Radiator Installation.

[nothingelsematters]

Righto I am hopefully going to be installing the new 'scarles' radiator tomorrow, anyone have any sort of advice with how to carry out the proceedure correctly?
I will take pics and post up.
Just wanting to know the correct steps that need to be taken in replacing the radiator.
Cheers!

[Atik]

Drain the rad easy and quickly by undoing the lower pipe first. The drain plug takes forever and you always have water left in the rad. Apart from that knowledge, its very straightforward.

[ILLEGAL]

im sure your gonna be allright.. im assuming you have the trans-cooler aswell?

##prior to installation make sure you have alloy friendly coolant, and the correct trans fluid, and a quarter of a tank of gas.
#1: mount Trans cooler first.
#2: connect trans-cooler.
#3: drain and disconnect radiator.
#4: remove radiator from engine bay
#5: remove fans from radiator.
#6: either leave fans as they are, or colour fans for abit of novelty, or buy low profile fans.
#7: install fans onto new radiator.
#8: install radiator into engine bay.
#9: refill radiator with Alloy friendly coolant.
#10: once full, leave cap off and let engine get upto operating temp (fans will come on)... this might take a while... each time the fan comes on you will need to top up the fluid.. these v6's might take upto 40mins of running to completely bleed the system of air pockets. i do it for 40mins just to be safe.. i think the fans come on around 7 times during that period.
#11: install radiator cap, rinse down over flowed coolant with fresh water drive down the road and park on a dry part of concrete/road and watch for coolant leaks and trans leaks.

if there is no coloured water or oil then you have been successful in your installation and its time too enjoy the rest of your day off.

[Beastlee]

When disconnecting the trans cooler is much likely to come out? I assume after the car has been sat a while there's only gravity playing it's part. About to fit a SARD rad and aftermarket cooler myself so this thread was very timely.

[aboo]

Same for me cause I need to fit new radiator.

Do you loose a lot of ATF when disconnecting the radiator?

[kNuTz]

When I fitted mine I didn't loose much at all, only a few drops.
I still need to double check the levels are OK since there is extra space in the line from the new cooler but had no problems so far.

[Subaru ETA]

When disconnecting the trans cooler is much likely to come out? I assume after the car has been sat a while there's only gravity playing it's part. About to fit a SARD rad and aftermarket cooler myself so this thread was very timely.

You won't loose much. As long as you block the pipes to and from the trans. Just remember that if you are fitting a trans cooler you will need more fluid in the system

[aboo]

Trans cooler is allready fitted

[swinks]

You'll loose no more than 250ml - 350ml. I did change mine without care and total loss was in that limit.

[nothingelsematters]

Is 'NULON LONG LIFE' (Green) Coolant fine to use? Cheers for the rundown ILLEGAL!

[VR4 MAD]

Hi Josh,

Jeremy (CANDEE) and I organised the making of these radiators through Scarles and we have had to return ours as they have had "issues" with fitment.

Once you have drained your old radiator and removed it from the car, do a full trial fit-up of the new radiator first, to satisfy yourself that ALL the mounting points fit properly and that the factory fans will lineup to the Scarles radiator mount points.

Not everyone has had problems, but there are quality control issues with the build and dimensional accuracy of their radiators. You may well be lucky and have it all fit fine............. hope so anyway. Just be warned to check before going too far with adding fluids etc to the new radiator before fully installing it.

Good luck.

[ILLEGAL]

Is 'NULON LONG LIFE' (Green) Coolant fine to use? Cheers for the rundown ILLEGAL!

yep.. Nulon "GREEN" will be fine.. its used in ford and holden alloy blocks so your radiator will br safe.

again i hope it fits nice for ya.

[nothingelsematters]

Cheers for that ILLEGAL! VR4 MAD, I went over and asked specifically that it be checked for any faults so hopefully when I install it tomorrow there will be no major issues!
Also if anyone knows a good place that can make me a set of hoses and fittings to connect the oil cooler up let me know please!
Cheers!

[ILLEGAL]

hydralink will do adaptors.. or a hydrolic supplies place similar.. also pressurized air services will do them aswell

first make sure they are open on saturdays????? then if so, you might need to cut off the joining part (the part that threads onto the radiator), just to measure the inside diameter of the hose on the car, or go to pick-a-part and cut and measure one of theirs.. unless someone here has this info??

then take in the hose from the kit and say, you need to go from the hose you have from the kit onto the size hose of the car.. make sure its some sort of metal adaptor as there is alot of heat and pressure in the hose once running.

unless stated, there is no input or out put on the cooler.

[nothingelsematters]

Sweet as I have the joining parts as they were on the secondhand radiator I got last time, the kit didnt actually come with any hose so I will have to grab that too then.
Should have it all in tomorrow with pics to prove! Cheers for all the input guys!

[nothingelsematters]

Help! bought new fan for the radiator, everythings istalled except I dont know how to connect the new fan (just has 2 wires out the back) can anyone please let me know what to do here!
Cheers!

[ILLEGAL]

new fan.. as in aftermarket low profile???

how many wires are/were there on the original fan?

do you still have original fan?

how many fans are there in total on the radiator now?

[ILLEGAL]

im going to assume..
A: you dont have a test light, dont know how to make one and wouldnt know how to use one.
B: only have two wires off the original fan.
C: still have a cold unbleed radiator.

so.

#1: top up fluid and leave cap of radiator. start the car and let warm up.
#2: while waiting for it to warm up, cut off the plug from the original fan leaving you with the most amount of wire you can get (we will be joining the plug onto the new fan)
#3: peel back some of the plastic on the wires (both plug and fan) and twist together. quickly check the temperature of the car!
#4: now just insulate the twists with some tape (just for now, we may need to reverse the connection) and make sure there is no way if it shorting out.
#5: now connect the plug to the plug on the car.
#6: now sit in the car and watch the temp rise.. the fan should come on once the temp is upto or just over half way on the temp gauge... if i doesnt come on just over halfway check the connections. and turn car off before 3/4 hot.
#7: once fans are running check its pulling the cool air the correct way (all the while keeping the coolant level full, the fluid will overflow, this does not mean its full!!) if the fan spins the wrong way and blows onto the radiator you will need to reverse the two wire after disconnecting the plug.
#*: after around 7 times of the fan turning on then off (or the little bubbles stop coming upto the hole) replace the cap onto the radiator.. and go for a brief drive. then park on a dry surface. check for leaks (oil or water) and job done. good effort on the DIY mate.

of cause this is just a quick fix.. the twist on the wires will need to either be soldered or crimped.

[nothingelsematters]

New radiator is now in old one is disconnected. The new fan has 2 wires, the factory connection has a socket with 3 wires going in to it. Should I cut this?

[nothingelsematters]

Just one 14 inch fan on the radiator now, of the slimline variety. And new radiator is full of coolant.