Yeah, I suspect the rad.com sales people just say "yes" first and then figure out if they can deliver or not. I've called lots of places now and none have an aluminum radiator that is "drop-in off-the-shelf " for my truck. And even if they had it would probably have been plastic tanks. I've googled the Modine brand that built Mudbutt's and called that number and rad.com answer the phone. Apparantly they got bought out 2 years ago by rad.com. (Hope you don't need a replacement Mud).

So that just leaves the custom guys and I'm working on custom design specs right now, here's what I'm thinking 23" x 22.5" x 2.5" 2 cores of 1" tubes. But lots of $$$ for them...hummmm.. what to do

Gotcha on the mechanical fan, I'm thinking it would pull more cfms at higher rpms but I think for slow wheeling the Taurus fan would pull more since its not dependent on engine rpms and be better (especially for water crossings). I may throw the mechanical on though and try it.

 

The radiator came from my local shop "Spikes Radiator" it was in a modine box. It was installed 2 weeks ago. I might try to buy one for grins, i'll let you know.

FWTW.... Modine doesnt seem to make radiators, they just are a low cost supplier that rebadges whom ever is the low cost bidder/builder at the time

 

That's interesting, yeah I found out Spikes source for those is Proliance Radiators and they do have a drop in aluminum core/plastic tank for my truck. Summit has them for $169.95 with a one year warranty. Spikes said they had a lifetime warranty?

 

Well I decided to do plans B3-B6 all at the sametime to save on my labor. I found the aluminum core Proliance radiator (#432272 for my truck) at www.rockauto.com for $135.79 + shipping so I got one coming. That's the good news, the bad news it has plastic tanks and only a one year warranty on it. Maybe it will last longer since I'm converting to a waterless coolant the radiator pressure should stay very low, I could even run a zero pressure system if I wanted to.

 

Yup, all of the air is just skipping the radiator on the highway with that big ol' bumper there

What's your tranny temp when your coolant temp goes up? You should probably be able to see a rise in coolant temp when the torque-converter unlocks if the tranny is dumping too much heat into the radiator.

I wouldn't bother with this, unless it's a short-term thing until you get a new radiator or bumper. Running hotter than normal will still give your ping difficulties and could still possibly damage things in the engine.

This might do something for ya, but it's likely you'll still be running hotter than you'd like if your radiator isn't getting enough air through it.

I suspect you're better off with an electric fan, since it will run independent of the engine's speed, and with a mechanical fan you won't be able to use the fan shroud...

This might help a little... but not a lot unfortunately.

I'm going to have to stick to my guns and say this is still your "best" option... You could always just temporarily remove the bumper and drive on the highway to see what happens (my guess: the cooling problems would disappear). Sorry to be a PITA

This seems like something worth looking into, I would try it before going through the trouble of relocating coolers and such.

 

For the last test I didn't have a trans temp gauge hooked up because I'm running the probe for that gauge in the coolant now. (I'm in the process of adding another trans temp gauge now) But before the ATF was about 180 max going into the radiator, so I'm not really expecting much change from bypassing this. For these tests the cruise control is set on 75mph and I haven't even noticed the torque converter unlocking, just the boost kicking in sometimes.

Nope its a long-term thing, insurance against going out in the middle of a vacation and having the coolant start boiling on some long mtn pass. Have you read the info on the waterless coolant? One of the main benefits is reducing knock by eliminating hot spots on the head. Look over this:
http://www.custommachiningusa.com/Evans_NPG+.html Maybe it would help you with your knock problem.

I have removed the little strip of rubber at the back edge of the hood but I haven't tested it out yet. One radiator guy I talked to about a custom radiator wanted me to do one test first before building a custom rad. He said to remove the hood and test drive it because sometimes the air gets packed up inside the hood at higher speeds. I thought that was interesting but I haven't tried it yet.

 

I personally am a BIG believer in the aluminum radiator, not b/c of my truck tho...
I've got a 68 stang that I built a stroked 351 windsor for (393 inches now) that has a "healthy cam ", high compression, headers, and all the good stuff to make it run hot. I put in a 4 row brass/copper radiator at first and even when I had no hood on it, if i let it sit it would overheat easily.

I've got an electric fan setup on it that kicks on at 180 and kicks back off at 160 that was on both my old radiator and this new one. Now with the 2 row aluminum radiator that I got and the hood on it will kick the fan off because the coolant temp is getting to low. I love it and wish that I had it before I was trying to mess with everything else

 

About all you're going to accomplish by removing the rubber strip at the back of the hood is sucking hot-@$$ air into your climate control & onto you. I ran my truck two days ago without the hood & it didn't make one iota of difference in the temp. Do you have headers? They have a TON of surface area & emit a boatload of heat...

 

Good to hear that Jason, can't wait to try that aluminum radiator. (BTW how's the eye doing)

Rabbit, I hadn't thought about the vents, although I usually run with those closed. I can put that strip of rubber back on later, its held on with 3 screws and 2 plastic push pins.

Here's another good reason to bypass the factory radiator ATF cooler:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/radiator-empty-strawberry-milkshake-tranny-fluid-116812/

 

They got me the radiator order very fast but unfortunately it was a copper/brass radiator, so I called them up and its on the way back to them and they think they have found an aluminum one at a different warehouse. Good customer service by the Rockauto.com people, they have been a pleasure to deal with and of course all return shipping charges are on their dime. Appearantly Proliance makes this radiator in both aluminum core and cooper/brass and they may substitute one for the other at any anytime.

 

Wow that is nice customer service.

 

Wow, great job on the swap and all the documentation of the details. This will defiantly help people who run into some of the same issues that you have encountered. I hope you get your overheating issue resolved soon; you might want to try removing the bumper and see if it has any affect on your temp. At least it could point you in the correct direction. If you are in the area feel free to come by, we would love to have a look at how the swap worked out for you.

 

Thanks Mike, I'm going to be in Co. Springs in July and Buena Vista in Aug. I'd love to see your shop sometime.

 

Well after waiting another 5 days... Rockauto.com sent me another copper/brass radiator, and now they say they can't get an aluminum one. They did pay for the shipping to return it though (after a little convincing). So scratch that earlier glowing endorsment I gave.

That's the bad news, but the good news is I got one from Summitracing.com, for $180 shipped and it came today. Same part number and manufacturer as the other one, (Proliance radiator #432272) but this one came straight from Proliance.

Here's some pics:

 

Hope you get that in soon... I wanna see results...

As far as temps, I have a SGII and have been watching mine a little closer.. Last weekend in 80-85* with 500lbs in the bed and a 1500+lb trailer the max I saw was 198* on a long steep pull in 3rd at 4K at 70mph... This week in 95-100* heat with no trailer and 300lbs in the bed the temps were 196-198 on flat ground doing 75, constant.... I have yet to see over 198.. Driving 75 with a fairly empty bed on a 70-80* day only gets me 189-191..I know its a different motor and n/a, but its a stock toyota setup... so I would assume the temps are pretty normal...

 

Thanks for the info, but what's a SGII? I'm guessing its some kind of aftermarket temp gauge, where is the probe located?

 

ScanGauge II, it's an OBD-II reader.

 

Oh....thanks Brian.

 

I don't know if this will help you Dale but I finally figured out how to get my engine to consistantly run around 180* and have the taurus fan only use the low speed. Today the temp was 86* plus high humidity and all was good to go. I removed the stat alltogether.

Here is why I think this works even though it shouldnt':

Normally the engine uses a belt driven fan that turns all the time and pushes a lot of air. As the engine warms up the stat stays closed till it hits the opening temp (180* in this case) This allows coolant to flow through the high density rad thus cooling the coolant in the engine, allowing much cooler fluid from the rad into the engine combatting rise in temp and slowing it down. As temps increase more cool fluid comes from the rad etc up to 200* degrees at which point if your temps don't come down then the engine overheats.

With my truck the electric fan only runs when temps come up and pulls less air then the stock fan. So with a factory stat cool coolant only comes into the engine above 180* and since there is less air movement the coolant is warmer then it would be under the factory system, meaning it does less to combat the building heat. Only when the temps reach 200* does the maximum amount of cooling potential reach the engine at which point its already getting too hot etc.

When I remove the stat the coolant circulates constantly (which means warming up the engine takes a bit longer) But now my fan controls engine temp.

Does this at all sound silly? SO far its the only thing that is working. I think If I use the TRD stat that is fulling open @ ~175 I should be ok but this is working for now.

 

Nope, makes sense to me. I was suprised just how small the opening was on the t-stats I tested. They really seem to create a bottle neck for coolant flow unless they are fully open and some I tested didn't get fully open until 212 degrees F. And to make matters worse on the 3vz and 5vz engines the t-stat is on the return line from the radiator. That means the coolant flow from the radiator must be very hot to keep the t-stat open all the way.