Hole in my radiator, dear Liza

[300zxt]

Meh I took the Z out for a test run today after having done a fair bit of work on it and it drove really well and seemed to be running great then I pulled into my driveway and saw this!

http://www.300zxt.com/rad.wmv

I'm totally gutted, as far as I knew the car was ready to rock and now this! And the radiator was only just taken out, fully cleaned and pressure tested OK a few months ago! I can't think how it could of happend, unless I dropped a tool down onto it or something. I've lost a bit of coolant because of it as the overflow bottle is almost empty.

I'm thinking to just block off the leaking vein and see how it goes or should I just bite the bullet and get a new radiator? Any tips on fixing a leak like this or not worth it? Opinions!

[Alex86na2t]

Something that seems to work relatively well is to crack an egg in the coolong system whiel the engine is hot. It has worked twice for me on some other cars. Also the guys on mythbusters did it and it worked great for them.

[300zxt]

Haha I dont think I will be doing that anytime soon! :P

I'm either looking at soldering up the leaking vein (or possibly two of them by the looks of it), or replacing it with a good second hand stock unit or buying an aftermarket aluminium radiator. The problem with upgrading to an aluminium unit is that I've only ever seen them mounted vertically, I've never seen someone with an aluminium radiator mounted in the stock location on a Z31. I believe that the location of the AFM in my Z which was relocated for the intercooler plumbing is going to be right in the way for a vertical mount setup plus I'd rather keep the rad in the stock location anyway. From what I've been told, finding radiators with the inlets on the same side is the hard part.

Man this is such a pita, I dont need this right now! She was all ready to go!

[Firehawk]

don't waste your time with an old radiator. A replacement one costs around $150 shipped and you won't have to worry about when the next leak is going to happen.

[300zxt]

150$? Where?! I challenge you to find a good dual core aluminium radiator for that cheap that actually fits properly in the stock location or vertically mounted with the inlets on the same side as needed.

Shipped to Australia, double the price again...

The cheapest good radiator I've found is this Afco unit here but that has to be installed vertically. I've found nothing even close to the specs of that radiator that will work with my setup for a reasonable price. Idealy I want an aluminium radiator that can be mounted in the stock location perfectly but I've never seen one so I'm probably dreaming there.

I've also just realized I'll have to pull my intercooler to remove the rad! Not cool! Unless somehow I can spin it around sideways and pull it out the top lol

[Alex86na2t]

An 2nd gen rx7 radiator will work. I put one on my bros 85na. It is dual core and also a little bit skinny to allow for intercooler pipes to run beside them.

[Shen_VG30ET]

is it so bad that it cannot be fixed for the time being?

[Z_Karma]

Well, fix it dear Henry.

sheesh...

[84z31]

its very easy to fix. i have had to do it a few times while out 4 wheeling.

grab some copper flux, a propane torch, and some solder. sand the area with some emmry cloth and then solder the hole.

its really not hard. and if done right will last a long time until you can step up to an al-u-min-i-um radiator.

[300zxt]

Alex86na2t wrote: An 2nd gen rx7 radiator will work. I put one on my bros 85na. It is dual core and also a little bit skinny to allow for intercooler pipes to run beside them.
Intercooler is installed and pipes are routed so I dont need the space and I dont like the idea of getting a smaller radiator plus RX7's aren't all that common here...

Shen_VG30ET wrote: is it so bad that it cannot be fixed for the time being?

I'm hoping not!

84z31 wrote: its very easy to fix. i have had to do it a few times while out 4 wheeling.

grab some copper flux, a propane torch, and some solder. sand the area with some emmry cloth and then solder the hole.

its really not hard. and if done right will last a long time until you can step up to an al-u-min-i-um radiator.

I dont have the tools to do it myself otherwise I would, but now I think of it I remember that a buddy of mine has a torch and stuff so I might scab his tools. Do you think it would be possible to repair while the radiator is still in the car considering the leak is on the side facing up? Man that would save me so much hassle if so lol I really dont want to have to pull the bumper cover and intercooler, I wanna drive it!

[84z31]

yea.

you could definatly do it while its in the car as long as you can reach it. you probably wouldn't even need to drain the radiator.

[300zxt]

That makes life alot easier in that case! Not that it's hard to pull the bumper cover and intercooler, I just so wasn't looking forward to doing it haha

[Shen_VG30ET]

300zxt wrote: That makes life alot easier in that case! Not that it's hard to pull the bumper cover and intercooler, I just so wasn't looking forward to doing it haha

PITA for sure, but hope it works out for ya.

[Dan-TSS]

I've also just realized I'll have to pull my intercooler to remove the rad! Not cool! Unless somehow I can spin it around sideways and pull it out the top lol
:?
*I have'nt had any difficulties by removing the front sway bar, slipping the radiator back and down enough to stand it up, then pull it straight up out vertically in front of the engine.
**On my Yellow '86t, I blended/bonded the Kaminari body kit to the car, making removal of the front bumper cover impossible w/o ruining the car.......hmmm, (how I know this procedure).
8)
Dan

[homestar]

i've done the egg trick numerous times and it works wonders.