So I'm back from my cross state trip (North Idaho to Western Washington) during which I towed my sailboat after having installed the Engineered Cooling Products Blazer/S-10 Radiator (RAD-1492). (https://www.speedcooling.com/Chevy-S...ing-Tubes.html)

It worked fine but I have not been able to do a direct comparison performance-wise. That will have to wait until I tow my boat up the Lewiston Idaho grade on a hot day. (1,700 feet in 6 miles).

However, preliminary results seem to indicate that the cooling has been improved without having to cut back much on engine speed. The both the transmission and engine temperatures seemed to stay lower than I would have expected.

Now for notes on the installation:

1) I had to address the lack of a built-in engine oil cooler in the new radiator. I looked into remote air-cooled oil coolers with and without a thermostatically controlled bypass. But then I decided on retrofitting a built-in oil-cooler. I found an aluminum replacement at Therm Processes that matched the dimensions of the original. https://www.thermprocesses.com/produ...oducts_id=2595 Being aluminum, it would transfer heat better than the steel ones in our OEM style radiators and could be welded into the new radiator. So I had a local shop TIG weld in the new cooler. The cost was $150.00. This approach allows for the use of the stock engine-oil-cooler hoses and fittings. If you are already good at TIG welding, then this would be easy. I did consider using brazing (e.g. Muggy-Weld) but having never used such products before, I decided to have an expert do it considering how critical a radiator.


After modification


Side view of removed panel and patch.


New (above) and OEM (below) in-tank engine oil coolers.


2) With in-tank engine oil cooler installed, the next task was to install the radiator. In short it is a bit of a tight squeeze requiring modification of the fan shroud. Of course if you want to install an electric fan, what I did would not be applicable.

The upper and lower shroud pieces both need to be be trimmed. The trimming is required because the new radiator is much deeper front-to-back. The pictures below show the trimming I had to do.


New and OEM radiators.


New and OEM radiators showing difference in thickness. (Note radiator cap with a built-in zinc sacrificial electrode)


Initial fitting showing how new radiator is too thick for original mounting in bottom shroud.



Another picture showing how the lower shroud mounting is too narrow for the base of the new radiator.


Bottom lip of lower shroud trimmed. The clips for the wiring loom across the bottom between the radiator and condenser were removed to allow the loom to be pushed forward.



Trial fitting of top shroud showing how it must be trimmed (front to back) for it to fit and secure the radiator in place.


Lower shroud showing the trimming done to accommodate the larger radiator.


Before image of top shroud.


After picture of top shroud.


Test fit of radiator after trimming lower shroud.


Trimming of left side of upper shroud.


Trimming of right side of upper shroud.


Bottom of lower shroud looking up showing how new radiator is wider than shelf on which it rests. The male clip and what is left of the female receptacle for it are circled.


Test fit with top shroud in place


Test fit with top shroud in place


Strap added to hold lower shroud forward so that there is no interference between fan and lower shroud. This is required because the clips that held the lower shroud in place were removed to fit the radiator on the lower shelf.


View showing how arm that holds one of the fittings for the AC condenser had to be bent so to not touch the new radiator. (The green circle indicates the reflection of the support arm that was bent that has the arrow pointing to it.)


Left side view of installed radiator.


Because of extra thickness of radiator, about an inch of the upper radiator hose had to removed.


A rasp was used to grind away some of the ribs on the side of the air filter box that were touching the upper radiator hose.



Picture showing the extra hose installed around the top metal hose to protect it from rubbing against the air-filter box.

So the install will take some time working on the adapting the shrouds. It is important to watch out for interference of hoses and tubes that could now rub through.

According to my research, the only other aluminum radiator that is made in the US that could be possibly used is the one by Radiator Express (Radiator 1999 Chevrolet Blazer - 4.3 Liter V6 262Cid Radiator All Aluminum 3 Row, With 2 Coolers | Radiator Express) . However, the Radiator Express radiator has much less surface area to the cooling tubes (by about 60%) but it comes with the engine oil cooler installed. This one costs about the same as the cost of the Engineered Cooling Products one I used including the cost to modify it, about $400 each.

I hope this is found to be useful.

EDIT: (2019 07-03)
Because I had installed a OEM style engine oil cooler into the radiator, the fittings for it are the same as stock. There is a difference though for the transmission fluid connectors. The ones on the ECP radiator are 5/16 ID inverted-flare with 5/8-18 threads. I found adapters to allow me to connect the bottom one to the stock transmission fluid cooling line fitting that have 1/2-20 threads for 3/8 ID lines. (5/8-18 inverted flare female for 5/16" ID lines to 1/2-20 inverted flare male for 3/8" ID lines) (Dorman - Autograde Brake Line Adapter-Dual Brake-3/8 In. x 1/2-20 In. https://www.partstech.com/Dorman-Aut...BKKZ-499-166.1 or the AGS BLF-18C https://www.autozone.com/brakes-and-...=&model=&year=) For the top I found a simple nipple fitting with an inverted flare because I have a supplemental transmission fluid cooler.

At the ECP website they have a blog post about NPT and inverted flare fittings. It is worth noting these differences. https://www.speedcooling.com/blog/

EDIT: (2019 07 08)
Three pictures were modified to identify key parts being referenced.

UPDATE: (2019 07 18) (Copied from post #9 below)

Quick update: The radiator seems to be still working fine.

I also finally remembered to measure the volume of the OEM-style radiator to compare it to the Engineering Cooling Products radiator.

The volumes were measured by filling each radiator from a large measuring cup with the radiator on its forward facing side on the ground, with the volume measured up to the base of the large nipples for the radiator hoses. The volumes are 2.25 L (2.38 qts) for the OEM style and 4.65 L (4.91 qt) for the ECP radiator. The difference in volume is 2.40 L or 2.53 qt.

As for the dimensions of the cooling area and the total surface area to the fins:

OEM-style: 26.25" wide, 15.00" tall, 37 rows, 1 row 1.00" deep; total area = 29,138 sq. in.
ECP-style: 26.25" wide, 15.00" tall, 39 rows, 2 rows each 1.00" deep; total area = 61,425 sq. in.

The OEM-style one I used for comparison was the Spectra CU-1826.
The ECP radiator volume was measured after the in-tank oil cooler was installed.

 

Great write-up, as always. I think I might get that same radiator, but my installation will be much simpler because I have electric fans, a manual transmission, and no oil cooler. Mine should be pretty much a bolt-in.

 

Thanks. Oh yes, for your application, this would be much easier.

 

Great work!

What a nice write up with all the pictures and explanations.

Awesome.

 

Thanks!

 

Awesome write-up! Thank you for sharing in great detail.

 

Looking into a bigger camper, so might be going this way for extra protection, thanks!

 

Thanks. I hope it is helpful.

I forgot to mention how getting the transmission cooling lines into their fittings because of the added thickness of the radiator took a bit of work. You will want to check the routing and make sure they are not touching anything hard once you install them.

 

Quick update: The radiator seems to be still working fine.

I also finally remembered to measure the volume of the OEM-style radiator to compare it to the Engineering Cooling Products radiator.

The volumes were measured by filling each radiator from a large measuring cup with the radiator on its forward facing side on the ground, with the volume measured up to the base of the large nipples for the radiator hoses. The volumes are 2.25 L (2.38 qts) for the OEM style and 4.65 L (4.91 qt) for the ECP radiator. The difference in volume is 2.40 L or 2.53 qt.

As for the dimensions of the cooling area and the total surface area to the fins:

OEM-style: 26.25" wide, 15.00" tall, 37 rows, 1 row 1.00" deep; total area = 29,138 sq. in.
ECP-style: 26.25" wide, 15.00" tall, 39 rows, 2 rows each 1.00" deep; total area = 61,425 sq. in.

The OEM-style one I used for comparison was the Spectra CU-1826.
The ECP radiator volume was measured after the in-tank oil cooler was installed.

 

Glad to hear you're still happy with it. I'm about ready to buy one for myself. I'll probably have to wait until next month, since I already overspent the Blazer parts budget for this month.