4.95 each at Summit.

http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...ator&x=20&y=13

 

yep, you'll need two of course.

i'm off to pick mine up right now....i'll let everyone know how the intall goes. i'm praying smooth but i'm not counting on it.

 

Hmm, the one I just bought off univparts on ebay uses 5/16 fittings, as well as has the hole for the sensor... Not to mention was cheaper then the becool, by alot...

I just got it in the mail, now I got my weekend project ready to go!:lala:

 

I just bought one of these the other day. How does it look? Mine should arrive in a few days.

 

well so far i'm not too happy. my power steering hardlines will be right up against the radiator on the drivers side if i don't do something with them so i need to figure out what to do to solve that problem.

the a/n fittings that you have to buy as described above are $5 from becool. they don't go in all the way....at least i haven't without fear of stripping them somehow. this causes the assembly to stick out almost 1/2" further so the stock tranny cooler lines are also hard to line up.

for a direct fit it's not very direct fit.....this thing had better cool well when it's done.