just wondering if aluminum is an upgrade or just a cheaper solution
aluminum versus copper/brass radiator
- Thread starter johan peeters
- Start date
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Depends on the rad!
A full aluminum rad with aluminum tanks and cores, is better then a copper tank/core rad IMO because they're usually all tig welded tanks and inlet/oulets
A plastic tanked aluminum cored rad is a POS that should only be put in a domestic gasser, that being said I have swapped in a bunch of these on cars I work on for the family and have had no problems even when buying spectra premium which is kinda the cheapo ones... I have seen my fair share of split plastic rad tanks, but they are usually do to another more serious engine issue!
I had my BJ70 rad recored and this obviously completely depends on the shop and the state of ur tanks... (mine were barely salvageable and in hindsight I should have just contacted G&S and got a good lightly used replacement)
You can't really go wrong either way! Just stay away from plastic tanks, while they last pretty decent, they don't withstand the test of time like a 3rd world reliable land cruiser should!
Copper is a better for heat transfer and also more easily repairable, if it were me I would find a nice lightly used replacement copper rad, toyota uses them for a reason... I know for a fact the aftermarket world in North america has part numbers for the wrong rad for a 70 series...
A full aluminum rad with aluminum tanks and cores, is better then a copper tank/core rad IMO because they're usually all tig welded tanks and inlet/oulets
A plastic tanked aluminum cored rad is a POS that should only be put in a domestic gasser, that being said I have swapped in a bunch of these on cars I work on for the family and have had no problems even when buying spectra premium which is kinda the cheapo ones... I have seen my fair share of split plastic rad tanks, but they are usually do to another more serious engine issue!
I had my BJ70 rad recored and this obviously completely depends on the shop and the state of ur tanks... (mine were barely salvageable and in hindsight I should have just contacted G&S and got a good lightly used replacement)
You can't really go wrong either way! Just stay away from plastic tanks, while they last pretty decent, they don't withstand the test of time like a 3rd world reliable land cruiser should!
Copper is a better for heat transfer and also more easily repairable, if it were me I would find a nice lightly used replacement copper rad, toyota uses them for a reason... I know for a fact the aftermarket world in North america has part numbers for the wrong rad for a 70 series...
i like aluminum and i like copper.
aluminum:
better cooling
lighter
never found them cheaper though
copper:
good cooling
heavier fins which seem to stand up better to abuse
not cheap but going to a 4 core seems cheaper with copper
you can get deeper 3 core as well which ends up 20% better cooling than the 4 core
why you ask?
aluminum:
better cooling
lighter
never found them cheaper though
copper:
good cooling
heavier fins which seem to stand up better to abuse
not cheap but going to a 4 core seems cheaper with copper
you can get deeper 3 core as well which ends up 20% better cooling than the 4 core
why you ask?
- Thread starter
- #4
because there are many different opinions and before leaving for africa i would like to change if alu is better, what is a good brand alu rad
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I'd go with a Genuine rad in either configuration, or a very high quality recore using a non-offshore core made up by a rad shop that knows what they are doing and is not cheap with the solder. Tell them what your purpose is and ask if they can make you a great radiator.
Lots of the off-shore aftermarket rads are not so good, doesn't matter if it's all-metal or metal and plastic.
~John
Lots of the off-shore aftermarket rads are not so good, doesn't matter if it's all-metal or metal and plastic.
~John