Bret
Yoda
Offline
Well I just found this somewhat ironic. Good ol'boy technology in a German sports car!?!? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif
Anyway after finally fixing the broken off bolts on the engine’s aluminum crossover (but we won’t talk about that /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif ) I finally finished my radiator swap last week.
The new C&R radiator (Yup! The same folks that supply radiators to NASCAR ) is a vast improvement over the Factory Behr radiators. But while the Behr rads are aluminum too, they had an inherent design fault because they used plastic end tanks that where glued in place. Good weight & cost savings but this meant that they had to be serviced much more frequently than a solid radiator and would need to be refurbished from time to time. Problem is the core was only good for one or if you’re lucky two refurbishing before you’d need a new radiator.
The new C&R radiator on the other hand has solid aluminum end tanks that are actually welded on.
The only problem is the C&R unit isn’t exactly a drop in replacement as you have to do some finagling & Polish engineering to the mounting points in order to persuade it to “drop” in. Basically all I had to do was take off about a half inch of the lower rubber mounts and trim some of the other plastic trim pieces around the radiator.
Some folks have pointed out that it’d be cheaper to buy a used unit or get an OEM stock unit. But while the C&R unit isn’t cheap at $895, a new OEM replacement unit priced out at about $1200.
Results? – She seems to run much cooler than before. Took it out for a test drive in some 90-95 degree weather and the temp stayed rock steady.
I’m impressed. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif
Anyway after finally fixing the broken off bolts on the engine’s aluminum crossover (but we won’t talk about that /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif ) I finally finished my radiator swap last week.
The new C&R radiator (Yup! The same folks that supply radiators to NASCAR ) is a vast improvement over the Factory Behr radiators. But while the Behr rads are aluminum too, they had an inherent design fault because they used plastic end tanks that where glued in place. Good weight & cost savings but this meant that they had to be serviced much more frequently than a solid radiator and would need to be refurbished from time to time. Problem is the core was only good for one or if you’re lucky two refurbishing before you’d need a new radiator.
The new C&R radiator on the other hand has solid aluminum end tanks that are actually welded on.
The only problem is the C&R unit isn’t exactly a drop in replacement as you have to do some finagling & Polish engineering to the mounting points in order to persuade it to “drop” in. Basically all I had to do was take off about a half inch of the lower rubber mounts and trim some of the other plastic trim pieces around the radiator.
Some folks have pointed out that it’d be cheaper to buy a used unit or get an OEM stock unit. But while the C&R unit isn’t cheap at $895, a new OEM replacement unit priced out at about $1200.
Results? – She seems to run much cooler than before. Took it out for a test drive in some 90-95 degree weather and the temp stayed rock steady.
I’m impressed. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif