Radiator Replacement/recore

i paid 125 for a recore in the NYC area...works great and looks new.

Thats not bad - any shop can do this, or have to find one that specializes in it?

also what are the options for a new OE style replacement?

go and buy a primera sr20 radiator, my one come even with the 2 electric fans

fits perfect exept hoses and brackets

theyre cheap and easy to install

He's in USA, there is no Primera ;
) But an S13 radiator will fit with very minimal mods, I think you can just drill holes and it will fit. That's why some people here use S13 aftermarket radiators.

S13 = 240SX - yes?

plenty of wannabe tokyo drifter cars in my local junkyard

ArroHe's in USA, there is no Primera ;
) But an S13 radiator will fit with very minimal mods, I think you can just drill holes and it will fit. That's why some people here use S13 aftermarket radiators.

celestialsilviaThats not bad - any shop can do this, or have to find one that specializes in it?

also what are the options for a new OE style replacement?

I used a radiator for the RB20 made my Godspeed, came with dual electric fans and it was a twin core. the radiator hose ports are in the right place, you have to drill new holes for the bottom mounts and be creative for a bracket to hold it in place on top, but no biggie.

check mah build thread, I had to make custom radiator hoses too

One thing you have to be careful when using non-OEM radiators is the hood clearance.  The stock SE radiator has the cap behind the radiator to lower the profile, and at the front of the engine bay there is not much height to spare.

I'll be interested to hear how this goes for you, as a rad replacement is on my to-do list when I swap my engine.

could always grind it off and weld a block-off plate or some such, though I'd rather not. .

edit: PHEW! $498 from Nissan of Denville (NJ)

Get one of those 52mm all alloy radiators off ebay, they are cheap as chips and twice as efficient as a standard s13 radiator, which sucked for cooling. I put one on my sr powered s12 and it made a huge difference to the cooling, heaps better than the thin crappy s13 one. Paid like $85 dollars plus shipping

2 things......The SE radiator does not have the cap on it and the thermoswitch for the auxiliary fan is in the top tank on the drivers side where the CA cars have it in the upper radiator hose.

Get it re-cored as you can't get one aftermarket. That's what I did with the 87 I had, but I can't remember what it cost me as that was about 6 years ago.

yeah, I just need to get something in there so I can make it to West Virginia for the all good festy - im about to just throw in a Mk.IV jetta rad to get it moving

vg30e_x2_200sx
Get it re-cored as you can't get one aftermarket. That's what I did with the 87 I had, but I can't remember what it cost me as that was about 6 years ago.

That's a cross flow with no provision for the thermoswitch. That's the issue with the SE. You can MAKE just about anything "work", but it won't be correct. There was a reason Nissan went with the down flow radiator instead of the cross flow. My guess would be because the inlet and outlets are on the same side of the radiator and a down flow is more efficient in that instance.

That's a good point, but you can buy a thermo switch for a pair of cheapy efans. Or you can just run a toggle switch for your efan (what I did).

The ecu isn't making compensations based on the temp that it gets from the radiator as far as I know. And isn't the coolant temp gauge getting its information from the CHTS? Maybe I'm off base.

From what I rememeber there are two temp switches on the engine. One in the head and the other in the intake, but I could be off on that.
The thermoswitch is there just to turn on the aux fan if the coolant temp get too hot in the radiator. The A/C will still turn it on without that in place, but if it's that hot I don't know that I would want the A/C putting that much load on the engine.

The stock fan is a single speed fan with two feed points to the relay to activate it. The thermoswitch and the A/C circuit.

vg30e_x2_200sxFrom what I rememeber there are two temp switches on the engine. One in the head and the other in the intake, but I could be off on that.
The thermoswitch is there just to turn on the aux fan if the coolant temp get too hot in the radiator. The A/C will still turn it on without that in place, but if it's that hot I don't know that I would want the A/C putting that much load on the engine.

The stock fan is a single speed fan with two feed points to the relay to activate it. The thermoswitch and the A/C circuit.

I have my rad at the shop right now undergoing its recoring - ill let everyone know how it turns out & post pix.

EDIT: The gutted, corroded radiator was still running cooler than normal operating temp with a little Water Wetter involved. The shop showed me how blocked the passages were and it was pretty bad. I've also removed the AC 'rad' in front of the radiator. Will it be possible to get away with not running any cooling fan? Just the clutch operated one?

Just because of it purpose, I wouldn't paint the fins, this would hurt the heat dissipation.

End tank in black to make it look like factory?

guy at the rad shop said the copper fins will corrode fairly quickly unless painted