trd4life wrote:Tony the Tiger hasnt run a stock radiator for like 10 years lol. He has a huge aluminum custom setup
I went back to a stock radiator + factory hydraulic fan setup when I revised my turbo setup (back in late '08)... My new manifolds gave room to keep all the stock stuff again with plenty of clearance. There is nothing wrong with aluminum radiators as long they have similar area as OEM in which it is subjected to airflow. Going thicker but smaller in frontal area is the least favourable method to increase cooling though for example.
It was a big mistake for me to delete the stock hydraulic fan setup back in '06. The cooling requirements are quite different when we speak of turbo setups + hot engine bay temps + big FMIC blocking frontal air + full size A/C condensor. There was no electric fan & aluminum radiator combo that worked anywhere as good as the stock setup. I've tried multiple 30A + high power fans as well, 3000+ CFM, etc... I had a radiator shop custom made me a few high power electric fans in the past, and I had two pullers, one pusher, one at the side for an external oil cooler, etc.. to the extent that I ended up upgrading to a Highlander alternator because I had too much power draw...lol
It's no coincidence why the stock cooling system worked so much better. Whenever we're dealing with the ability to cool down the engine, it is all about airflow. An engine at this power level only creates heat when the car is under load, thus, the car is already moving and under acceleration already. The mission is to get cool frontal air through the cores, and enough force to also evacuate the hot air out of the engine bay.
The radiator can be huge, but if there is no airflow through it, it is totally useless. The stock hydraulic (similar to a clutch fan) has high airflow even when pulling air through multiple layers of restriction. For example, I would actually go with a thinner radiator if I can install a stronger fan for it instead.
To illustrate the type of airflow I am speaking of, I can stick a piece of cardboard on my FMIC when the fans are on. There is no electric fan or fan (s) that can do that. The open space between the FMIC/condensor and radiator were sealed and ducted similar to OEM fashion, so that no hot air in the engine bay can be pulled back into the radiator causing common overheating issues in traffic.