I think I need an aftermarket performance radiator! If so, what to get?

SupraClaou

Supramania Contributor
Sep 1, 2006
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I am having overheating problems...only when I get stuck into damn traffic with almost no vehicle movement at all. Especially after I 'beat' WOT my car and I have to stop cause of traffic jam.
Ofcaurse now here is summer time with temperatures of 35-37 Celcious. Yesterday I saw my
temperature rising to 104 C' :aigo:.
The stock gauge was still at 2/5 (normal-OK). Stock gauge starts going
up when it passes the 106 C' point and it gets in the RED zone after 112 C'.
In the winter time (10 C') I never had any issues even in traffic..

My setup is a single turbo ITS DBB GT72mm (water cooled) on my 2jz-gte.
I have 'Blitz 1.3 bar radiator cap, Sard 68 C' T-stat, New RED Toyota coolant, New coolant
hoses, New water pump, New coupling, New fan, New pulley. Also have the Carbon Stout
hood which helps the heat to exit the engine bay!
I still have the stock OEM radiator (new) on my 2jz setup since 3 years ago.

Things I think that doesn't help cooling :
-Stock radiator (quite small for my setup 700whp,big turbo,AEM,4" Exhaust,etc.,)
-I ditched the two small oem elec. fans (no room for the 2jz IC pipe)
-Big IC infront (limited fresh air-flow to the radiator)
-Big oil cooler infront after the IC (heat transfer to the radiator..I think)
-Stock bumper (not so big open infont)

What do you think guys?
Will a NEW bigger aftermarket radiator do the job?
I am looking to get the CXRacing Radiator 86-92 Supra MA70/JZA70 MKIII.
Should I keep the fan clutch or should I get 2 big electric fans to get the proper cooling at idle?
 

te72

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Mar 26, 2006
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I believe this comes down to a fan issue man. I have a PWR radiator (about as big as you can squeeze into a Mk3), and even though it holds about 2x the coolant as a stock unit, if I'm sitting in traffic for too long, my car likes to try and get hot on me too. Turn on the fans though, and it cools right down. Something you didn't mention though, what sort of shape is your fan clutch in? If that's old, it's likely not doing as good a job as it can. The fan clutch on my Mk2 causes that fan to move a LOT of air. Literally sounds like a windstorm when you have a good fan clutch... unfortunately not many people replace them, and they are a wear item.

I like the electric fans on my 1j, but with this radiator, it's really my only option. As long as they are wired up right and you get the right temperature relays for them, you should be fine. A lot of people say "OH NOES MY ELECTRIC FANS FAILED ME THEY SUCK DON'T USE THEM!!!!!", but when it comes down to it, I can't name a single front wheel drive car that doesn't have an electric fan, and I think they've made a few of those over the years without any issues...
 

Freshmaker

New Member
Feb 3, 2007
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I am a fan of electric fans personally, but don't have any experience with a car at that power level.

I wonder if your fan clutch is just bad? Have you checked it?
 

SupraClaou

Supramania Contributor
Sep 1, 2006
846
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Fan clutch is almost New! Got it new when I got my 2jz mechanical water pump. It has less than 10.000 miles.
I went with a JDM aristo 2jzgte motor which is with a hydro fan system and changed everything with new
Toyota parts to make it a Supra 2JZGTE motor!

---------- Post added at 05:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:27 PM ----------

te72;1593759 said:
I believe this comes down to a fan issue man. I have a PWR radiator (about as big as you can squeeze into a Mk3), and even though it holds about 2x the coolant as a stock unit, if I'm sitting in traffic for too long, my car likes to try and get hot on me too. Turn on the fans though, and it cools right down. Something you didn't mention though, what sort of shape is your fan clutch in? If that's old, it's likely not doing as good a job as it can. The fan clutch on my Mk2 causes that fan to move a LOT of air. Literally sounds like a windstorm when you have a good fan clutch... unfortunately not many people replace them, and they are a wear item.

I like the electric fans on my 1j, but with this radiator, it's really my only option. As long as they are wired up right and you get the right temperature relays for them, you should be fine. A lot of people say "OH NOES MY ELECTRIC FANS FAILED ME THEY SUCK DON'T USE THEM!!!!!", but when it comes down to it, I can't name a single front wheel drive car that doesn't have an electric fan, and I think they've made a few of those over the years without any issues...

How did you manage to keep the mechanical fan clutch and install another 2 electric fans??
 

IJ.

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Mar 30, 2005
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On the e-fans, what I found with the Chev was I had to run them at low speed from 85c onwards then ramp their speeds up as the temp went up.

If I didn't do this the temp would run away and overheat (saw 118c in testeing after a few hot restarts) if I did the above it would happily sit on 88c with a max of 90c even with AC on.
 

Nick M

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Sep 9, 2005
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The electric fans are more than just condensor fans. They come on with high temps. If you disabled them, you have shorted your cooling system.
 

SupraClaou

Supramania Contributor
Sep 1, 2006
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Good info on the E-fans. On the net I can find nice 12' E-fans with air flow rate 1200 CBM/Hr at 2100 RPM speed.
What was your E-fan setup IJ?

---------- Post added at 03:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------

Yeah,you're right. But ,damn I don't have the space anymore to reinstall them...
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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I used a pair of AU Falcon fans on their stock shroud trimmed to suit, also had a pair of 12" Davies Craig fans on the IC right at the front of the car, most of the time they all ran at 50% speed ramping up with temp increase then they were only at 100% for a minute or so.
 

te72

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Mar 26, 2006
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Err... I didn't have e-fans and mechanical fan on the same car, was talking about two separate Supras here, sorry. :)

IJ, mind my asking how you went about controlling your fans? I'm thinking that I have a fixed temperature relay with a bad range for our cars. It comes on at about 118C (only gets that hot with long idling or long periods of hard running) and off around 90-100. NOT cool (no pun intended) in my opinion, I finally wired in a manual override switch, but I'd like this thing to operate with a bit less input from me.