alia176
SILVER Star
This Ron Davis radiator is just purely redonk. The A/C is now way too cold, and the hottest temperature I saw on this highway drive for the last 3 hours is 193°. Holy cow this thing is efficient at getting rid of heat.
Ron Davis vrs TOYOTA OEM radiator (2 Viewers)
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i am not 100% sure. If your aftermarket radiator is thicker, which usually they are compared to OEM unit. Then you risk damaging the radiator with less tolerance to work with....
You should never have any problem with highway drive with the Ron Davis.....193 F is very cool, 187F is the lowest with AC off and idle warm in my experience. add about 5-10F with AC on and you are right around 195-200F The alum. 2 core is really good @ dissipating heat, so how fast the radiator is working to cool down the engine temp after a long climb is important.
What was your ambient outside temp please?
I am seeing the same results. Wish an RD would have been under my hood along time ago. Think about how much longer plastic and rubber components would last with the reduced heat.
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those are pretty impresive results for just a radiator swap. mine never ran hot but I am only using the factory gauge. I would not be changing it had the mech not put a hole in it. I will try and get some data from mine. so for $1,000 everything OEM Toyota, I got all new hoses, oem clamps, water pump, tstat, 2 gal of toyota coolant, OEM rad. all next day from my local dealer. thats 1k less then just the RD. Even at tripple the cost it would be worth it to buy the RD for a 20deg lower temp.
bonus for going to this dealler the owner of the dealership has his personal 73 FJ40 that looks brand new on the showroom.. amazing mesuem quality for sure..
might be seeing a new oem Rad for sale soon haha. the feed back is really good to know thanks
I saw the same drop in temps going from CSF 2517 to oem TRAD. It stands to reason that a 100% aluminum radiator will cool somewhat better than an aluminum core with plastic tanks as the plastic doesn’t transfer heat as well.
One modification leads to another.
Engines have an optimal operating temperature range and you don't want to run 20 degrees cooler if you are already in the optimal temp range. You don't need more cooling system capacity for a stock 80 than the stock system, as long as it's in proper order. When all else is in good condition, temps that climb at idle or at higher traveling speeds both point to insufficient fan clutch engagement per my experience and testing. It's a lot easier to tune the fan clutch (drop the opening temp, move to a thicker oil) than swap to an aftermarket radiator so it will typically be worth dialing in before considering a radiator swap on an otherwise up to snuff system.
It's also worth noting that the stock temp gauge was intentionally muted by the Toyota engineers and is a poor indicator of actual operating temps. You have to use temp readings from an odb2 based gauge, add-on sender/gauge, IR gun or similar to know what your 80s operating temps are.
When you change the tuning/setup of the engine to a relevant degree, add turbo or super charging or swap to a different engine then you may be in a situation where you need extra capacity. It's great that there are options like the Ron Davis radiator out there for 80 series owners that need the extra capacity.
alia176
SILVER Star
Anyone recommend a leak free radiator cap? I'm using the factory one but it's not sealing well.
Have you tried to reach out to RD and see what they recommend, or is there a recommendation listed in the installation guide or any paperwork that came with the radiator?
i ran a Ron Davis cap on my RD radiator and was leaked free...did you modify the overflow nipple? Seems like the OEM cap is pushed up by the nipple fitting..
alia176
SILVER Star
Your observation is spot on. I wonder if I should modify the cap just a tad, so that it sits down a little bit more. Right now it feels like that part of the seal is not making good contact. Nothing was done to the nipple, that's what was provided to me.
Here is a pic of my setup....you can tell the cap fits fine around the expansion nipple...
alia176
SILVER Star
Thx for the pic.
That’s a pretty looking 3F mister
yeah, this is the only picture after the install when everything was still shinny....10 months out of the year it is mostly covered in dirt from wheeling trips.That’s a pretty looking 3F mister
alia176
SILVER Star
Couple of minutes and I am ready to go with some minor clearancing of the cap. Now it can sit completely flat on the inner cap seal.
A rad has nothing to do with HVAC performance, but ok. OEM has always worked perfectly fine here in AZ on my 80…
alia176
SILVER Star
I think it does and it's doing it but here's my theory. The fin density of the RD unit must be less than the Koyo I had previously. More air is flowing through the RD radiator, which is pulling more air through the A/C condenser. That may explain why my A/C is so much colder.
Again, just a theory but I have no other explanation.
Your AC condenser is in front of the radiator...so it is the opposite of what you described above. Your AC will automatically shut off @ 225 F IIRC, so you might have slight overheating to a point where the AC is starting to shut off. If you go by the stock temperature gauge, you will have no way of knowing that your engine is running hot or on the verge of overheating. The stock gauge does not move above the 1/2 or 3/4 mark until it starts creeping up to about 225-230 F .
alia176
SILVER Star
Yes, the condenser is in front of the RD radiator and the 15K CST blue clutch fan is sucking the air through both layers. I know EXACTLY the temps of the radiator due to a 1) more sensitive OEM gauge, 2) SCANGAUGE.
Additionally, I have a vent temp gauge which is telling me the vent temps are way colder than before, which is fascinating to me.
