inactiveuser92616

maybe it would be cheaper to adapt a similiarly shaped radiator from a more mass-market vehicle? I dont know if would work, but here is an example. Take a honda civic performance radiator, fab up some brackets, and wham bam done.

my87944s

I have one of their radiators in another vehicle.... and I have not been happy with it! first a weld blew (was obviously defective) then they didnt want to replace it... then after they replaced it I found that my credit card had actually been charged for the second radiator...
By the time I was done, it took 4 months to get them to refund the card and Im still not thrilled with the part...

hoffman912

im not steamed. id rather be sauted.

hosrom_951

Listen to me, if you are looking for radiators that help in cooling, forget it! The stock ones are fine, i pushed my car hard in 147+F during summer with the a/c on and the temperature never gave me ANY concerns at all.

However, replacing that radiator for the sake of the plastic sides is different. It is crap, especially if you replace the thermo switch and over-tighten it, which could crack/break the plastic sides........

Stock is fine in regards to heat and cooling!!!

Bill

So we have 5 so far. I wonder if we got to ten or so, If Paragon would take the lead and buy the rest for stock? Hmmmm, Skip?

Unfortunatly with the 944 and especially the turbo, the clearances are really tight. Also there is a temp sensor/wiring harness to sensor/hose araingement to contend with.

Hos,

True, sorta. On any car, extra cooling capacity is a plus. An engine that runs just a couple of degrees hotter is affected. Oil breaks down faster, greater chance of detonation (this could be occuring on your car with out you even knowing, as the knock sensor is kicking back your timing), less power, less fuel mileage, reduced engine life, etc. When you have a modified car such as mine is, it is even more important. More power = more heat. Heat is bad. If you have a radiator that has a capacity to cool more than required, the t-stat will keep the engine in the proper range. But if you encounter a greater demand, and the radiator is not up to snuff, t-stat or not, oh-well. You might not even realize that 5, 10, 15 years from now, when your engine fails, with a larger radiator, you could have gone longer (yes, over dramatized for a point). The important thing to remember, for years Germans designed their cars with great heaters, but lousy a/c. Why? because it snows in Germany. Germany with a 147+ day, never even crosses their minds. Look at our cars. The 944 dash was changed in 86 (ok late 85), to accomodate the upgraded a/c system, which flowed 40% more air. Why? Because the Florida/Los Angeles Porsche market was so large, that their complants could no longer go un-noticed. 86 mind you!

I could not agree more. My car has 70K orig miles on it, and the damn thing has failed allready! Believe me, on a turbo, removal is not an easy task.

Bill

Hoffman,

That is too funny! What the heck are you doing reading a radiator post!

Matt H

P-O-P - the last three major expenses on my BMW have been:
Cracked radiator end tank (plastic, piece of junk, truly a pile)
Cracked radiator overflow (plastic, why do they make pressurized overflows?)
Cracked water pump outlet (you guessed, it plastic, bolted to a freakin metal WP and connected to a hose, they went so far as to add a brass ring so you couldnt crack it by overtightening so instead it cracks at the seam)

Plastic has is uses, however, cooling parts should never, ever be among them.
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Danno

The FRP parts are pretty durable...

hacker-pschorr

A new factory 944 radiator is only $130?

GOSANE

I'm pretty sure Griffin made a custom rad for a hot 944 0r 928 (I forget) as I read about it in an issue of Excellence years ago. And no I don't remember which issue it was. (I've got them all BTW)

http://www.griffinrad.com/custom.php

They are another high profile Nascar and Streetrod supplier.

As for plastic rads, well the Benz folks have had some trouble with the plastic end caps as well. The "goosenecks" where the hoses clamp on can crack. This actually happened on my brothers 300. The neck broke off when he hit a bump in the road and the car overheated (warped head) before he knew what was going on.

My point is MBZ claims that certain brands of coolant cause the plastic to become brittle. They recommend the MBZ stuff and Zerex G-O5 which is exactly the same stuff but cheaper and easyier to get. YMMV

Cheers, LP

hoffman912

what a guy cant try to broaden his horizens and try to learn new things?

actually one of my funniest porsche stories was when i met up with Chris in illinois on my way back from cali. we were at a gas station and i parked over a puddle that was under the front of my car. noticing this, i said to chris with a worried look. 'oh crap! i have a radiator leak! when is this thing going to stop giving me problems?!"

chris got really worried and was about ready to crawl under there when he realized what was going on. he looked confuesed for a second, then snapped to, looked at me, and just said 'you F*****!'

Bill

No...try $350 for the plastic piece of junk!