Straigtening out cooling fins?
 

I was taking a look at the ol' oil coolers and the fins are bent to 'shiznit' and back. I am afraid that the cooling effect is being seriously minimized but I can not afford a new "upgraded" set. So, do I just need to take some needle nose pliers and straighten them out one at a time or what?

Thanks in advance!

yeah, or you could go buy a metal comb-looking thing. probably in the area of those big home air-conditioner units.
~Tom

That should work, or a straigh screw driver. With both of those, you should be able to straighten them out. And yes, whether you are looking to upgrade it later or not, it's good to make sure they aren't all bent up. ;)

I just took a twist tie, and ran it thru the fins. It pushes out the dented ones. Pliers may be a little too much because the fins are so fragile. you should not see any problems as long as you do it gently.

bobby

Yes, but I would try using a small flat head screw driver also.

Oh and no problems to date with the oil cooler i straightened

mine looked like a small animal had hit it once!!! that shit was nasty. . . i hate to say it, but i may have to put some of that ghetto ass chicken wire up to keep the raccoons and such out of there. haha. maybe if its painted black it wont show up as bad. . .

paul

Yup, stainless steel mesh screens would be a good idea :)

Be careful using needle nose pliers. Depending on how hard the cooler fins were bent, they could be pretty fragile in the bending back process. rfreeman27's suggestion with the twist ties sounds like a good idea. if you can get two strings through between the fins, you could try one on each side of a bent fin and just run them back and forth until its all straightened.

Twist tie was my tool of choice also.

Eastwood sells fin rakes and fin straightening pliers. They work better than screwdrivers and needlenose pliers, but then again twist ties are a hell of a lot cheaper.