YACT: New radiator for the stang...*Update* 3rd choice added.

[Insane3D]

Well, I just got my refund and I'm starting to pick up cooling system parts for the stang. Once the weather get's warmer, I'm replacing my heater core, and while I'm at that, I'm going to do a couple of upgrades to my cooling system while I've got everything apart.

I've currently got this radiator in my car now...

Heavy Duty 2-Row Brass Radiator


I'm trying to choose between these two aluminum replacements...

Ford Racing Aluminum radiator with composite tanks

or this insane Fluidyne one...

Fluidyne Aluminum Radiator

Now, obviously, the Fluidyne is the top of the line, but I wonder if it is worth $120 more. I like the FMS one, but I'm wondering how composite tanks will hold up, and if I will have problems down the line having plastic tanks meshed to a aluminum radiator...

Help me choose!

Edit:

Third choice...

Summit Racing Aluminum Radiator

 

[acemcmac]

interesting. My mustang takes so long to warm up stock, I'd be afraid to upgrade its cooling for fear that it would never warm up

:sun:

 

[Ladies Man]

I have a modine 2 row radiator. Cost me alittle over 100 iirc. I have a 185 degree thermostat in my car and even on the hottest days it doesn't go past the quarter marker.

There's no reason to invest in a more expensive one when a cheaper one will do just as good of a job.

93 5.0 150k miles..... aod also uses the radiator to cool off...........

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
interesting. My mustang takes so long to warm up stock, I'd be afraid to upgrade its cooling for fear that it would never warm up

:sun:

You might to check out that site...you could probably get your headlight assembly cheaper there.

If you aren't guy that had a little winter accident with your '99, then please disregard.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: acemcmac
interesting. My mustang takes so long to warm up stock, I'd be afraid to upgrade its cooling for fear that it would never warm up

:sun:

You might to check out that site...you could probably get your headlight assembly cheaper there.

If you aren't guy that had a little winter accident with your '99, then please disregard.

oh, thats definitley me
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/acemcmac/snow1.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/acemcmac/snow2.jpg

Got my first quotes today.... 1700 at one place without opening the hood, so there is a disclaimer that internal damage may raise it... the other was 1900 with the disclaimer that they have never heard of an OEM C-stripe and they don't know if they can replace it

either way its my money

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Ladies Man
I have a modine 2 row radiator. Cost me alittle over 100 iirc. I have a 185 degree thermostat in my car and even on the hottest days it doesn't go past the quarter marker.

There's no reason to invest in a more expensive one when a cheaper one will do just as good of a job.

93 5.0 150k miles..... aod also uses the radiator to cool off...........

Yeah, mine a '92, and I've done a lot of mods to it over the year.

I'm up here in NH, so we only get hot weather a couple months of the year, and I never have overheating problems. I'm also already running a 180 degree thermostat, and my water pump has been replaced with one of those HP Edelbrock units. My radiator is fine, but it's been in there for about 3 or 4 years, so I figured I'd replace it while I have everything torn apart instead of waiting for it to start leaking.

I've also heard that an aluminum radiator will last longer than a brass one...not 100% positive on that though.

 

[Ladies Man]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: Ladies Man
I have a modine 2 row radiator. Cost me alittle over 100 iirc. I have a 185 degree thermostat in my car and even on the hottest days it doesn't go past the quarter marker.

There's no reason to invest in a more expensive one when a cheaper one will do just as good of a job.

93 5.0 150k miles..... aod also uses the radiator to cool off...........

Yeah, mine a '92, and I've done a lot of mods to it over the year.

I'm up here in NH, so we only get hot weather a couple months of the year, and I never have overheating problems. I'm also already running a 180 degree thermostat, and my water pump has been replaced with one of those HP Edelbrock units. My radiator is fine, but it's been in there for about 3 or 4 years, so I figured I'd replace it while I have everything torn apart instead of waiting for it to start leaking.

I've also heard that an aluminum radiator will last longer than a brass one...not 100% positive on that though.

It has a life time warrantee, and will probably clog up before it leaks. It's also not that much of a hassel to replace it again if need be. Besides, I'll be lucky to get the car started in another 5 years the way I drive it, why would I worry about the radiator

 

[toant103]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Well, I just got my refund and I'm starting to pick up cooling system parts for the stang. Once the weather get's warmer, I'm replacing my heater core, and while I'm at that, I'm going to do a couple of upgrades to my cooling system while I've got everything apart.

I've currently got this radiator in my car now...

Heavy Duty 2-Row Brass Radiator


I'm trying to choose between these two aluminum replacements...

Ford Racing Aluminum radiator with composite tanks

or this insane Fluidyne one...

Fluidyne Aluminum Radiator

Now, obviously, the Fluidyne is the top of the line, but I wonder if it is worth $120 more. I like the FMS one, but I'm wondering how composite tanks will hold up, and if I will have problems down the line having plastic tanks meshed to a aluminum radiator...

Help me choose!

haha, at first i thought it was HP Hewit Packard.

i'm steping away from the computer!!!!!!!

 

[Insane3D]

True, but up here in NH, I drive the car year round (thank god for Blizzaks), and I'm worried about the effect of road salt and the like. I'm planning on keeping the car until I die anyhow...especially with all stuff I've done to it. When the motor dies, I'll probably just throw a 347 stroker in there.

I need to do some serious work on my doors in the spring too. Both the hinges are shot bad, and now the cold up here finally killed my door lock actuators, and I think the latch assemblies themselves might be getting smoked since the hinges have been so bad for so long. I can't lock the car right now..

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: acemcmac
interesting. My mustang takes so long to warm up stock, I'd be afraid to upgrade its cooling for fear that it would never warm up

:sun:

You might to check out that site...you could probably get your headlight assembly cheaper there.

If you aren't guy that had a little winter accident with your '99, then please disregard.

oh, thats definitley me
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/acemcmac/snow1.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/acemcmac/snow2.jpg

Got my first quotes today.... 1700 at one place without opening the hood, so there is a disclaimer that internal damage may raise it... the other was 1900 with the disclaimer that they have never heard of an OEM C-stripe and they don't know if they can replace it

either way its my money

You could probably get a new fancy fiberglass hood for less than the factory fiberglass hood. Is that a GT?

Driving a stang in the snow takes a lot of experience and patience. I finally got a dedicated winter tire set. Got four Blizzaks for the stock rims, and got set of 17" x 9" rims and tires for the rest of the year.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Doesn't summit sale some aluminum ones for around $150 that fit? I know a lot of people on the corral.net run those. You have to tweak some stuff since they aren't a direct fit though.

 

[Insane3D]

I wasn't aware of one, but I'm leery of having to do too much modification...although, when I pull my A/C system out, the lack of a condenser might give me a bit more room.

 

[Insane3D]

Bump for more votes....

 

[Ladies Man]

I drive my car all winter long too....

I need to replace my crossmember because it's rusted straight through from the salt and such....

My drivers side door needs to be lifted to shut cus the hinges are done.
But the hinges are not the reason you can't lock your door, it's your door lock actuators. I've replaced both my doors. First one locked up, and would not go up or down, and it happened to be stuck in the up position, meaning the door wouldn't lock. When you put in new ones your door will lock again..

Also when you change them, you don't have to drill out the rivet, you can just slide it into the C like clips...
Hard to describe without a picture. Feel free to shoot me a pm when you go to change them if you have any questions.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Yeah the lock actuator on my passenger side froze in the locked posistion. I got lucky and was able to get the door open by lifting up on it while I canked the key. I just pulled the actuator and haven't bothered to replace it yet. Think it was $80 and well I never use the passenger side anyway .

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Ladies Man
I drive my car all winter long too....

I need to replace my crossmember because it's rusted straight through from the salt and such....

My drivers side door needs to be lifted to shut cus the hinges are done.
But the hinges are not the reason you can't lock your door, it's your door lock actuators. I've replaced both my doors. First one locked up, and would not go up or down, and it happened to be stuck in the up position, meaning the door wouldn't lock. When you put in new ones your door will lock again..

Also when you change them, you don't have to drill out the rivet, you can just slide it into the C like clips...
Hard to describe without a picture. Feel free to shoot me a pm when you go to change them if you have any questions.

Ahh...good info. I have all the stuff to fix the hinges, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to cut out the old ones. I wondered if the actuators being dead could keep the door from locking, but I wasn't sure. I'll probably just pick up the $80 kit that replaces both sides.

I still think I might need a new latch assembly on the drivers side, since about 3 days ago, after I open the door, I can't close it again unless I reset the part in the latch the hooks onto the body with my hand. My hinges have been bad for a long time on the drivers side, so I think I might have killed it. I wonder if it would do any good to pull the whole thing out and WD-40 it to death? I soaked it with WD-40 a couple days ago, but it still won't shut unless I push the piece up everytime...

I do know what you mean about the clips though, but I'll probably just get new rivets from a hardware store or something. I don't think I would want a hole there, and it seems like from the instruction on 5.0 resto, you can't get them out without drilling it out...

 

[Insane3D]

Well, I just picked a set of new door handles, door to body weatherstrip kit, actuator kit (both sides) for about $145...not bad.

Is it normal for both actuators to die at the exact same time? I'm thinking when it went down to -15F for a few days, that finally killed them...

LMAO...I just realized how this thread went from a new radiator to fixing my doors..lol.

 

[Ladies Man]

you kinda misunderstood me on the clips part.....
http://secure.50resto.com/prod...m?SID=1&Product_ID=816

see the picture of the actuator.... it clips into the white part that is connected to the door, by the rivet..... In the directions they tell you to drill the rivet out, and put a new one in.... that's stupid.... You can pull the actuator off the white part that is on the door, leaving it there. Then just push the new actuator onto it. This will leave behind the white part that came with the new one. No drilling, no holes, no need to put in another rivet. I've done it for both of my doors. Get a good screw driver, push down and wiggle as good as you can, and it'll come out. Getting it on isn't hard either... just get one side clipped in and then push up the other side till it finally snaps in....

My actuators didn't die at the same time, but it's def possible.

 

[Insane3D]

Ahhh...I gotcha on the white clips now. Thanks. I'll probably be shooting you some PM's sometime soon.

 

[Evadman]

When you think about it, what is $120 in the grand scheeme of things? You will be set for any concievable HP upgrades you could make to that engine, and still have cooling capacity left over. There is no such thing as too much radiator.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Evadman
When you think about it, what is $120 in the grand scheeme of things? You will be set for any concievable HP upgrades you could make to that engine, and still have cooling capacity left over. There is no such thing as too much radiator.

I agree. I also prefer to change things out while I'm already drianing and flushing the cooling system anyhow, then wait until it starts leaking and doing it all over again.

The thing is, both the Ford unit, and the Fluidyne are better than what I have now, so I'm a bit unsure.

 

[SuperSix]

Why do you need more cooling capacity??

Stick with "just better than stock", with your setup, you should be fine.

 

[Insane3D]

It's not so much that I need more cooling, as much as I'm going to have my entire cooling sytem taken apart and plan on replacing the aging radiator I have now before it leaks down the line. I don't overheat or anything, but the engine is modified, and I tend to get things that might be a bit overkill now, bit might work out being a good choice down the line. I also would like a aluminum radiator for it's better cooling properties, resitance to corrosion, and lighter weight.

 

[Calin]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
True, but up here in NH, I drive the car year round (thank god for Blizzaks), and I'm worried about the effect of road salt and the like. I'm planning on keeping the car until I die anyhow...especially with all stuff I've done to it. When the motor dies, I'll probably just throw a 347 stroker in there.

I need to do some serious work on my doors in the spring too. Both the hinges are shot bad, and now the cold up here finally killed my door lock actuators, and I think the latch assemblies themselves might be getting smoked since the hinges have been so bad for so long. I can't lock the car right now..

So, where do you live? (and what car it is?)

I certainly would like at least a "test" drive with a Mustang. I would even drive it to another state (or even country)

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Calin

Originally posted by: Insane3D
True, but up here in NH, I drive the car year round (thank god for Blizzaks), and I'm worried about the effect of road salt and the like. I'm planning on keeping the car until I die anyhow...especially with all stuff I've done to it. When the motor dies, I'll probably just throw a 347 stroker in there.

I need to do some serious work on my doors in the spring too. Both the hinges are shot bad, and now the cold up here finally killed my door lock actuators, and I think the latch assemblies themselves might be getting smoked since the hinges have been so bad for so long. I can't lock the car right now..

So, where do you live? (and what car it is?)