News:

It appears that the upgrade forces a login and many, many of you have forgotten your passwords and didn't set up any reminders. Contact me directly through helpmelogin@dodgecharger.com and I'll help sort it out.

Main Menu

Best aluminum radiator? And tranny cooler?

Started by defiance, August 05, 2006, 06:49:00 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

defiance

Ok - I just left the shop from an intense tuning/dyno session and I still have occasional temp problems.  Admittedly this was all on the dyno, so no airflow to start with, and the problems only showed up occasionally - so I'm pretty sure these problems wouldn't even be happening on the road - and the fuel is running pretty rich, and timing is pretty high (15 idle 36 max plus vacuum) so I'm pretty sure those aren't problems.  The fans are all electric, 2 pushers and 3 pullers, total of over 5,000 CFM (the fans are supposedly rated at 2,000, but I'm pretty sure that number is fudged, so I'm assuming they're around half the rating... which is probably conservative, because they DO move some MASSIVE air).  The shrowding is pretty haphazard, so I could probably improve that (and I will), but to add to the equation, I keep getting a leak here, a leak there, and I'm tired of trying to patch/jb weld/ whatever.  I figure it's time, and so I might as well go all out with an aluminum and if I'm going to custom build a shroud to REALLY work well, I might as well go ahead and get a good radiator now and build the shroud for it in the first place, rather than maybe having to build a different shroud later.

SOOOOO

with all that said, I plan on running a completely seperate tranny cooler, so don't really need anything like that.  I would love to have a radiator I could just bolt right up, but can do bracketing if needed.  Does anyone have recommendations for the absolute best aluminum radiator out there?  I can take recommendations for tranny coolers as well, though I've never really heard of people having problems with tranny coolers on relatively mild engines, so I'm not quite as concerned about that, I figure this:
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=DER%2D13720&N=700+4294924500+115&autoview=sku
will do way more than I really need, and I'll never have to mess with it again.  if you disagree, let me know your opinion; I've never dealt with tranny cooler at ALL, so I'm perfectly ready to learn something new :)

Mainly, though, I'm just worried about the aluminum radiator; I've heard good and bad about just about every brand...  But is one particularly favored?

defiance

Brands I'm looking at, btw:

Be Cool - (around $600) - http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=BCI%2D60170&N=700+4294908110+4294908099+4294840062+115&autoview=sku

Summit - (around $300) - http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM%2D380460&N=700+4294908110+4294908099+4294840062+115&autoview=sku

Jegs - (around $350) - http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?lang=-1&catalogId=10002&storeId=10001&categoryId=62833

Flex-a-lite - (just under $600) - http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?lang=-1&catalogId=10002&storeId=10001&categoryId=28553



If some of these house brands are 'as good', they're much less expensive, so I'd be inclined to go that direction...  but if they aren't, I'd be fine going with a be cool or flex-a-lite...  If they're really worth the money.

What are some thoughts of those who may have used some of these brands?

RT DAVE

I have the summit unit and am running a 18.25 flex fan with a 20 inch fan shroud.   I haven't tested it out too much but it didn't get above 190 today while I idled for ten minutes in 85 degree heat.  Don't know if that helps you or not but thought I'd let you know.  She runs 180 down the highway at 3000 rpm on a 95 degree day BTW.   I have a slightly warmed up 440 (guessing 425 hp at flywheel) in a 68 charger.   
68 CHARGER RT<br />06 MAGNUM RT<br />02 INTREPID SXT