Radiators

J-MoNeY · Post by **J-MoNeY** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 5:32 am

After my crash I had my car sold, but had a change of heart and decided to rebuild it better then ever. But to start I need to find a damn radiator. I've been online but I'm getting 299.00 or there about price quotes. Can anyone guild me here. I need one by Friday.

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 5:58 am

local yards?

J-MoNeY · Post by **J-MoNeY** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 6:19 am

HAHAHA. Dude, I have called 9 yards. No turbo radiators. There non-existant.

scottzg · Post by **scottzg** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:58 am

N/A radiator?

In my opinion, the NA radiator is too big for the car, the turbo even more so. Shouldn't be a problem unless you're boosting up a long hill in summer at low speed/ high rpm.

I bet every turbo swap on here is using a na radiator, and ive never heard of a problem.

Let me know when you would like me to dip you in gold.

Post by **Legacy777** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 4:17 pm

Yeah, the radiators & cooling systems on these cars are very robust. You could use a n/a radiator and shouldn't have issues.....shouldn't is the key word.

The other thing you need to remember is what type of radiator are you looking for. Aluminum or a copper/brass. The aluminum ones will be more expensive, however I feel they are better and will last longer.

You may want to read over this thread in its entirety.....there's a few links in there where you can try to call for pricing on a turbo or n/a radiator.
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... highlight=

boostjunkie · Post by **boostjunkie** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 4:26 pm

I'm not sure if this assumption is correct, but would you need to let the car idle longer before shutoff since you won't have that coolant fill tank sitting higher than the turbo? I thought the reason for that tank was to provide a reservoir of coolant to "drip" down through the turbo to prevent coking of the oil in the bearings.

Post by **Legacy777** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 5:00 pm

forgot about that....the turbo radiator doesn't have a cap on it.

yeah....you'll need the turbo radiator.....that or you might be able to plug up the overfill plug on the n/a.....plus you'd have to get a way higher pressure cap.....ehh....that doesn't sound very good...

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 5:55 pm

boostjunkie - Something like that... The reservoir is actually there to be a place for gaseous coolant to go. After you park, the heat in the turbo's water jacket vaporizes the coolant, making it much less dense. It has an easy route upwards to the filler bottle, so it goes there (eventually ending up in the overflow bottle if necessary), and the partial vacuum pulls fresh coolant in from the heads.

Josh - I don't think turbos use higher-pressure caps stock than non-turbos. Or did you mean he'd need a higher-pressure cap just to seal off the opening?

If you fit a non-turbo radiator to your turbo, there's no reason you can't keep that filler bottle. You would just need to somehow get a fitting that threads into where the burp screw goes, because on the turbo radiator a hose goes from the filler tank to a nipple there, which is important to keep the tank the highest point in the system. And then a higher-pressure cap to seal the radiator off... Or put a plug of some type in and solder it shut.

Or you could use a non-turbo radiator and bypass the filler bottle, just being careful to idle long enough after driving. You would take out the filler bottle and connect the two larger hoses with a union fitting (thus connecting the turbo directly to the water pump). The small hose going to the passenger side of the radiator would no longer be needed since it has no place to go on the non-turbo radiator anyway, and the small hose going to the overflow tank would connect near the cap on the new radiator.

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 9:33 pm

Look at all the EJ20T and EJ25 turbo RS around, they dont use the turbo radiator and some of them have huge power. A couple ways exist to route the cooling system when you use an NA radiator.

boostjunkie · Post by **boostjunkie** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:36 pm

ciper wrote:Look at all the EJ20T and EJ25 turbo RS around, they dont use the turbo radiator and some of them have huge power. A couple ways exist to route the cooling system when you use an NA radiator.

Don't the ej20t's come with a similar radiator to the turbo legacies? I know they have a coolant filler tank similar to ours. And are the turbos for the RSs water-cooled? I'm sure you could just plug up the coolant inlet/outlets for the turbo somehow, however. Just idle the car a little longer before shutdown.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:42 pm

I think ciper's talking about people who swap EJ20Ts into their (originally) naturally aspirated Subarus.

Most turbos sold these days have water jackets, but many aftermarket installations don't use them. You can get away with it, but since coolant is so easy to run to a turbo (on most cars you can just put it in series with the throttle body), why risk it?

boostjunkie · Post by **boostjunkie** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:51 pm

Gotcha.

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 11:31 pm

Yes I was speaking of an RS/GT/Outback etc. with either a complate WRX engine swap or a turbo added to the 2.5 engine. I-speed comes to mind for conversion information.

J-MoNeY · Post by **J-MoNeY** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 1:31 am

I finally found a radiator. A 2 core brand new after market one for 190 bucks. The only problem now is the fans I messed up. I looked through on of your topics in the archives and it says that the turbo radiator fans are different from the NA ones. I don't see how this is though, due to the fact that the turbo radiator is 2 core. Can someone clear this up from me?

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 1:33 am

The fans are the same externally. One is slightly more powerful on an NA compared to a turbo.

J-MoNeY · Post by **J-MoNeY** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 1:40 am

ciper wrote:The fans are the same externally. One is slightly more powerful on an NA compared to a turbo.

Im going to the yard tomorrow to pick up two new fans? Do you suggest I get the NA fans or the turbo fans?

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 3:31 am

If you could find turbo fans get them, but I wouldnt worry about using NA fans. I might use NA fans on my motor build

read this http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthr ... did=409710

and look at this http://mail.bogusbasin.com/IMG/BROWSEAB ... C01810.JPG
The cap installed on the radiator is modified to be always open (hack saw to remove pressure spring)

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Radiators

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