aluminum radiators

[Justin86]

well my turbo plans have now brought me to the cooling issues, intercooler and radiator. I did some searching and measuring and have found that allmost all 90+ accord and lude radiators are the same core size and are only about a 1" taller then the 3G radiator. I measured the 4G rad and the top mounts are 24-5/8" while the 3G they are 23-1/2" apart. So I plan that if you remove the original support and make a custom one with new mounts, I should have a good rad.
The accord and lude ones are the same width as the 3G, but the Civic is half the width. I'm not sure if the Civic will offer good cooling capacity but it will be half the weight and I'd have much more room for oil coolers.

Also there is different core thickness, are they really worth the money?

3G accord CORE SIZE: 12-3/4 x 26-5/16 x 1-5/16(stock)
4G accord CORE SIZE: 13-3/4 x 26-11/16 x 1-1/4(aluminum) $290
4G accord CORE SIZE: 13-3/4 x 26-11/16 x 2-1/16(aluminum) $350
5G accord CORE SIZE: 13-3/4 x 26-11/16 x 15/16(aluminum) $300
5G accord CORE SIZE: 13-3/4 x 26-11/16 x 2-1/16(aluminum) $400
5G civic CORE SIZE: 13-3/4 x 13-5/16 x 15/16(aluminum) $260
5G civic CORE SIZE: 13-3/4 x 13-5/16 x 2-1/16"(aluminum) $370

This info is from http://www.radiatorexpress.com. The thing I can't figure out is the big price differences even thought the core size is that same. Also I'm not sure about what differences in the tank designs and the top support, but I can relocate the top supports if I needed to.

[NXRacer]

For what its worth, i had a friend who was running an H22 in a 92-95 civic hatch with the puny civic aluminum radiator and it had no problems cooling it. I cant imagine the A20 needing more cooling then the H22.

[Justin86]

yea I really can't find a reason why not run the smaller civic rad. even though I don't see it being right paying the same price for a rad. that is half the size. Kind of BS to me.

[k-roy]

For what its worth, i had a friend who was running an H22 in a 92-95 civic hatch with the puny civic aluminum radiator and it had no problems cooling it. I cant imagine the A20 needing more cooling then the H22.
Wow consider your friend lucky. My buddy with that setup decided to get a expensive ass Fluidyne just to be on the safe side.

Justin go with the most capicity you can fit in there. Personally if I were you I would go with a 4th gen Accord aftermarket unit. Oh and what ideas do you have brtewing when it comes to fans?

[Justin86]

hey I just found that the 2G teg has the same core size as the 3G, maybe if the mounts were the same, but fluidyne makes them for the 2G teg.

[NXRacer]

Wow consider your friend lucky. My buddy with that setup decided to get a expensive ass Fluidyne just to be on the safe side.

Justin go with the most capicity you can fit in there. Personally if I were you I would go with a 4th gen Accord aftermarket unit. Oh and what ideas do you have brtewing when it comes to fans?
for fans, just go with those universal ones that strap on to any radiator

[Justin86]

yea also I will get an aftermaket fan, and it will save more space for turbo. Those stock fans are flipping huge!

[Justin86]

Ok how about this 12" Spal puller fan, only 2" in depth and 1230cfm for $95. There are many more fans at this site...... http://www.pitstopusa.com/searchresult.aspx?CategoryID=1958
http://www.pitstopusa.com/images/SPASTRAIGHT.jpg

[A20A1]

there are better fans... the shroud is very important, I think FAL and other companies make fans with a full shroud to cover the entire radiator.

[Accordtheory]

I have a "puny aluminum civic radiator" that I am planning to install on my turbo unit. Sean told me not to do this, so we'll see how it goes, I'll let you guys know... Although it is like half the width, it does have a thicker (1" vs 5/8) core, and it is aluminum which is supposedly better than brass/copper...we shall see

[Justin86]

The civic ones I was looking at were the 2-1/16" think one but they cost more and only half the size, feels like they are ripping us off. But this teg radiator is look as my best bet right now, so we will see how it goes.

[gekko]

he got them at k-mod

radiator http://www.kmodifiedracing.com/products/popups/koyoradiator.html

[Justin86]

how much is that one and from what car?????? Looks like a small ass civic one.

[gekko]

http://www.kmodifiedracing.com/products/86-89_accord/index.html

thought you all knew about this ... i'm going to buy it and the slim fan :)

[Justin86]

damn I never knew he offered some much stuff, that is sweet. Wonder what has to be done to that make that radiator fit right?

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Talk with Johnny O he has a PWR Aluminum Civic Radiator and he's turbo'd so it must be cooling good enough if he's running 10's without engine problems.

-Mike

[Justin86]

well a small radiator like that won't have much effect on drag racing but on regular driving, I'm not sure if it would have enough cooling capacity. Draging you just go a short distance and shut it down, but on the roads you will drive uo to 2 hrs straight, which will produce much more heat over time.

[Accordtheory]

If it can handle one of my high speed (130 up) freeway runs when it is like 100 out, (it is way too fucking hot where I live) then it will have passed my test

[Robs89LXi]

Don't forget about having to reroute hoses, overflow bottles and sensor wires with these different type radiators. Make sure they will fit.

[Accordtheory]

I tried to post a pic of one of the things I had to make to be able to use the civic radiator, but for some reason the pic wouldn't display.. (I wonder what's up with imagestation?) It's just a piece of metal tubing with a 16mm nut that fits into the the lower radiator hose so I can still use the accord coolant temp sensor. (the civic radiator doesn't have a provision for this sensor)

[Justin86]

So all of the Civic mounts line with the stock accord mounts right? Also is it a 1 or 2 row radiator?
I'm still not sure casue the only thing nice about the civic is it will save space, but I can get a larger 2 row accord rad for cheaper then the 2 row civic one. I don't know but paying more for a radiator that has a smaller capacity dosen't seem right and cooling is mostly effected my surface area, which the accord has twice the area.

[Versanick]

Okay, I have a jdm b20a built from the bottom up (hypereutectic pistons, shot peened and polished rods, polished crank, and GUDE headpackage) and the factory radiator doesn't cool it enough (radiator from the a20 lxi)... it runs just a tad hot (everything is clean and new or in working order and condition as far as the cooling system)... so I'm getting a fluidyne radiator.

Not looking to custom too much in the way of radiator size, I'm going to buy a 2g teg radiator. This is completely experimental, as I can't find anyone who's done it or anything, but my project needs to be done ASAP (the rebuild, since I ripped apart a set of bearings, with the stock bottom end, topping the car out for about an hour on the highway at 135mph)...

and so I'll take pictures and let you guys know how it goes and how well (or not well) it mounts in... using the 2g teg one because Justin86 says the core size is the same.

Here we go.... $375 on www.sportcompactwarehouse.com

[SimonT]

Did I understand you correct when you said that 1 hour of cruising blew out your JPN B20a engine??

Was it overheating that did the damage?? or just the high speed cruising??

I've heard a few bad opinions about the B20a like from Sean but with no real specifics. I'm about to start my own B20a/Webber upgrade and wondering if I'm making the right decision as I want something thats as reliable as stock and will get me another 200K miles while taking the abuse of daily driving.

Cheers,

Simon

[Justin86]

Yea the core size on the teg and accord are the same and the over all dimension are pretty similar. Talking with Kroy and his teg the mount points are closer together on the accord by the looks of it and the top tank is shaped different then the accord.
here is the accord.... http://www.radiatorauctions.com/images/ebay/928.jpg
and the teg....... http://www.radiatorauctions.com/images/ebay/292.jpg
as you can see the teg top tank where it curves down to the mounting point. My guess it that for it to work you would need to cut up the top support inorder for the teg to fit and relocate the mountings pins. Or relocated the pins and have longer ones on top and move the bottom mounts down a 1" to 1/2" to make it work.