[Benny90]

Afternoon all.
This is my first post on here as i bought a 95 soft top Sierra about 2 months back. Mods are gti twincam engine fully rebuilt 1400k's ago by previous owner. 2" EFS lift and 30" muddies. full exhaust with extractors.
All pretty damn neat with only 140,000ish k's on the clock.

Alright to my question, she has the standard radiator in it and it seems to get pretty warm going up hill climbs when it doesnt have much air flow, it has a thermo fan which is hooked up to a temp sensor so it kicks in when it needs to. around town and normal driving is fine but as me and 3 other 4x4's went to Yackandandah forest over the weekend i found i need to fix this problem..

What are my best options? new radiator and bigger thermo or twin? or an after market 3 core or alloy radiator?
I am fairly machanically minded but never really delt with radiators befor and this is my first 4x4. Oh and my radiator has sprung a small leak at the top so i need a new one anyway..

Any help much appreciated and i did use the search but couldnt find anything.

Ben.

[matty_wall]

I put a jimny rad, shroud and clutch fan with my GTI motor.. cools shit loads better than the standard one.

[Benny90]

Are they bigger or thicker? i worked out i can go 100mm bigger in width.

Same mounts or will i have to fab new ones?

Cheers for the reply!

[matty_wall]

they're bigger in all dimensions; mine fits easily with a powersteer box.

Mounts are different. I modded the jim brackets to fit. bit of RHS and flat bar made it fit easily enough.

If you decide to go clutch fan, you'll need a Jim water pump pulley and sierra water pump.

[Benny90]

Alright sweet cheers. I could use a good thermo and it would work just as well?

[matty_wall]

Iunno.. My only experience with thermos is when i used my standard rad and a commo thermo, which struggled to keep my motor cool. I'm a fan of mech fans personally.

[Benny90]

thats fair enough. i just had a look on ebay and found the Jimny rads are around $350 and the Vit rads are 388mm wide so they wll fit and are only $105 new!
Only thing im unsure about is the alloy core with plastic tanks setup, just wondering about the realiability of that design.

[matty_wall]

i have an original jim rad and it has a plastic tank, I'd say its common practice nowadays.
I put a alloy ebay rad in my old vitara and it was fine.

Thats one crazy price difference!! if you can make the vit one fit go for it! I did read somewhere that its a super tight squeeze with powersteer so if you ever go down that avenue you may have some issues.

[Benny90]

Nah i wont be putting power steering in. so i may look into that (:
cheers for the advice guys.

[zukmeista]

Copper/brass radiators are much more durable, and they can be serviced and repaired, ally/plastic ones are pretty much throw away items. I would run a copper/brass with a vitara viscous fan setup for your situation. A secondhand radiator would be fine, just get it cleaned and pressure tested before fitting.

[TZAR]

Drive into a radiator shop. Get them to do a general assessment of the condition of the core. If the fins are all corroded and damaged then yes a new one may be necessary, but if it is still okay go home pull it out, take it back get them to pull the top off and give it a clean out and fix the leak. It could be all clagged up inside.

Also is there just a fan slapped on the radiator??? does it have a shroud?? does it spin the right way, is it a cheap arse thermo fan that puts out fuck all flow, or is it a high volume air mover?

Bigger radiator is pointless if you don't do these checks. And remember its not a 3 CORE it a 3 ROW. 3 core would mean three radiators.

Also plastic alloy radiators can be cleaned because they just have a system of tabs that are folded over holding on the plastic tank with a o ring inside. Its when they tig weld alloy tanks on the are a throw away item. Also alloy is more heat conductive than brass so that's why they are thinner. Plastic tanks do not like to be rapidly cooled ( ie car is over heating, so you hose the engine bay and they can and have explode(d).

I would find a good radiator shop who is interested in fixing your problems rather than just taking your money. Sure you may be able to do it cheaper yourself but the ability to sort it out straight away is the best idea. And when they tell you an engine fan is the best idea, really it is, they are not being stupid, they do know what they are talking about.

[Benny90]

Its a decent thermo but its just fixed to the engine side of the rad so I assume it could be done better.

Called natrad this morning and they said a mechanical fan will work much better. So I may just fix the leak and get the standard radiator checked and go back to a mechanical fan with shrowed. (Not sure on the spelling of that.)

[Benny90]

Now I'm curious. Does anyone else have cooling problems while doing big hill climbs in low 1st???
Or has anyone else done a radiator swap for the same reason I want to?

[Reubs]

Benny90 wrote:

Does anyone else have cooling problems while doing big hill climbs in low 1st???

Not me. Even a standard Sierra radiator cooled my ungeared 1.6 fine in the middle of summer.

[atari4x4]

Benny90 wrote:

Its a decent thermo but its just fixed to the engine side of the rad so I assume it could be done better.

thats the problem right there, return it back to a stock set up with shroud or use a viscous clutch fan off a vitara & the stock shroud.

[Trypt]

I had cooling issues of sorts when moving slowly but working hard.
gauge never got into the red but almost to the top of the safe zone. it usually sits at about 1/4-1/3
could be a combination of poor airflow because of aircon stuff (which is now gone) and an old shitty radiator.

Now have a new radiator and removed the aircon shit. never gets above half now.

[Gwagensteve]

Benny90 wrote:

Now I'm curious. Does anyone else have cooling problems while doing big hill climbs in low 1st???
Or has anyone else done a radiator swap for the same reason I want to?

Natrad are on to something. 99% your thermo is the problem. A Stock sierra radiator has no problem cooling an efi 1.6, it won't have any problem cooling a GTi. but you're not giving it a chance. The thermo won't pull anywhere near as much air as a mechanical fan, and as you're finding, at high revs and low car speed, there's not enough air going through the radiator.

I think it's possible to fit a G13A water pump and run a Vitara viscous fan with the stock sierra fan shroud. I'd wager that setup will provide all the cooling you need.

Steve.

[shakes]

atari4x4 wrote:

Benny90 wrote:

Its a decent thermo but its just fixed to the engine side of the rad so I assume it could be done better.

thats the problem right there, return it back to a stock set up with shroud or use a viscous clutch fan off a vitara & the stock shroud.

Atari Has it, setting up a proper shroud will make a huge difference to your cooling.

[Benny90]

Alright sounds good. Cherrs for the advice everyone. I did go and buy a 14" thermo from super crap because the one that was on it shit its self. The new one pulls a lot of air through and keeps it a lot cooler for longer now. When I get the cash I will be getting the radiator checked over.
Thanks again everyone.

[Benny90]

Well incase anyone is interested. Fixed my problem. Got a cheap 14" thermo from supercrap and it keeps it nice and cool now!!

[atari4x4]

oh so you added another band-aid.

did you fit a shroud this time?

[shandy92]

Benny90 wrote:

Well incase anyone is interested. Fixed my problem. Got a cheap 14" thermo from supercrap and it keeps it nice and cool now!!

found another problem! while that one is good for now, save and buy a decent one so when that cheap one shits it self you have a good one to swap in

[Benny90]

Haha yer well its all I could do for the moment. No shroud.

I need a new radiator in the future so I shall fix the problem properly when that happeneds.

[pezz]

Benny90 wrote:

Oh and my radiator has sprung a small leak at the top so i need a new one anyway..

if you have a leak you wont be building up the required pressure to raise the boiling point

[Benny90]

I have sealed the leak so that it does hold pressure.