Send that tank down here and I'll welder it up

Bob

Thanks Bob! I THINK I fixed it but we’ll see. If not I’ll send it right down. I brazed the holes with aluminum brazing rod. Now I just need to drive it around a while and see if it holds.

Of course I can't leave the car alone...so I swapped over to a horizontal radiator similar to rnellums' setup last year and it's working fine, but can't stop thinking about this one:

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It's out of the Renault Alpine A310 V6 3.0. Monza-looking car that was not imported to the US.

So the original radiator I wanted to use years ago was the the 4.0 Jeep Cherokee rad but unfortunately it was too wide. This one is JUST narrow enough to fit. It's 10" tall and just under 31" wide. It would stand up vertically in front so I could push it almost flush with the front of the car. My only concern is whether it is large enough to cool the EG33. Assuming yes since the Renault is a V6 3.0l mid engine with radiator up front, but I guess there's only one way to find out. If it was a $50 RAD I would just go for it, but these are ~$200. What do you guys think?

Link to e-bay ad with more info:

Renault Rad

Is that Celica set up not working for you Chris? How's everything else working? Did you get it running to your satisfaction?

How the heck did you stumble upon this radiator? Talk about rare and obscure! I'm shocked someone is actually making this for such a small market, crazy...looks good.

Hi Kent! The Celica setup worked fine but I switched over to a BMW Z3 rad lying flat like Ross has so that I could reclaim the upper half of the front trunk. It's working well but this Alpine rad keeps calling my name. It SHOULD be a perfect fit and stand up right against the front trunk.

Car is running well. I bought a chipped ECU that really smoothed the power curve out. How about yours? Did you drive that V8 beast yet?

An embarrassingly lengthy internet search a while back Mike.. . Just kept searching for the dimensions until I found one that might fit. I agree...how many of these could they POSSIBLY sell??? I have never seen an A310 in person.

Pictures of your flat radiator setup would be great to see! Do you vent out the bottom or somewhere else? And the Alpine radiator looks suspiciously like the stock SVX radiator that I've planned to use. If you go the way of standing it up in front, how will that affect the trunk space you've got left and where will you vent it? And it's good to see you have the chipped ECU also! It works great in the SVX now so I can only imagine the difference it makes in a smaller chassis.... Did you pick it up used or send yours out?

Sure I can add some pics of my current setup. Right now it's sitting a little high on a somewhat temporary mount but you'll get the idea. I have not added any ducting yet so I assume the air flow is pretty undirected and could be refined. Before I finalize the install I want to be SURE this is what I'm sticking with. Air exits out the bottom. If I go to the alpine setup I could still build a shroud similar to (but much wider than) an oil cooler shroud angling downward to the floor vent.

The SVX rad is actually quite a bit taller than the Alpine rad. The Alpine is only 10" tall, whereas the SVX is about 15" tall and not quite as wide.

Regarding the chip, it's actually an earlier version of the ECUTune chip. Same map and also allows you to use 87 octane if you want. There is a switch that you install that retards the timing a bit in 87 octane mode...so...I won't be using it unless I do a long road trip or something. I actually bought the ECU with the chip installed from a guy who did a bunch of Vanagon conversions. Really smoothed things out.

Since the Alpine engine is a 3.0, I'd think the cooling would be sufficient. It's also mounted in the front too, correct? And I didn't know it was only 10 inches tall! I'm measuring around 17 on the SVX radiator and I'm still thinking about the venting solution but I don't want to go out the bottom - I'm trying to keep it as stable as possible at speed and in crosswinds since we have more than a few of when I drive out of state - almost anywhere results in desert.
And the switch on the chipped ECU is a neat option especially if forced induction is added. The availability of fuel options on road trips is nice to manage too - I'll have to look into that as an option. Thanks for the info!

Chris, freessm is the program I mentioned in the pm. Check it out. Youtube has some videos it in use.

Great Tip on the Alpine RAD, Ebay also has one listed that is a 56mm core thickness instead of the 40mm in your listing. Just in case you need a bit more cooling, in close to the same size.

Glad to hear the ECU Tune chip does the trick, stage one tune. That is, watched the videos on the turbo build with the EG and all the stuff he went thru to get it to run correctly with an MS unit.

Love to see this project continue to evolve and become more refined.

Thanks for sharing your experience so far with the chipped ECU, Chris. Nothing like hearing from actual users of a product.

FYI I asked several vendors of the Renault A310 rad on e-bay what the widths of the two version were last week. Not all gave the same answer but based on the "most frequently used" measurements the 56mm thick version is allegedly 5mm wider than the 40mm (810 vs 805mm). Makes no sense but based on that it does not look like the 56mm version would fit vertically up against the front trunk without modifications. 5mm makes a pretty big difference this time. The 40mm version MIGHT fit but it's hard to tell without having it in hand. You could angle it forward and it would fit very low like an oil cooler under the headlight area (almost) for sure. And BTW I'm comparing/pondering all of this on a later 914. Pre-'75 you will have that semi-circle hoop up front to deal with.

I did some volume calculations of the rads (core length X core width X thickness)

Celica rad = 650
40mm A310 = 509
56mm A310 = 710

Baseline is the Celica which we know works very well. The 40mm is 22% smaller, the 56mm is 10% larger. Unfortunately the 56mm rad has shot up in price to ~$300 for the US import (the rest are straight from China). The 40mm is still $185.

Stephen I saw in another thread you might have one at your shipping depot. Let us know if you give it a try...

Probably should have kept the Celica rad and left it alone!

I went with the A310 52mm RAD due to the fact I plan on adding some forced air to the mix at some point.

And well......

Even like that it is a bit tight on the sides, would make the mount easy enough, and does leave a bit more of the trunk as usable space. If I tilt it at a angle, might make it work, that being said a bit of will make it fit also. And we all know I am not afraid of any of those tools.

Large Power Sanders = Respect

Wow you got one! Cool! How does it fit if you angle at about 45 degrees so it's right under the headlight boxes like this? See my crudely drawn lines in the pic below:

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I vent out the bottom so it would be easy to build an oil cooler type shroud.

Chris I took your idea and inverted it, but I think it will work, not optimal but should work.

From this angle it looks not that bad.

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But from this one it is a bit worse.

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It gets it down with a little bit of a hump and then you can put a cover over the rest. It would be the same height as the standard board over the spare tire. Front duct work would go right below the front latch. The one that will be hard for me is the condenser for the AC. Alpines come with A/C Build the ductwork and put a coke cooler in the front trunk. In reality I will most likely put a fiberglass tub up there, and toss a couple of water sealed bags for tool, and other 914 emergency items....

^looking at the radiator, any issue with finding fan(s) with a small enough diameter so they are not sticking out the top or bottom?

10" fans use 3 for good measure

That'll give it a unique look as well.... I like it.

What about notching the headlight buckets?

That just MIGHT work. Seemed like it was less than an inch too wide the way I measured it. If so you don't need much to get it to fit.

I was planning on using a notch, but not the head light buckets. Where it sits now, should be good for my setup. I will be adding a notch in the support to allow the rad to slide down into it. A couple of U's with foam to support the rad and let it float separate from the chassis, and still be sealed. Another U up top to seal the deal, build the duct work front and rear and then a fan shroud and the rear ductwork. I will still have a bit of the Frunk to use.

My biggest challenge now is finding a A/c Condenser that fits. Have not found one for a Renault Alpine. So off to get one custom made, and well that will equal $$$, and once I started looking at dollars I looked at Restomod Air system, and very bad came about.

With the Alpine radiator, could you not have someone notch the tanks or shorted the radiator at a local shop? We're just talking a half inch on both sides, right?

Also, what size are Boxster radiators? Or how bout MR2?

Dang, I placed an order on Tuesday afternoon and got my 914rubber order TODAY already!

Check out my engine lid-to-body seal. It was so brittle it was breaking off in huge chunks.

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And the new purty one:

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Think maybe I needed new wiper caps?

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The new ones are on the left...just FYI .

Next I reinstall my rubber bumper tops with new rubber base spacer things. They should fit a lot better.

All this satisfaction for less than $40. You just can't beat it.

If its sealed, the fan(s) don't actually need to be attached to the rad. You can do 1 big fan in a hole in the floor for example, or make ducts like Kent did and put a fan on each exit.

Look into aftermarket "hotrod" condensers, they come in many sizes. They even make one that will fit under half the engine lid, though I would run 2 to be effective.

I have not seen that A/C condenser in any of my hotrod air searches, so please do tell?

Search "Universal AC Condenser". I think I figured out a 11"x20" would fit under the engine lid. Remove the rain pan and make a shroud so all the air has to pass thru it. Likely need 2 end to end with either Y fittings or parallel to cool well enough plus fans when your stopped. It was part of the brainstorming when I was designing the under cowl AC unit.
I have the parts to build a machine to do large enough vacuum forming for the shroud but it will be a while before I have the free time.

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Stephan, you get a universal one that is a close to the radiators size as possible. I say this to maximize airflow, not to improve AC cooling.They come with "L" brackets so you can hang them in front of your radiator.

Why not run it in front of the radiator? I'm not a fan of running rubber lines to something that moves often. Worst case, run it in the fender with a fan. That's what the 911s do.

How about angled the other way with the top towards the front? Sorry I know this is a bit old. Just borught to life in my thread & Chris linked me to this. I bought this same radiator to play with

Okay so @JRust , I am really late to the answer. No reason not to, just would need to figure out the tanks. In reality if you go with the 40mm version it should fit with out issue.

Chris re-read the entire thread over that past couple days lunches, still impressed, lets have that conversation