Author Topic: radiator three row?  (Read 330 times)

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Offline oreobadr

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radiator three row?
« on: May 09, 2011, 10:41:50 PM »
Right now I have a two row radiator that is old and abused, and i put in a new big block and its running hot because of it, a bit over 220, Would a three row radiator also from a trans am, but it is a bigger radiator make a big difference, or am i better off spending 200 dollars and getting a three row aluminum radiator?
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Offline Trevon

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Re: radiator three row?
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2011, 11:51:10 PM »
If you have a steel radiator anything aluminum would be an upgrade.  When shopping for mine, most people showed 3+ row aluminum radiators were a little harder to come by because they are usually used in more racing applications/just not needed for street use.  My two row does great when driving, it was an immense change from the stock steel radiator, but if I push it pretty hard and then pull over it just likes to heat up (this is an air flow issue and potentially oil...) but as soon as I start driving again it drops to 160* and plateaus there; I have never had it stall since the new radiator install though.  If you are comfortable with temps of 220* then I can imagine a 2 row would do the job just fine.  To help keep the engine cooler I will be installing an oil cooler with my next oil change...to me it just seem that the trans am front end isn't very conducive to keeping the engines cool and the headers don't help.

Everyone has the brand they recommend as well, but after looking into this quite a bit you will get what you pay for and I would like to stick with a reputable company.  Be Cool also has a great warranty (which I kind of voided when I had to temp mount a fan :/) but that was just to keep everything easier; I don't think/hope I won't need to replace the radiator anytime soon..

When you do finally get one, I would recommend the time to find a decent fan setup (if you've gone to electric) that will accommodate all accessories you may add (I didn't and at the moment I have a super-cool transmission cooler delete option...).  Not a huge problem and I did think the install through pretty well, but I guess some things will always get overlooked..  Even if this all sound like the install didn't go too good, it all looks great as of right now.

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