Ron Davis Radiator w/ Fans?

[boogiebones]

TL/DR at the bottom...

For those interested I talked with Ron Davis about one of his all-aluminum radiators today. They said they've been fielding lots more calls for our 80's recently and I let them know it's probably because of Joey's turbo kit everyone's drooling over! It's definitely why I called

Just over $1100 for the radiator plus around $120 if you want -6AN fittings for the transmission cooler portion. They have a couple of the standard radiators on the shelf and ready to ship but adding in the -6AN's will take more lead time. Didn't ask how long as my turbo isn't here yet so I'm not in a hurry.

I wasn't prepared for him to ask if I wanted built-in radiator fans added on also. Several posts I've lurked over here on Mud regarding the RD radiators but it doesn't look like anyone who posted opted for the fans. As I understand it they would fully replace the stock motor driven fan on the backside of the radiator. Sent an email to Joey to see if he thinks there would be an issue with fans getting in the way of the turbo but wanted to see if anyone had first-hand experience with them.

TL/DR any advice for choosing to replace the stock fan with a couple of fans built into the Ron David all-aluminum radiator?

Thanks!

 

[Atomic City]

Interested in this as well. Also, what is the advantage of the -6AN fittings? Why would you want those over the stock?

 

[NLXTACY]

If going this route you can save on the fittings because I make an adapter to convert to AN

No one *needs* to convert these to AN but I did and I’m happy with it. I don’t like the oddball adapters toyota uses and I’m already converting most of my turbo truck over to AN. Zero regrets.

 

[boogiebones]

I learned about them from this thread:

1993 FZJ80 Cooling System Overhaul

Contaminated trans oil is not the only downside of the thru rad cooler, but I personally prefer to keep this system if your in a colder environment. In severely hot climates then it adds load to the cooling system, and fitting a stat on the trans cooler lines starts to move outside preventative...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Atomic City]

I learned about them from this thread:

1993 FZJ80 Cooling System Overhaul

Contaminated trans oil is not the only downside of the thru rad cooler, but I personally prefer to keep this system if your in a colder environment. In severely hot climates then it adds load to the cooling system, and fitting a stat on the trans cooler lines starts to move outside preventative...

forum.ih8mud.com

Yeah, that is where I first saw mention of them also. It sounded like that person was having trouble with the fittings leaking. But I have heard from others that it doesn't really matter - you can use stock fittings with no problems. I am really not sure if I am going to go down the RD route - they are awesome raddys, but the truck I just bought doesn't have cooling issues, but I am going to replace the raddy as PM because it is original and I am going to have it out anyway with the upcoming engine pull.

 

[Cruzilla]

I will most likely go to one of these for piece of mind.. even though I just put in a OEM one two years ago.
I really dont like plastic tanks!!

 

[scottryana]

The SPAL fans that Ron Davis use are some of the best. I don't know which size or model of fans they would use for this rad, but I would guess it is twin 12" fans. Electric fans really shine when you have some type of engine management that you can program to trigger the fans to turn on under different conditions. Electric fans will not pull the same amount of air as a good clutch fan but they also don't rob the same amount of horsepower from the engine.

My take - If you are 80+% highway driving at speed electric fans would probably be fine, If you sit in a lot of traffic on heat soaked pavement or do a lot of slow off-road driving I would stick with the clutch fan.

 

[BeesKnees]

I sprung for the RD radiator too, skipped the AN fittings and fans. I'm going to see how it goes during a hot season in Texas with boost before going beyond just the RD radiator. When he asked me if I wanted the fan, I said no, I didn't think so, as long as his radiator worked ok. He listed some use cases, like pulling a trailer up grade, etc. where it could help. So maybe some might have use for it, but not anytime soon for me.

I'm also thinking the pure sex appeal of the radiator will shave off a couple degrees too. Unboxing it was NSFW. Wife got jealous.

 

[Desert Dino]

Replacing FC with electrical SPAL is a mode that is done here in Israel on Grand Chyroky Jeep. It reduces the reliability Of the engine
First, you need a variable speed controller and in hot day in the desert you will need an electrical power plant to feed the E fan in high speed
Then people have a problem standing in idle with the AC on it starts to drain the OEM size battery with the OEM alternator

So they change Alternator to a big one so OEM electrical system starts to suffer from over current.

It is a snowball

And if god forbids you lose your alternator in the middle of nowhere you are stranded

It is not by mistake that the main cooling system in 1FZ-FE is operated with 2 separate independent belts Mr T added redundancy

 

[RFB]

I will most likely go to one of these for piece of mind.. even though I just put in a OEM one two years ago.
I really dont like plastic tanks!!

ditto

 

[RFB]

Replacing FC with electrical SPAL is a mode that is done here in Israel on Grand Chyroky Jeep. It reduces the reliability Of the engine
First, you need a variable speed controller and in hot day in the desert you will need an electrical power plant to feed the E fan in high speed
Then people have a problem standing in idle with the AC on it starts to drain the OEM size battery with the OEM alternator

So they change Alternator to a big one so OEM electrical system starts to suffer from over current.

It is a snowball

And if god forbids you lose your alternator in the middle of nowhere you are stranded

It is not by mistake that the main cooling system in 1FZ-FE is operated with 2 separate independent belts Mr T added redundancy

I was thinking this too. Fans are great but run on power from battery.

 

[RFB]

I love these AN fittings, I have them on my PS cooler setup i got from Joey. 10K hard miles no issues at all.

 

[rolliges]

Keep the fan clutch AND add @LandCruiserPhil 's AUX fan if you want the best possible cooling for any situation.

 

[boogiebones]

Thanks for all the input everybody, stock fan it is!
Especially scottryana and desert dino. I drive it to off-road parks via interstates/highways but the entire point of the truck for me is rock crawling and trail riding, often slow and sitting while guiding buddies rigs through obstacles. Didn’t think about how energy draining and failure capable a pair of electric fans would be in that scenario.

Cheers!

 

[Desert Dino]

I don't know if in US spec you have an OEM E fan in front that works when AC is on? Here in middle east we have them

I added another SPAL manually controlled side by side to the Toyota one

 

[Desert Dino]

Another problem with Main E fan mode that replace the FC is bad performance in the deep water crossings they catastrophically break and can cause collateral damage no viscous clutch

Just remembered

 

[inkpot]

I don't know if in US spec you have an OEM E fan in front that works when AC is on? Here in middle east we have them

I added another SPAL manually controlled side by side to the Toyota one

View attachment 2126416

Do you kn ok w what model of SPAL that is?

 

[Hulk]

@boogiebones @NLXTACY @Cruzilla @BeesKnees @RFB

Just curious what kind of improvement you all have seen from running the Ron Davis radiator? Did it reduce engine temps? I'm at the point of decision on my next radiator and I'm curious if the Ron Davis radiator cools significantly better than OEM.

 

[NCFJ]

I run Ron Davis radiators in all my swaps, no an issue to date. Once doing 35-40 MPH the fans no longer come on, just air flow is enough to keep the motor in the 200 range.

 

[Hulk]

Thanks, @NCFJ. Appreciate the input.

I'm running a rebuilt 1FZ with a TRD supercharger. I'm running a stock fan (not the ringed SC fan) with a modified fan clutch to pull more air.
On a hot day, my temp might creep up to 209. It's usually below 200 on cooler days. I live in Colorado and also wheel in Utah with regularity.
I don't plan to add electric fans -- just need to replace the radiator and other cool system parts.

Curious if anyone with a similar setup has seen a temperature drop between OEM or similar radiator to the RD unit.