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So I have read lots of stuff here about radiators. Good/bad/ugly. I need a new one. I here most aftermarket aluminum is junk these days unless custom made. What do YOU GUYS use in your serious off road machines? Not doing any rock crawling myself but tend to get way out there at times and need something reliable. Would like something that would be a factory fit for a 2001 ZR2.
Yep, flexing does them in. Problem is that people mount these aluminum radiators on brackets that are virtually solid to the radiator support. This is especially troublesome in drag race vehicles where a lot of twisting comes into play. I imagine that driving a Blazer over rough uneven terrain at any decent speed would do the same.
In my race S10, the stock radiator won't fit in stock location and is not nearly high enough capacity to cool a modified SBC383 on the street anyways. My solution was to trim the inside of the radiator support and use an AFCO 80112N dual-pass aluminum radiator in forward position (dual pass puts outlet on passender side), loosely sandwiched between a fan shroud and the radiator support with no brackets or bolts. This way the radiator is held in place between the support/shroud, but is free to move when the front end twists. Note that the back side of the fan shroud at the top is covered - just needed the taller shroud to fit a 16" fan, and to reach the top of the radiator support where it is fastened. Holes in the fan shroud are covered with silicone flaps that suck shut with the fan on at slow speeds - yet blow open when going down the road with the fan off. Where there is a will, there is a way!
If you intend to drive over things that twist the front of your vehicle a lot, then solid mounting an aluminum radiator on tabs (like what you showed) is definitely not the way to go. You need to isolate it in some manner. Stock rubber mounting of plastic radiator would survive a lot better. Maybe this will give you some ideas.
This thread has got me thinking and so I did a very quick and likely limited search and came up with products at Speedway Motors for mounting radiators that mention what Les said about frame flex. I'm sure my results are only scratching the surface. For me I'm not an aggressive off-roader by any measure, but I do like having confidence in my truck and its systems.
Reliable radiator
