Rad in the fiero sprung a leak today. I heard a hissing sound coming from under the hood, so I took a gander and saw that somewhere in the middle of the radiator, right behind the fan motor, the rad had sprung a leak. I am guessing its the original radiator and corrosion, and near the beach environment, did it in. Car will be down for a bit obviously.
So what I am curious about is a replacement radiator. Most important to me are direct bolt in. Second is construction materials. Aluminum is nice, but not necessary unless its a direct bolt in. Third is price. I don't want to pay $200 for a aftermarket that isn't a direct bolt in. When I say direct bolt in, I mean exact measurments. I don't want to mess with cutting or fanageling anything.
Those that have replaced your rads with an aftermarket, what did you go with and what are your impressions of quality and fitment?
lets talk radiators
Moderators: The Dark Side of Will, Series8217
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Shaun41178(2)
- Posts: 8375
- Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:12 pm
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lets talk radiators
FieroPhrek working on that ls4 swap for 18 years and counting now. 18 years!!!!! LOL
530 whp is greater than 312
530 whp is greater than 312
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Series8217
- 1988 Fiero Track Car
- Posts: 5981
- Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:47 pm
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: lets talk radiators
How does a radiator just spring a leak when the car is sitting on blocks in your garage? 
I have an almost-new factory replacement radiator that you can have if you pay for shipping.
I could not keep temps down with the stock radiator at the track. A hood vent might have made it workable, but I wasn't ready to cut the hood.
I ended up installing a Griffin 1-25201-X radiator; it's a universal radiator so I had to build a fan mount (Spal fan) and radiator mounts. However, it fits without any cutting or grinding of the chassis.
The Griffin radiator dropped into the existing lower radiator mount with some minor tweaking of the lower support lip with some pliers to clear the endtank welds. I put some stick-on rubber on the front of the passenger side endtank where it lays against the AC condenser, to prevent them from rubbing together. I mounted my Spal fan to the upper and lower flanges, but eventually I'll make a shroud to improve the airflow.
The stock upper radiator mount doesn't fit -- the new radiator is an inch shorter than the Fiero radiator, and the radiator cap sticks straight up instead of being at a 45 degree angle. I made new mounts which bolt to the stock mounting locations and hold the endtanks with some rubber isolators I harvested from the Fiero mounts.
For the shroud, I clipped a sheet of rubber to the upper radiator flange, with binder clips and ran it down to the front fascia opening where it's clipped to the top of the radiator duct. I removed the plated handles from the clips so they just look like black push-on clips instead of office supplies.
Since the Griffin radiator is an inch shorter than the Fiero radiator, the hood clears the radiator cap despite it pointing straight up.
For the lower (outlet) hose, I used Dayco B71159 with an inch or two trimmed off the small end. I had to carefully twist the hose to get it to line up with the '88 Fiero coolant pipe, not kink, and clear the overflow container.
For the upper (inlet) hose, I used a Gates flex hose with 1.5" ID on one end and 1.25" on the other end. I cut the Fiero hose in half, and coupled it to the flex hose as an adapter.
All track testing has gone swimmingly well. Even on very hot days I do not get water temps above ~220F on the gauge.
I have an almost-new factory replacement radiator that you can have if you pay for shipping.
I could not keep temps down with the stock radiator at the track. A hood vent might have made it workable, but I wasn't ready to cut the hood.
I ended up installing a Griffin 1-25201-X radiator; it's a universal radiator so I had to build a fan mount (Spal fan) and radiator mounts. However, it fits without any cutting or grinding of the chassis.
The Griffin radiator dropped into the existing lower radiator mount with some minor tweaking of the lower support lip with some pliers to clear the endtank welds. I put some stick-on rubber on the front of the passenger side endtank where it lays against the AC condenser, to prevent them from rubbing together. I mounted my Spal fan to the upper and lower flanges, but eventually I'll make a shroud to improve the airflow.
The stock upper radiator mount doesn't fit -- the new radiator is an inch shorter than the Fiero radiator, and the radiator cap sticks straight up instead of being at a 45 degree angle. I made new mounts which bolt to the stock mounting locations and hold the endtanks with some rubber isolators I harvested from the Fiero mounts.
For the shroud, I clipped a sheet of rubber to the upper radiator flange, with binder clips and ran it down to the front fascia opening where it's clipped to the top of the radiator duct. I removed the plated handles from the clips so they just look like black push-on clips instead of office supplies.
Since the Griffin radiator is an inch shorter than the Fiero radiator, the hood clears the radiator cap despite it pointing straight up.
For the lower (outlet) hose, I used Dayco B71159 with an inch or two trimmed off the small end. I had to carefully twist the hose to get it to line up with the '88 Fiero coolant pipe, not kink, and clear the overflow container.
For the upper (inlet) hose, I used a Gates flex hose with 1.5" ID on one end and 1.25" on the other end. I cut the Fiero hose in half, and coupled it to the flex hose as an adapter.
All track testing has gone swimmingly well. Even on very hot days I do not get water temps above ~220F on the gauge.