Radiator and Fan Options.

[joewantstodrift]

hey im looking for some suggestions on the best radiator and fan setup for my car. just wondering what some other people are going with and whats worked best for people. what setup would cool the best for an s14 with an rb25det. im also not willing to spend more than $400-$500 on a radiator.

here are my setup options:

dual or single fan
dual or single shroud
pushers vs. pullers

also looking for suggestions on brands for the radiator and fan(s). thanks.

-Joe

[420sx]

im running altima fans on my koyo.

no condenser, nismo thermo, samco hoses. temp is between 70-78C. hottest it gets on the track is 82, however im bout to switch to manual shroud/fan


just noticed u said rb25. u wont be able to run stock shroud. id recomment koyo plus some flexalites wires to the ignition and a good temp gauge

[joewantstodrift]

i had a koyo for awhile when i had my sr20 and it was fine but my friend had his koyo for a year or two and his sprung a leak. im just looking for some other options maybe. i might end up with a koyo again though.

[Big Bronze Rim]

You can tell summer is approaching along with all of the rad/fan/overheating questions that are bound to ensue. Im running altima fans controlled by a Greddy MSS with a copper Koyo rad. Works great in Texas heat even with the AC on. This seems like a good place to post the link to the rad and fan test we conducted a few years ago for comparisons sake.

http://home.satx.rr.com/nissanweb/RadTest/RadTest.htm

-Brad

[MaRshMaLLow]

something i've been trying to look in to for the past few weeks ....

[nissandr1ft]

I run a Taurus fan w/ shroud and its working great. I've read that test a while ago, and wondered if those people that tested that ever thought about redoing those tests with a wider range of fans aka taurus fan.

[MaRshMaLLow]

Originally Posted by nissandr1ft

I run a Taurus fan w/ shroud and its working great. I've read that test a while ago, and wondered if those people that tested that ever thought about redoing those tests with a wider range of fans aka taurus fan.

yea dat be nice ... i'm glad someone actually has time on doing those type of tests ... lol

[Big Bronze Rim]

I was one of the people who conducted that test. Unfortunately there is no way that test could be repeated or have additional combos tested. I know that there are lots of people using taurus fans and are having decent luck with them. My guess is that the Altima fans will be more effective due to complete coverage of the rad with shrouding as well what I would guess to be a higher overall airflow. The one thing I like about Altimas( and any other dual fan for that matter) is the ability to have seperate thermostatic control of two fans so they can be staged. This prevents wear and tear on both fans, less noise and less amp draw when not needed. I should also add that I think fans should be thermo controlled and not on a switched circuit. With my fans wired this way the car would overcool itself and take way to long to come up to operating temp. This hampers performance and is less than optimal. Just my opinions and insight from experience.

-Brad

[MaRshMaLLow]

Originally Posted by Big Bronze Rim

I was one of the people who conducted that test. Unfortunately there is no way that test could be repeated or have additional combos tested. I know that there are lots of people using taurus fans and are having decent luck with them. My guess is that the Altima fans will be more effective due to complete coverage of the rad with shrouding as well what I would guess to be a higher overall airflow. The one thing I like about Altimas( and any other dual fan for that matter) is the ability to have seperate thermostatic control of two fans so they can be staged. This prevents wear and tear on both fans, less noise and less amp draw when not needed. I should also add that I think fans should be thermo controlled and not on a switched circuit. With my fans wired this way the car would overcool itself and take way to long to come up to operating temp. This hampers performance and is less than optimal. Just my opinions and insight from experience.

-Brad

good points .. thank you

[420sx]

eh.... wire it to ignition. i got alima fans. i dont see where it takes long to warm up. and definately no overcooling

[GSXRJJordan]

I use a cheap aluminum "race" radiator and an old BMW 318 fan (single 12" fan, exactly the right height for a S13, only draws 9A, but doesn't pull too much air) with custom aluminum shrouds made from .0010" aluminum flashing. Also have the fan hooked up through the AC relay with an override switch, so I switch it on and off from inside when I see the water temp come up. Does get up to about 200* F on a hot day runnin up a hill/drifting, but if I keep the engine load down it stays at 180* all the time. I'll have to take pics and post em.

To the guys that did the radiator test back in the day, thanks a TON. The first cooling duct I made connected my bumper to the rad support, and dropped temps 10* right off the bat. Then I made the other shrouding, and it helped even more - great info ~

[Big Bronze Rim]

Originally Posted by 420sx

eh.... wire it to ignition. i got alima fans. i dont see where it takes long to warm up. and definately no overcooling

Im not saying it doesn't work. With both Altima fans wired on high switched on with ignition it would take 15-20 minutes of driving(unless it was stop and go in the heat of the day with the AC on) for the car to warm up to at least 70C. IMO thats an excesive amount of time to warm up. I should have added though that that could be somewhat attibuted to a Nismo thermo which opens at 65C IIRC. A stock thermo probably would have as big a problem.

Originally Posted by GSXRJJordan

To the guys that did the radiator test back in the day, thanks a TON. The first cooling duct I made connected my bumper to the rad support, and dropped temps 10* right off the bat. Then I made the other shrouding, and it helped even more - great info ~

Glad it helped out!

[420sx]

im not having any issues. using a nismo also.

[sTalnOut]

im running a koyo radiator and a dual flexalite w/ samco hoses its running perfectly fine it does the job and im pretti happy with it but 1 thing if u do decide to get the flexalite w/ the thermo control make sure you open up the unit box n stuff it up w/ sumthing so it wouldnt move the wires to much cause after running the car, the box will move enough to losin up the connected wires n you'll overheat w/o knowing well good luck

[Big Bronze Rim]

Originally Posted by 420sx

im not having any issues. using a nismo also.

Who knows, its one of those things that could just vary from car to car. Its probably due to the fact that when it was wired like that I would get on the freeway shortly after starting the car, the thermo would open and the car would just sit at about 68-69C while cruising on the freeway. I had to go into the Power FC settings and change the coolant temp corrections because it would run way rich. In city driving or in traffic it would come up to a more normal 78-82C. Im running a Greddy MSS now and I have one fan come on at 82C and the second fan come on at 84C, both turn off at 80C.

[derek_s13]

the newest car i bought came with:

koyo alum.
stock hoses
stock condenser
nismo cap


... on a stock ka. airboxes, egr, cat. and all.



this setup runs WAYY too cold. i've been beating the car more and more regularly,
and it's only gotten up to the first notch on the idiot gauge a few times.
it stays BELOW 'cold' constantly. it worries me. haven't been to the track with
this car yet. hopefully the overcooling will pay off there.





BUT with your FMIC blocking everything up, you shouldn't run into this problem.
koyo seems best bang for your buck nowadays. anything aluminum should be sufficient.

[bigOdom1]

aluminum koyo, altima fans, water wetter, new water pump, samco hoses, ac worked fine till the wg actuator arm poked the line but no overheating problems in three AL summers

[CKAMC]

PWR radiator, flexalite fans, greddy mss, blitz top hose, DIY shrouding

vented hood also helps.

[C. Senor]

i'm running a dual core koyo with a taurus fan (hard wired) i'm using a stock thermo with stock hoses and stock waterpump....stays right in the middle (i'm pretty sure that's where its suppossed to be at)...it takes like 5 mins to warm up and from there its perfect; never moves. sunny socal weather with sun blaring doesnt move at all, even after redlining or just being stopped at a light.

[CKAMC]

you know that stock guage is crap/inaccurate

get an aftermarket one calibrated.... then the truth will be known.

[ladiesman8527]

i gotta koyo aluminum rad with a custom single 14" shrouded fan wired to the ignition cooling my SR20. i still have A/c and the hottest it got at the track last weekend was around 90*C and that was on the way home. it barely got up to 85*C while i was actually running the course. im interested to see how it performs when i get a FMIC...