Just a short follow up to this post. I received my Aluminum Radiator and, as others have mentioned, it seems to be of good quality overall. There are a few little things here or there that are a slight nuissance.

It looks like, on my '85, this radiator will either fit in with no modification, or it will need just under 1/2" of modification. I compared the location of the radiator cap on the aluminum one vs. my stock brass and copper one. It looks like my stock one has the radiator cap just slightly lower and just slightly further away from the front of the vehicle. It is about 1/8" further down, and about 1/4" further towards the front.

In either case, the worst case scenario to get this bad boy mounted is moving the mounting holes down just a little, which shouldn't be hard with a few drill bits.

A couple of people have asked me how this might fit on older 22re's... not really sure on that. From what I remember... the radiator setup on my '85 is very similar to how it was on my '82 22R Pickup... but I can't say for sure that it is identical.

Again, hopefully this helps some others... I will try and post the final results of how I modify the radiator support bracket if I need to.

 

Are you putting in a Taurus fan while your at it

 

That's my plan at this point. I was considering getting a Black Magic, but the Taurus fans are much more economical.

Once I get it all setup and everything is back in, I will report back and let everyone know how it turned out.

 

How did this radiator finally work out? Any updates or pics?

 

Actually, yes, although just recently. I replaced the radiator as part of a larger engine rebuild and I just got the rebuild finally finished (break-in occurred this last week).

The radiator itself actually went in quite easily. After reading others concerns that you had to move the radiator down some to clear the hood, I spent some time figuring out how much down I would need to move it.

After all my test fitting, I determined that I didn't need to move it down at all. The Radiator fits in the stock location perfectly with no clearance issues at all. The radiator seems to work great so far, everything stayed nice and cool during my cam break-in period without any leaks or issues.

I did learn one thing: Aluminum transfers heat MUCH better. After my break-in runs, as the engine was cooling, the radiator got VERY hot, making it hard to lean over the engine to do the hot valve lash. Also learned that its not a good idea to touch your chin to the hot radiator while trying to peak over to find TDC *lol*.

Sadly, I didn't install the electric fan yet. With all the other things I changed as part of the rebuild, I decided the less things I change, the less things I have to keep an eye on / worry about during the rebuild. This will come at a future date.

I will try and post some pics today as I go through and work on the engine again, prepping it for its first trip on the road.

 

I find myself in the market for a radiator for my '89 4runner. So I checked out the rebuilding route. One shop wouldn't touch it, sight unseen, just based on the age of the vehicle; they said I'd be wasting my money to the tune of about $250. Two other shops quoted me $225 - $250. The one I talked to the longest told me the core would run about $100 and labor $110 ( one and a half hours). We have salt on the roads around here so a 20 year old radiator tends to rot, so it's not as simple as rodding it out and reattaching it to the header tanks.

I think the prejudice against plastic tanks is unwarranted. The early ones had problems for short time, but now you can hardly buy a new car that doesn't have a plastic/aluminum radiator. At half the price of brass/copper units I'm willing to give it a try.

 

You can get a new radiator from radiator barn from 131.00 dollars and up, depending on the one you choose. I bought a 3 core radiator from them for my 86 4Runner and havn`t had any problems at all.

 

Well, I can say I looked into having mine rebuilt, but it was so rotten that there was nothing left for them to "fix". As soon as heat touched the core, it started getting holes blown in it.

In the end, I ended up going with the Solid Aluminum one from eBay. Its some Chinese one, but so far I've got about 1,000 miles on it, and its working great. I also believe they provide a lifetime warranty on it.

Unlike some, this radiator bolted right up to my stock location, used the Stock Shroud, etc, and fit without alteration (the hood is close, but it doesn't hit). I certainly recommend this radiator myself.

 

I bought a spectra less than 3 months months ago which had a plastic tank and noticed it was leaking this morning from where they crimped the plastic on. I'm getting a free copper/brass replacement tomorrow. I'm convinced that plastic tanks suck. That's just from my experience though.

 

I personally am not a big fan of the Plastic and Aluminum radiators, especially on a truck that's going to see trails. Other than factory vehicles, I have never had a plastic / aluminum radiator last more than 60k.

With that said, I'm hard on cars, and even DD's tend to become Off-Road Vehicles at some point in their life, so your mileage may vary.

 

They are all getting cheaper...I got a new copper brass in my truck about 18 months ago. It has been driven minimally maybe 4000-5000 miles this year. The radiator is leaking in 2 spots near the bottom. My friend has a the alum with plastic tanks from autozone. its a very large radiator and fits very nicely. that will be my next choice as if I recall the price was right and I was impressed with the quality as well as lifetime warrenty.

 

I have one of those Ebay Aluminum in my '85. I had to cut the shroud at the bottom, it wouldn't fit otherwise. Not a simple swap for me.

The increased cooling capacity is considerable over the stock rad.

It's held up fairly well over the last two years, but I can see it's taking on damage and I'll bet that it'll be in need of replacement in another 3-4 years of my wheeling time.

I'll probably buy another alum, I like the increased cooling when I'm thrashing the engine and automatic tranny.

 

sorry to bump this, but looking for more info on this rad and if it's one from these guys:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Row-w-o-EO...17326871178554

And would like to see how well it is doing. I suppose you didn't get any pics?