ive finally gotten my car all together and its ready for street driving. i drove it to school today! but somethign concerns me. when i really start to run it, it starts to get hot, like 70% up the bar. is that any concern? it never got higher than that? is this safe? how would i go about getting cooler running temp? lose the thermostat?

 

Thats probably not good. Try an electric fan, upgraded rad, new tstat...

 

Wrapping my downpipe helped mine run a little bit cooler.

 

I've had this problem before on my car. Go fromt he cheapest thing to the most expensive: Get a new Radiator Cap, Check Fan pulleys, etc.. There's no need to spend hundreds of dollars when you can just spend 30. ^_- Anyways MY problem was the radiator itself since it was the original radiator and the car had over 140K miles on it. I switched to a high performance radiator and it's been running super cool and super strong ever since. Now I don't recommend you doing this unless you absolutely HAVE to but if you want to upgrade your radiator anyways, this might be the way. Plus while during the replacement of the radiator I checked the thermostat O-rings etc.. and all the piping. Turns out I had a couple of cracked hoses too so the pressure of the coolant going to the engine was lower than optimal. Leaking coolant didn't help either. ^_- Anyways, these are just a few things to look for when you have cooling problems with the car. Good luck!

Peace,
AJ ^_^

 

Jizzajuice-

Hey man,

What aftermarket radiatior did you get? I was thinking about replacing mine with something new, but am not sure about what's available. Any info would be apreciated.

Thanks, Derek

derek_fullerx@hotmail.com

 

Just get a good all aluminum radiator. I have the radiator that SR Motorsports sells, and it works well:

It's tough to fit. I kept the stock fan, but I had to modify the shroud alot. It also requires moving the battery, but I was doing that anyway. K2RD sells one that requires moving the battery. The Fluidyne unit fits well. Another option would be to get a Griffin and make it fit, like this one:

 

Do what they said -- Cheap things First -- new rad cap, thermostat etc

You might even want to Get a lower temp thermostat the 185 degree worked wodners on my 86...

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going to check into those. I'll probably try to go with the fluidyne. How much do they run?

Thanks, Derek

 

Screw Fluidyne, you can get a Howe performance radiator from Summit for $200. My friend has this on his car and he has about 370rwhp, runs pretty damn cold.

 

the rad would be only a patch, not a fix. find the problem first. flush your coolant and change your thermostat, you should do this every year. check your fan clutch. when the engine is warn, shut it off and pop the hood, the fan should not spin to easy. if it does your clutch is gone.

make sure all your plastic ducting and under pan is there and in place.

 

Going with a generic radiator, such as the Griffin, will be much cheaper, and it will work fine. Then you can use the money you saved for other goodies.

 

Yep. Someone just offered to sell me a used one and I think I may do so. Only $75. Thanks for the info guys.

-Derek

 

Good luck.

 

where or how would i go about getting a griffin radiator i too am having cooling issues and also will need a better fan, how many cubic feet per minute flow should i go with on the fan (CFM).



Thanx

~Cole

 

Get some racing spark plugs with a colder heat range. I have HKS in the leading holes and my temp guage reads a colder temp then with my stock 7's in.

 

Yep. I have a 180 degree one on my GXL and the needle only rises above the "C" when I really get on it. Normally it rests right on top of the C....maybe 1-2mm above it. But it stays damn cool.