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I'm after advice on what others have done here.

With my custom twin core rad, I've only got 35mm odd clearance between the rad & the motor.


If I strategically place a 10" fan it will go in at the bottom of the rad, but I'd still only have a couple of mm clearance between the pulleys and them.

Is this sufficient to allow for engine movement, or doesn't the engine move back & forth too much, just sideways?

Maybe I need a different radiator. Any suggestions?

Sounds like you need more clearance, generally thers is about 60mm between radiator and the engine so you can fit in an aftermarket thermo fan to keep cooling under control. I generally opt for 2 fans as per factory setup

What radiator is that with to get that kind of clearance?

the otehr way is to put them on the front and reverse them.

That reminds me, I need some fans in my car. They have been missing since March.

Standard rad. Yours you might have some difficulty. I'm mounting mine infront of the rad and between the Frount mount. No air con for me.

I have A/C & a water-air intercooler rad in the front of my car.

The standard L rad is barely able to keep an EA82T cool, let alone an EJ20T which will be put into situations where cooling will be an issue.

Maybe I need to fit a fatter single core, then I'd be ok.

unsure what I'm going to do with mine. I'll have 3 coolers(oil,PS,trans) on the front as well as the A/C core. to me that is going be a tight fit. I have the legacy fan setup and I'm going to use it. considering a trip to ARE (local radiator guru here in brissy.) and let him work it out.

Your PS, oil & tran cooler should all be able to be fitted in the space taken up by my water-air rad, so you should be sweet there.

The rad setup I've got now is almost identical to the one I have in my EA82T Tourer.
It had more space though obviously

I'm going to get brakes on it this weekend & tow it to a rad shop to see what they can do with it as well.

I can see spaces where I can make up some room, but I don't think it'll be enough unfortunately.

wagonist wrote:I have A/C & a water-air intercooler rad in the front of my car.

The standard L rad is barely able to keep an EA82T cool, let alone an EJ20T which will be put into situations where cooling will be an issue.

Maybe I need to fit a fatter single core, then I'd be ok.

I have a similar setup, but a brand new standard 2 core radiator, and it keeps way cool, maybe you should renew your setup. Old blocked cores do no justice to water flow.
I will eventually go the same way with a intercooler rad for a WAIC too, so it may heat up a bit?

You can fit two 12" Davies Craig thermo fans in there no problem. The engine will pitch forward slightly depending on your driving style but if you have the engine stay-rod in place it shouldnt cause a problem.

subanator wrote:I have a similar setup, but a brand new standard 2 core radiator, and it keeps way cool, maybe you should renew your setup. Old blocked cores do no justice to water flow.
I will eventually go the same way with a intercooler rad for a WAIC too, so it may heat up a bit?

What do you mean by a standard 2 core? Never heard of this.

Andrew T: pics please because there's no way that'll fit in my car.

I'll try to get some pics this evening.
It's an L series car - EJ20G motor sitting in the standard position on the engine mounts with a 2core radiator.

That'd be awesome.
What twin core rad are you using?

Mine was a custom job done by Swan Radiators in Osborne Park. They used a Liberty dual core and Holden Gemini brass end tanks. I've heard you can also use Toyota Tarago end tanks but they rekoned the Gemini ones were a closer match. It was just over $400 but that was a couple of years ago.

Osborne Park is where?

The rad I've got in which is causing me dramas is 2 L series cores in custom metal end tanks

other side of the continent, in perth

I should've picked that up from the name of the place....

That could be still doable.
I know a group of people who are driving over from there at the end of September.

Does your car have A/C still?
because the idler puller for that hangs down in front of the cam covers.

AndrewT wrote:I'll try to get some pics this evening.
It's an L series car - EJ20G motor sitting in the standard position on the engine mounts with a 2core radiator.

Any progress on this yet?
Sory to be pushy, but I need to really get my car finished due to my current driving car dying a slow death & needing to be pulled off the road for some work.

Sorry that didn't happen yet.
Ill try and borrow my Dad's camera.

Ill try and describe it tho....How far does your radiator go into the engine bay beyond the metal that goes accross the top of your headlights? Mine is mounted as far forward in the engine bay as possible so it is basically flush with that strip of metal. **Edit - I've just looked closer at your first photo and realised that you've actually cut most of this metal away, but from the bits on the left and right I can see that your radiator is jutting out towards the motor a fair bit (well mabey 10mm).

The 12" Davies Craig fans fit between the radiator and engine but only just. There is very little room but they fit none the less. The basic facts follow...
- My radiator is mounted in the standard position but I have changed the shape of the front panel of the car where the headlights mount very slightly (with a dolly and hammer). This was to get the radiator to mount as far forward in the engine bay as possible which creates more space between the radiator and the pulleys of the motor. I also cut some bits of metal away to help further.
- My EJ20G motor is mounted in the completely standard position just sitting on the crossmember as normal.