I just found out that half of my radiator is missing. Seriously. I took my shroud off and about the bottom 4" of the radiator is missing it's fins completely. Tubes are still intact, and they don't seem to be leaking, but I'm sure it won't be long. Just touching the other fins makes them crumble. So, I'm looking for a new rad. Is there any easy upgrades for the stock radiator? One from a later model maybe? Figure if I'm gonna replace it, might as well go with something a little better. Or should I just stick with stock? Motor is just stock with some bolt on mods coming. Thanks

Bug

 

I think just having a new stock radiator is an upgrade for these cars by now......
I got a Modine replacement for my 7. If I remember right it was $120 but shop around.



--Alex

 

If you're running at stock HP levels the stock rad is more than sufficient. If you're serious about increasing the cooling of your motor, you should look into removing the beehive oil cooler under your oil filer and installing an air to oil cooler from a GSL-SE, 2nd Gen RX-7 or 79-82 RX-7. Those beehive coolers are really marginal and can contribute to dowel pin leaks, among other things.

 

Exactly. I did this conversion on my '85 GSL a few months ago. Temp guage went from just under 1/2 to about 1/3rd span. The swap takes an hour or two, and the entire cost for oil cooler, rad and hoses is under $500 used. Or you can buy a junker for a couple hundred, strip off what you need and then sell what you don't.

 

I got a 3-row rad from the Radiator Barn for $120 shipped. Cools at about 1/4 on the gauge with the beehive oil cooler.
TCs

 

The guage only shows coolant temp. Oil temp would still be higher than it should be, and this is what Moses was referring to when he said the dowel seals will leak sooner than if you switched to the more efficient under-rad cooler. The excess heat makes these and other seals brittle, shortening their life. It also leaves less margin for overheat damage should you rupture a coolant hose since the oil-cooled portion of the engine is running hotter than those equipped with under-rad units do.