I got the PWR radiator today and got my car back on the road. Here are some observations I have made.

THE CORE:
1. It has about 8 fewer channel tubes than the stock rad.
2. The tubes appear to be thicker
3. The dimensions of the core are identical to stock
4. The PWR unit is 2.5 Lbs heavier than stock according to my bathroom scale. 10 Lbs for PWR, 7.5 lbs for stock.
5. I know nothing about the internals of either unit

This puzzles me as I thought that for greater cooling you would need more surface area. With the PWR unit, the channel size is increased, the number of tubes is reduced (so the surface area is reduced). The coolant should flow through with less resitance though. To me it seems like it should cool less efficiently than stock as you have less area to exchange the heat in. Am I missing some key bit of information here?

INSTALLATION:
1. There are no firment issues. All bolts and holes line up. Perfect installation.
2. The nipple for the resovior tank hose is smaller than stock. This results in the hose being loose with the stock clamp. I solved it by using a regular hose clamp that compressed the hose around the nipple.
3. The 2 bolts that hold the fan housing to the radiator need to be changed. They are not supplied. The stock radiator has tapping bolts for the plastic. For the PWR unit you need to use regular bolts. No biggie.

INITIAL IMPRESSION:
Can't tell a difference. The temps appear to be the same as stock but I just had a test drive around the block so far to make sure nothing is leaking.

 

Thanks for the fyi... I was concerned about whether it actually made the car run cooler or not. Looking at a custom spearco now.

Maybe the advantage is it is stronger and can handle higher pressures? Still seems that at the end of the day you mainly upgrade the radiator to cool better. Reliability sould be a given.

Can you take it back?


Mark

 

The PWR radiator cap has a sticker on it stating "MAX PRESSURE 1 BAR"

 

need to see pictures!!!

 

There you go: