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Custom Aluminum Radiators - A review

BlueCrusader

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Arizona
After digging through posts here for alternatives to my stock rad (complete with a hole in it), I decided on an aluminum 1 core rad from Custom Aluminum Radiator, purchased here: http://www.alumrad.com/ .

The folks I spoke with were exceptionally helpful. Ording the unit took less than 5 minutes. I ordered the part on Friday and it arrived Tuesday morning. Total price out the door, including shipping, was $217.


Initial impressions:

The radiator is apx 2X as wide as my old stock unit and about 1/2 the wieght. Quality of construction appears to be excellent. None of the fins were bent/smashed during shipping. For a little over 200 bucks, this appears to be a killer deal.


Install notes:

As any of you that have installed a new rad in your XJ can attest to, it is a royal pain in the ass. Install began at 12:30 PM and was completed at 4:15PM.

The biggest hassle came about when I discovered that the rubber grommets holing the bolts to the condenser brackets were worn/loose, allowing the bolts to spin freely. After using a dremel and a cutting wheel to get rid of the bolts/rubber grommets, I secured the condenser to the rad brackets with zip-ties.

Another(expected) aggrivation was torquing off no less than 6 nuts, 3 of them being 3 of the 4 holding the front clip in place and 4 screwheads. Apperantly the previous owner of this XJ lived somehwere with lots and lots of salt on the roads. Nearly all of the screws holding in the grille badly rusted, require a very deft touch with the screwdriver.

Aside from the above, the install was mostly painless. Having a shop manual is something I make mandatory for any rig I own, as the Hayes/Chiltons leave a lot to be desired.


Driving Impressions:

190-210 Temps. 190 while driving, 210 while sitting in the 100+ AZ heat in stop and go traffic.

After that, I jumped on the freeway and cruised around at 55-85 MPH. During my entire time on the freeway, temps never got above 180ish.


Lastly, I had a whole series of pics, but I'm having trouble getting them uplaoded to Photobucket. If I can figure out what the deal is, I'll update with pics.



BC
 
sounds sweet.
Might want to make the zip ties a temp fix, they will chafe on the fins.
 
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