AFCO Radiator Review....Approach with caution.

[blackvr4]

Well, Where do I start? about 2 years ago when I was putting my Galant together I was in the market for a radiator.

click

Radiator looks great, craftsmen ship is top notch, Fits perfectly, Functioned as it should ETC.

Being that I have stopped taking short cuts with these cars because it almost always ends up doing sh*t twice, I figured I would shell out 320 dollars for an AFCO radiator instead of doing a cheap EBAY rad and never have to worry about it again. Well it has been on the car for about 2 years and maybe 5000-7000miles and its leaking inbetween the ROWs that are brazed to the end tanks (on both sides of the radiator), which is practically no way of fixing this issue unfortunately because you would have to take the end tanks apart and re-braze it from the inside.

So just writing this in hopes to give others a heads up that are thinking of going this route maybe give an ebay rad a try, that's my next step.



Pics of it all mounted up before.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

I've been thinking about trying one of the Ebay cores myself. You can pick one up for slightly over $100 bucks. At that price, it's worth a try.

This is a pretty good read: click

 

[turbohf]

interesting... how is the cooling doing?

 

[blackvr4]

Quoting GSTwithPSI:
I've been thinking about trying one of the Ebay cores myself. You can pick one up for slightly over $100 bucks. At that price, it's worth a try.

This is a pretty good read: click



That link looks like a DSM style radiator, wont fit on the galant because I had to tuck the radiator under the rad support due to having to fit a hx35. This is the rad I most likely be purchasing next.

click

Only thing I don't understand is how does it blocks off the inlet and outlet to force coolant to flow in a certain direction. I figure at this point if I have to replace the ebay radiator every 2 years I will be ontop instead of buying another AFCO

Quoting turbohf:
interesting... how is the cooling doing?



Cooling was pretty good, although if I idled the car FOREVER temps would start climbing, The single electric fan just could not keep up unfortunately, but car had to idle for 15-20mins before it would get warm, usually if I turned on the heater temps would stay in check. I really needed to wire in another fan as a pusher to help issue.

 

[turbohf]

i actually just brought this up in my build thread. and it was said that the one on ebay there does have a blocker inside to make it a dual pass. its obviously not welded on the tanks, so i wonder how effective it is. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

 

[diambo4life]

Have had mine for a little over a year, no issues. Have you tried to contact AFCO and see whether they can repair it? It's an expensive little radiator. I would be urging them to fix it before shelling money for another radiator. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

 

[Olson]

Ive had mine for a long time. never leaked once and holds pressure all the time. Only time i bring the car out is to beat on it and it works wells

 

[WaRrIoRs16]

I have this radiator too. I purchased the fans that are made for the radiator and they move some air! fans I haven't been in the heat, but the temp I see in link hasn't been over 185*F. My previous setup had one no name slim fan just mounted in the center of the radiator without any ducting, and at idle in 70* weather the temps would start climbing.

 

[diambo4life]

I learn something new everyday...didn't even know that radiator had specific fans for it. May have to invest in that come summer time.

 

[blackvr4]

Quoting diambo4life:
Have had mine for a little over a year, no issues. Have you tried to contact AFCO and see whether they can repair it? It's an expensive little radiator. I would be urging them to fix it before shelling money for another radiator. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif


I havent contacted afco yet, i looked at the warranty info on their site and it says they have a 1 year warranty, I have had it for a little over 2 years.

Quoting Olson:
Ive had mine for a long time. never leaked once and holds pressure all the time. Only time i bring the car out is to beat on it and it works wells



Yea I dont know what to say, I had a mishimoto break before (on another car) because my oil cooler mount broke and rubbed a hole threw one of the tubes, but this is 100% not the case with this radiator, its straight up leaking where the rad tubes got into the endtanks, worse of all i pressure tested it and holds pressure fine when its cold, however once the car warms up at idle it leaks, im guessing due to aluminum expanding.

 

[thomcasey]

I have been using a stock, cheapy dual core scirocco radiator from Amazon on my 4g63t-swapped colt for 2 years. Not one cooling problem, ever. It is daily driven all summer long in stop-n-go rush hour traffic. Gauge never moves and temps are verified in ecmlink. Just need to fab up some mounting brackets. Possibly planning on putting one in my VR4.

Spectra Premium Scirocco radiator

 

[EHmotorsports]

This is what I just installed on Colin's car. Temps are consistant and in check. There are always more efficient ways of making this. But this works well with his setup.





[url=https://www.galantvr4.org/img.php?id=165024 t=_blank]

 

[EfiniX]

Yes, you (EH aka. Evan) did an awesome job. I'll start a new thread for that work. I'd also point out that Evan also

- Welded my IC piping

- Built a little custom heat shield since neither of us were happen with how the piping looked with the heat tape (which you can see in his last photo and a bit in this one as well)