Aftermarket Radiator for RB25 in 240Z (oil cooler and oil cooler bypass valve)

[Hunter]

What radiators are you blokes running in your RB25 conversions.

 

Pictures would be appreciated, along with prices and location of where you purchased it from.

 

Also any modifications you had to make to radiator mount or radiator to fit your particular radiator.

 

Cheers Hunter

[sco_aus]

Mine is a brass 3 core with custom top and bottom tanks. It has been on there a fair while. It is excellent at keeping the 250rwkw cool.  As for price, honestly I dont know and if i did I would probably cringe (I got ripped off on the entire engine conversion), but I suggest maybe either talking to any local radiator peoples or try Aussie Desert Coolers.  They can make some awesome alloy radiators for under $1k.  They would just match RB30 inlet and outlet pipes to it with the right sizes supplied by you and they will return it with a mounting kit that will keep the alloy safe for years to come.  They mostly do Holden/Chev and Ford stuff, but they would definately help you and have an excellent rep.

http://www.aussiedesertcooler.com.au/

[Zedman240®]

I just used the alloy radiator I had made for the L series engine; just had to mod the plumbing for the top hose. Lower hose went on without needing any mods. It cost around $600 a few years ago now.. Race radiators in Dandenong Vic.

[Hunter]

Cheers for the photos fellas,

I have been looking at the $300-$400 aluminium radiators on ebay.

 

Dimitri your setup would work if I get hold of a GReddy manifold.

 

Otherwise I could just buy the 240z aluminium off ebay and change the top inlet.

 

sco_aus I will contact desertcoolers and see what they can offer me. But at the moment I am looking at building my car up with everything for under $20k and I am pretty well on track.

 

I am purchasing 260z standard radiator with the inlet already changed off another forum member, that will keep me out of trouble for the time being. As you can see from pics my current setup has the intercooling piping in the way

 

Pictures below: Excuse that scantly dressed dark man, but that was the only photo I had with my standard radiator installed. "Chickens Mankini Adventures" in action.

 

I will be updating my build diary soon. mrp69 (Peter) drove my new engine down from sydney.

6 work days both running by the end.

two engine swaps, rb25 in mine, L28 in peters to get him home.

tailshaft shortening

painting

brake refresh

surgetank and pumps

etc. etc. details to come.

[sco_aus]

Yeah fair enough mate, just remember tho, a good quality 2 core shits all over a bad quality 4 core... I would say they will quote $850.  Good luck mate

[Hunter]

pics

[sco_aus]

hahaha thats disturbing

[hunterzed]

One of the guys up in Newcastle bought one of the cheaper radiators from the states and says it works a treat but I'd be running an oil cooler as well for your engine but thats just me.

[sco_aus]

Oh I have one, don't worry about that.  If someone else can vouch for those radiators, then why not...

[Hunter]

Already looking at oil coolers. So many to choose from i'm thinking a 13 row oil cooler should be sufficient for down here in tassie. Any thoughts? 

[hunterzed]

13 row should be fine. Depends on where you're mounting it though. I ran one on my 4.2 turbo diesel patrol race truck under the bonnet scoop and it worked fine there.

[sco_aus]

Any oil cooling is good cooling.  Its not very important, but for the track is certainly a good idea.  you will find a lot of the time, especially in your climate, that the cooling for everyday driving may be too effective and the car will struggle to get warm enough, I have this problem in Canberra most of the year.  I have heard of people making covers for their oil coolers for the winter months so that the oil can still warm up, I will prbably do this when I get her back on the road.  Also in regards to cooling in general, one of the most important things is making use of the air passing over all of the coolers, ie damming the air.  the air will choose the path of least resistance which if there is no shrouding, will pass straight under or around the cooler.  I am going to use a product called Alumniclad (not sure what other manufacturers call the stuff).  It is a thin layer of aluminium, then a thin layer of plastic then another thin layer of aluminium that comes in different colours and thiknesses.  Its cheap, strong, easily bendable to the right shape, light, easy to cut and works a treat to dam air from your front bar or wherever.  Can also make airboxes, defusers, cones to funnel air to brakes from the front bar (combined with pipe to the brakes).  Anyways, its great stuff.

[hunterzed]

I guess a bypass tap would work too if was plumbed in properly. Any way here is a link to a guy called dave (twozeds) on the newcastle zeds forum. He's the guy that bought the alloy radiator.

 

http://newcastlezeds.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1264058850

 

And here is a pic of it fitted in his 260z

 

 

Steve

[Hunter]

Not that my car will be standing still for any long periods of time, but I am going to get a 16" 3000CFM fan for the radiator. Also make a shroud up so it is pulling air through the radiator and intercooler that Alumiclad looks like an ideal product to make it out of and possibly oil cooler covers. I also have a 260z vented bonnet installed to aid air flow

 

The oil cooler kits have a oil filter relocation as part of the kit which is an added bonus. I am going to try mount the oil cooler away from the intercooler and radiator airflow, as not to add that heat load back into the circuit.

 

Anyone have pics of their oil cooler installs?

[Hunter]

that radiator looks nice and shiny, and easy to modify with flat end tanks. Not that I can weld aluminium but mates can.

[sco_aus]

 

The first image is how it is mounted now, but i'll be changing it later. The other two from when i first got it and slapped it in.  The relocator is fantastic, I have mine mounted next to the suspension tower on the RHS in engine bay, so damn easy and most will come with with bolts in holes where you can mount oil temp and pressure readers from.

[Hunter]

a bypass tap could work well. would there be a possibility of the oil going stale if the bypass was left on for extended periods? As would probably be the case here in tas.

[sco_aus]

http://www.alumiclad.com/

You just have to find a distributor.

I reckon a cover would be easier and cheaper than a bypass tap.

[Hunter]

how many rows does that oil cooler have? I like the fine mesh on your front grill. keeps the bugs out. I will use that.

[sco_aus]

lol its called flyscreen

I couldn't tell you off the top of my head.  I think it was a Just Jap one from Sydney, I could be wrong though.  Beware though, some of these oil cooler kits use soft metals for the connections/fittings.  The threads on them are really easy to cross thread and it may end up leaking.  It took me ages to get it right ( I even tried thread tape lol).

[Hunter]

lol that flyscreen would do a good job of screening flies ay. lol

[sco_aus]

lol, that it did.

In regards to stagnant oil, I couldn't tell you, but I doubt it.

[Hunter]

I was doing some research on front radiator ducting on hybridz.org and found this picture, It is described as a "high flow capacity, bypass thermostat for the oil system" looks like the answer we are looking for.

 

I put some yellow directional arrows on the hoses as I stared at the pic for 5 mins trying to work out what was going on. (hose colours blend a bit going through radiator support) Also take note of the markings on the thermostat.

 

Seems like a simple automatic solution. I will be doing some research on pricing and manufacturers I will keep you all posted.

 

EDIT: After reading the installation and specification pdf that I have linked futher in this thread. It looks like the image below is plumbed up wrong. check it out yourself.

[Riceburner]

Hunter do you now the sellers I.D. on ebay? I'm in the market for a new radiator.

[Hunter]

I guess you were talking  to Hunterzed. but just go to ebay.com  do not put ebay.com.au. this will take you to the american ebay site. type in "240z radiator" you will find a page or so of them there. they all look pretty similar.