Aluminum radiator - trunk mounted tranny cooler

Well, after installing an aluminum Afco radiator without a internal tranny cooler, my engine temps will stay 180 around town, where before they would go to 220. I haven't done a real hard test, but it was 98 degrees outside last night and I didn't have to pull over coming up the hill to my house, which is a switch. I decided to make the fan run all the time on the tranny cooler in the trunk, rather than let the thermostatic switch control it. It was getting a little warm in the trunk. I don't have the tranny temp guage hooked up yet so I can't tell you what it is running just yet.
Might have to upgrade the alternator a little bit. I have a 65 amp Toyota alternator now. I bought a 100 amp Powerhouse alternator, but was trying to go with the lighter weight alternator. Between the electric radiator fan, electric water pump, electric fuel pump, electric tranny cooler fan, and headlights, it takes a little power.

 

Which fan did you go with for the radiator

 

I went with a 16 inch Spal fan. It is a puller. I fabricated my own fan shroud that covers the whole radiator.

 

Picture of fan shroud

There is a picture of the shroud in a post labeled Cal-Tracs, aluminum radiator, oil cooler. I have a shroud that I fabricated for the stock radiator that fits a Spal fan if you want it. They are good fans, sold by Figspeed.com here in town, they are the same fan Robbie Gordon and more use on their desert trucks.

 

Wow, I like the fab work on your shroud. That's exactly what I was thinking of doing for mine. You must have access to some nice fabrication equipment.

 

I have a CNC plasma cutter, and a press brake, makes quick work of it.

 

If you do much night driving your probably gonna find that 60amp alt won't be enough.
I ended up putting a 125 amp single wire in and wiring everything on relays. I retired the car from racing pretty much so weight wasn't as big a concern.
Let it idle in the driveway one night with everything on and then hit the turn signal, if your lights dim and brighten with the flasher you need more, I found out the hard way one night.

 

The backlight in my radio brightens and dims slightly when the turn signals are on. The headlights also dim a little bit when I hit the brakes. My % of night and day driving is about 50/50.

Alternator is stock. Is there a slightly higher amp alt. that will bolt on without any mods?

 

I was making an assumption that his connections and grounds are good. Jamie if your running a stock alternator on a stock setup I'd be checking my connections and alt. amp output.

 

there is an article about the headlight wiring being weak on our old cars and running a relay rather than replacing the entire wiring. yet another thing I plan on doing before I'm finished.

Also, stock on our cars is like a 35amp alt, I got a 66amp from Carquest, most of my problems improved tremendously, but the headlights are still a bit orange. The only time they are really bright is for a few days after I put in a new battery.

 

Alternator problem solved

When I had the single wire alternator on the car, you have to run a relay to shut the alternator off when you turn the ignition switch off, otherwise the alternator output will continue to power the ignition and the engine will not turn off. I was running the alternator through this relay, which is specific for this application. When I got to looking at it, the charging wire from the alternator to the car seemed pretty small, so I ran a #10 wire from the alternator to the car and the voltage is now 14.5 volts. Turns out Painless Wiring put to small of a wire in the realy.

 

Ok, were did you run the wire to?
Did you run it to the trunk?
Did you run it to the silinoid?
I picture of were the wire is ran to would be soooooo helpful to me.

 

I ran the wire from the Alternator to the battery side of the starter solenoid, mine is on the inner fender on the right side, that way the wire is only about 1 foot long. I plan on changing it to a #8 gauge wire though, 10 was all I had at the moment.

 

Thanks. Thats were mine is and I mounted my alternator low on the same side....
I also just had my alternator up graded to a 110 amp. It was originally a 60 and with the small crank pulley I was not getting enough juice.

 

I forgot to mention that the alternator I am using has an internal regulator, so all of that is off mine, that is why I am able to run the wire from the alternator to the solenoid. it is a toyota alternator. Small and lightweight.