GPI eBay radiator all Aluminium

[cjmoon]

I recently had a good friend get a Ron Davis radiator. I love the idea know there potentially better cooling with thicker core and not the plastic 20+year old oem tanks. Ya I know oem is better but the potential better/additional cooling with my conversion is appealing. I resently left my steady 8-5 to start my own business and just can’t fly the Ron Davis price but needed to do something. After studying eBay options found that 4-5 manufactures sell through 30-40 venders. GPI seemed to have the majority of these vendors and had been around for some time. I spent hours with blown up pictures counting rods and trying to compare quality and decided to make an offer on an eBay GPI fj80 W/O trans cooler.

I was surprised with weld quality better than expected. Packing was nice lots of chiniese foam to protect. Lighter material than the Ron Davis but same 2 core 1” each. All of the eBay options had 67-72 rows in the 2 core options similar to oem, but thicker without knowing tube thickness . I took a gamble

Here are some pics and will try and get some side by sides with the better option.

 

[cjmoon]

I went with this option including side Mounting bracket as the others that had trans cooler had studs just looked weak no good pics of how the studs where mounted. The Ron Davis wins on this aspect as it has nice thick welded bosses to mount the factory brackets to. GPI has options for all the diesel versions accross the globe with manual or auto trans options based on cooler options. I choose not to run my auto trans through the main radiator cooler.

I must admit I was didn’t expect much on the lower mount but appear lower quality than what I saw in pics. eBay pics show thicker aluminum brackets for hat really was the weak link in my head before purchase so really not surprised but ready to re-engineer if needed.

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View attachment 1693267

 

[cjmoon]

got some great side by sides. Ron Davis weights 5lbs more has an extra inch of core height and has 20 fins per inch vs 15 on the GPI. Also the core is about 1/4” thicker Both 1” 2 row cores with the Ron Davis offering more area for heat transfer due to fins and core size. Quality is very nice. Obviously better/thicker materials with weight. Great side mounting bracket points. GPI has combo mig and tig. Ron Davis is all tig with serial so my guess is they can trace it back to the welder.

Also noted very different core end tank/ solder joints noted took pictures of both for reference.

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[Desert Dino]

W/O trans cooler ? so you have manual trans?

 

[Qball]

W/O trans cooler ? so you have manual trans?

As far as my understanding goes tranny has its own dedicated cooler, the reason tranny fluid go through the radiator is to warm up the tranny in cold weather. If you are really looking for cooling in hot climate then that tranny line in radiator is really not needed.

 

[Douglas S]

That looks really nice for the price.

 

[Qball]

Someone I know just split the plastic top tank on a 2 year old Koyo in middle of the desert, might have to go this route when it’s time to replace my koyo.

 

[Desert Dino]

As far as my understanding goes tranny has its own dedicated cooler, the reason tranny fluid go through the radiator is to warm up the tranny in cold weather. If you are really looking for cooling in hot climate then that tranny line in radiator is really not needed.

@Qball What you are talking about is a myth the air cooler is not big enough to work alone
The AT needs constant temp of work very close to engine temp.
It doesn't have thermostats! for the longevity of AT its need no sharp changes in temp that can crack the ceramic coated metal disks
The Toyota engineers know that and that's the reason they added Air cooler in the middle east. We monitor the Air cooler temp as long as this temp close to engine temp and all the system is not too hot everything is sweet
The radiator AT cooler can absorb much bigger amount of heat in the peaks of overload, then air cooler without no fan especially in rock crawling

 

[cjmoon]

W/O trans cooler ? so you have manual trans?

I have the factory A343f only running through factory aux cooler. In the winter it will be slow to warm up and might even cover the cooler we’ll see. I have a trans temp gauge so I’ll be able to see actual temps. I had been switching the order of the coolers from winter to summer as trans temp happy place was about 160 in the summer with factory aux then radiator with that reversed in the summer more like 130. These are tc locked running down the highway

 

[cjmoon]

In the winter factory arrangement my trans is 90-100 deg running down the highway with tc locked up
Just FYI

@Qball What you are talking about is a myth the air cooler is not big enough to work alone
The AT needs constant temp of work very close to engine temp.
It doesn't have thermostats! for the longevity of AT its need no sharp changes in temp that can crack the ceramic coated metal disks
The Toyota engineers know that and that's the reason they added Air cooler in the middle east. We monitor the Air cooler temp as long as this temp close to engine temp and all the system is not too hot everything is sweet
The radiator AT cooler can absorb much bigger amount of heat in the peaks of overload, then air cooler without no fan especially in rock crawling

 

[Desert Dino]

@cjmoon if your winter is Ice Fishing winter the this is maybe reasonable but i would know nothing about it i didnt see snow falling until i turned 30 and it was in Chicago LOL

 

[woodsman 44]

I was looking at this rad on ebay as well... just wasnt sure about fit and function...I went with Koyo but really wanted this one, I dont care for Alum/ plastic rads...will see how many years I get out of Koyo..

 

[Qball]

@Qball What you are talking about is a myth the air cooler is not big enough to work alone
The AT needs constant temp of work very close to engine temp.
It doesn't have thermostats! for the longevity of AT its need no sharp changes in temp that can crack the ceramic coated metal disks
The Toyota engineers know that and that's the reason they added Air cooler in the middle east. We monitor the Air cooler temp as long as this temp close to engine temp and all the system is not too hot everything is sweet
The radiator AT cooler can absorb much bigger amount of heat in the peaks of overload, then air cooler without no fan especially in rock crawling

As far as I know all US 80 has trans air cooler. The amount of contact area as far as I can tell won’t make a huge difference in cooling. Guess we can agree to disagree.

 

[Technician1985]

I have a GPI radiator for my '92. I asked for a MT radiator but they sent an AT radiator. I'm using a standalone trans cooler and not running through the radiator. I haven't driven mine much yet (axle rebuilding time) but the radiator seems good and I feel confident in it. My radiator was actually made for a diesel land cruiser but it works with the 3F-E as well.

 

[cjmoon]

Updated 2nd and 3rd posts to include Ron Davis references and pics. More cooling capacity in it for sure. Will compare to stock at some point in the near future.

 

[Desert Dino]

In the winter factory arrangement my trans is 90-100 deg running down the highway with tc locked up
Just FYI

@cjmoon can you explain what is the factory arrangement? couldn't figure which pipe is hot oil out from the AT and which is cold oil back to AT?

so i dont know if OEM setup is rad first and then air cooler and back to AT

what setup is good for your winter?

what is the average ambient temp of your winter?

 

[Desert Dino]

Is this the OEM???

 

[kevsta]

I've got my aluminium rad out of the tranny circuit too, and installed the (optional here) OEM cooler at the front instead. I was keen to not ever end up mixing AT fluid and coolant, as happened in my 3L Hilux Surf a few years back

Im surprised to hear it has less cooling capacity than the rad loop, because since I altered it, I haven't had the AT temp light on at all, while rock crawling in low, whereas previously it would come on occasionally, especially when using the gearbox / engine-braking in Low for very long.

 

[cjmoon]

@cjmoon can you explain what is the factory arrangement? couldn't figure which pipe is hot oil out from the AT and which is cold oil back to AT?

so i dont know if OEM setup is rad first and then air cooler and back to AT

what setup is good for your winter?

what is the average ambient temp of your winter?

Factory in US spec is air cooler first then radiator.

Winter here is average 30F with stretches around 0F days at a time

Summer here is 90F stretches at 100F

When I ran the radiator I ran factory in the winter and reversed in the summer

 

[Peluo]

Here in Venezuela TOYOTA did away with the trans cooler. I want to install one, should I buy OEM one + hoses and brackets? Or go for and aftermarket unversal type trans cooler?