Excel Radiator in 86

[v-tec]

Hi all, ive just recently purchased an Ae86 which has an excel radiator replacing the standard item. I have heard from the previous owner that several others on this site or maybe just other 86 owners have done the same thing.
Here is what it looks like:

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/4/8/4/3/150327.jpg

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/4/8/4/3/150328.jpg

I was just wondering what people have done for the top radiator supports?
I plan to make something up that would hold it tight, i just need to make sure it is good as i need the car to pass a rwc soon so i can get it on the road.

It shouldnt be a problem for me to make a support up for the right side of the radiator, however the left side is directly in front of where the radiator cap is for this radiator so i was wondering what people have done for this... i was thinking of moving the support to the right more and just use a bolt and a nut through one of the holes in the radiator support.

Any info is helpfull


Cheers

Grant

[Bustin_86]

SamQ has done this conversion man, so would be a good idea to get in contact with him and or check his worklog.

If you want an answer right now what you could do is get two pieces of ally, bolt them to the rad support panel in front of those two pieces of plastic that stick straight up vertically from the radiator. If you know what i mean lol. Then just drill a hole in both pieces of ally to make room for those stick up bits and your laughing.

That is how they are supported from factory, its just a bit more of a ghetto setup. Ideally, get some mounts from a wreckers as they have the rubber mounts in them and just space them up and weld or bolt them to the rad support.

Hope that made sense, if i wasnt so flat out i would draw what i mean... I'll try to get around to it soon.

Hope it helps man.

[Bustin_86]

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/9095/excelrad002ff2.jpg

Red boxes are the bits of ally, and the blue bits are where you will bolt/weld the brackets to the rad support. Bolting would be preferable aye. Then just drill the holes in the end to let the plastic mounts come through.

Hope that helps.

Justin

[v-tec]

cool cheers man, ill look into that :)
i got sam on msn too so ill give him a yell too and see what he can tell me.

Anyone else that has pics etc if theyve done it would help also

Cheers

[Bustin_86]

Yeah man Sam will be able to help you heaps more, my explanation is way wakk lol.

Best of luck with it mate.

Justin

[RobertoX]

If you can find the circular rubber things that go over those plastic posts they will help prevent the top tank from cracking. Then make a bracket to bolt where Justin has suggested going over the rubber...

[v-tec]

i see so if i try make my own radiator support things like the standard excel ones, but just made to fit the 86 frame

[Gilly]

yeah use the rubbers as well Grant, should be easyish to incorporate them :P

do what Justin said, it looks good and will work

[Bustin_86]

Maybe insert and fasten a old rear shock top rubber in the custom brackets?

I have some i can post you if you dont have any kicking around.... but you should!

That way you can avoid dodgy wreckers trying to sell you a whole rad when you just want the mounts lol.

Should cost you nothing.... just get some scrap ally from a fab place.

Cheers,

Justin

[v-tec]

Yea ill see what fabrication places i can hit up on the weekend, might see if i can dig up some info/pics of the excel stuff to see what im trying to make too.

Cheers for all the helpful info so far :)

[rthy]

thanks justin


ok heres a simple way of doing it:

-get the 2 original mounts- these have the right ruber insert and everything so its not worth making something.

-secure it- welded it however no need to do something as loopy as that, heres another option I recommend:

hold your radiator mount in place, line up where the bolts would normally line up with the top support and mark it, drill some 6mm holes, push a bolt though the bracket, put some nuts on it as a spacer and then bolt it down to the radiator support. Again its hard to explain

[v-tec]

ok that sounds easy enough, sounds like ill have to go to a hyundai wreckers... hmm some quiet justice lol
might have to cover my eyes if i see one thats not completeley destroyed lol

anyone have an idea what year model car my radiattor is out of?

Cheers

[Bustin_86]

I'm fairly certain they come from 1991 Hyundai X2 Excels.

Just look around for a radiator like yours ;)

[v-tec]

Beaut, yea ill just have a look around and see what it looks like

[lachy2k3]

my mate has the same setup his using what looks like standard ae86
radiator mounts but it has and extra washer on each side to bring it up
since the radiator sits abit higher

[v-tec]

Well i got this all sorted today, couldnt be happier with the result. Couldnt find any excels around whatsoever so i managed to find some brackets of a sonata that were very similar. It was good to find a wrecker that didnt want me to purchase the whole radiator just for the brackets, the bloke that helped me out was pretty cool. Most are just arseholes.

Anyway i had to get the brackets extended out so my mate Dan who owns Pro Force Engineering here on the gold coast (free plug lol) whipped up some alloy plates that extended out and gave me all proper bolts and nuts to bolt the things to the support panel.

Heres how it came out:

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/7446/excelnotrad001ac1.jpg

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/4/8/4/3/150563.jpg

So yeah pretty stoked with how that turned out, for a differnt to factory radiator id say that looks pretty good.
Cheers for all your information everyone

[Brenton]

Well done. Come up very clean. I'll drop round and have a look at your progress with the 86 sometime this weekend (hopefully in mine) :)

[rthy]

yeah looks real neat, nice work