Radiator weirdness

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 5:18 am

eastbaysubaru wrote:I think the turbos have different radiators as well,

I am curious if this is true. If so what are differences?

MK

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 5:24 am

Non-turbo radiator cores are 361mm tall and 16mm thick. Turbo radiator cores are 394mm tall and 25mm thick. Turbos also have higher-flow radiator fans.

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 7:00 am

Thanks. So i should probably look into getting the turbo radiator when i get the new engine in

MK

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 4:28 pm

Well, you can't swap in just a turbo radiator. The turbo radiators don't have burp screws or filler necks. You'd need to include the coolant piping and the filler bottle on top of the intake manifold. There may be something else but I can't think of it right now.

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 5:11 pm

thoe are coming on the engine, the only thing that's not is the radiator itself, so i should be OK.

MK

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 1:48 am

vrg3: The coolant tank on the 22t also has the filler cap for the entire cooling system, correct? Can the non turbo radiator work w/ the turbo engine?

There are a few lines from the coolant tank which would have no place to go on the non turbo radiator. I was thinking it might be possible.. at least temporarily, to use a spare heater core as a radiator for just the turbo's cooling sytem. Would it be large enough to provide adequate cooling?

MK

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:00 am

mk750 wrote:vrg3: The coolant tank on the 22t also has the filler cap for the entire cooling system, correct?

Yes, that is correct. The overflow tank also has a cap, but you don't fill the rest of the system through that cap.

Can the non turbo radiator work w/ the turbo engine?

There are a few lines from the coolant tank which would have no place to go on the non turbo radiator.

I don't know how you'd do it, exactly, but you can make almost anything work with enough effort. :)

The biggest problem would be the coolant line that is meant to go from the turbo to the tank. You'd basically have to somehow get it to the water pump.

I was thinking it might be possible.. at least temporarily, to use a spare heater core as a radiator for just the turbo's cooling sytem. Would it be large enough to provide adequate cooling?

You mean have an independent cooling system for the turbocharger? How would you pump the coolant through it?

If you don't plan on using the complete turbo cooling system with the filler tank, you might actually consider just using your non-turbo cooling system completely, and connecting the turbo's coolant lines in series with the IAC valve and throttle body. You'd have to somehow cap off the coolant line coming off the passenger side cylinder head, though.

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:34 am

I was thinking one of the lines from the tank goes into the water pump, and then to the radiator. I need to look closer at the cooling system.

MK

eastbaysubaru · Post by **eastbaysubaru** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 7:23 am

The turbo radiator is bigger, so I wouldn't recommend using a non-turbo radiator on a turbo legacy.

-Brian

Post by **Legacy777** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:44 pm

eastbaysubaru wrote:The turbo radiator is bigger, so I wouldn't recommend using a non-turbo radiator on a turbo legacy.

-Brian

The turbo radiator isn't really bigger. It may have more capacity though if it is a dual core vs. a single core.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 3:54 pm

Uh, Josh, it is somewhat bigger... see my earlier post in this thread.

Post by **Legacy777** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 11:36 pm

how much bigger is it?

nvrmind

Non-turbo radiator cores are 361mm tall and 16mm thick. Turbo radiator cores are 394mm tall and 25mm thick. Turbos also have higher-flow radiator fans.

1.3" taller & .35" thicker....probably is a dual core vs. single.

I will say I have never had any/zero overheating issues. IMO subaru built a very robost/oversized cooling system for the engine application.

czo79 · Post by **czo79** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 1:20 am

I can't profess to really know that much about this...but I do have a few ideas. First...there are many many people who are running both turbo'd NA subees with NA radiators and cooling systems. Second, there are a lot of people running real turbo engines (ej20T, EJ22T) swapped into NA subees, with the old NA radiators. Now...that said, I would suspect that the EJ22T and the old closed deck EJ20G's are probably the subee turbo engine most likely to have problems with a NA cooling system. Two reasons. First, the closed deck block, while much stronger, has more mass, and less area for coolant to flow around the cylinder....so its cooling demands are probably greater than open deck blocks. and also their is a different casting process for the closed deck blocks...they are (I hope I'm remebering this right) medium pressure sand cast, which creates a much denser stronger metal compared to the casting process used on NA and newer turbo blocks, eg post EJ20G wrx engines. This creates a need for greater cooling capacity. Anyways, I don't profess to have any of this right...but this is my understanding and memory at work here. Just some thoughts you might be able to apply to whatever engine and cooling system plans you come up with. At least make sure you got some good gauges to monitor whats going on, the stock two stage coolant gauges only tells you that your car is or is not warm, and that your heads just warped!
good luck
micum

Post by **Legacy777** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 3:57 am

you got it right micum

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 4:47 am

Thanks for the info guys, i'll def be keeping my eye out for a turbo radiator.

MK

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 12:43 pm

Another question, there is a line that comes from the turbo coolant tank, over the engine, then forward to the radiator on the passenger side. Where does this normally tie into? is it just overflow..

MK

Post by **Legacy777** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 2:17 pm

i'm not too familiar with the turbo radiators......it may be a burp line or something to help with air....??

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 4:28 pm

Yeah, that's my guess too. The nipple on the radiator is very high up. The turbo models don't have a burp screw, but maybe that nipple is in the same location the burp screw would be in. I'm not too familiar with the NA radiators.

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 6:12 pm

The burp screw for my radiator is right near the end of the hose. I will find a fitting for the hole and run the hose to it.

thanks for the help

MK

bman · Post by **bman** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:08 pm

The radiator on my turbo had the smallest crack in the (upper hose side) plastic tank. I tried 3 times to JB Weld with no success so I went shopping for a radiator. There were no recent links to online retailers so I had to do the walking myself. Factory price was about $330.
Of the online places I found 3 places which offered prices < $200 for the aluminum radiator for turbo Legacy *and* had them in stock.

discountradiators.com(aka. Wilcox's) - $139.00

autocoolradiators.com - $187.69

autoradiatorsdirect.com - $192.20

I received my radiator in about 3-4 days from discountradiators and the salespeople were very knowledgeable. It's a Koyo. I replaced it with no problems this weekend.
There is one thing that is different from OEM. Although the radiator is aluminum, there are two copper pipes that come out of the side of one of the plastic ends that don't seem to hook up to anything. I called the guys at DR's and one of the techs said that sometimes they have those pipes, but he didn't see any purpose for them. I ran the engine for about 45 minutes and there was no leakage anywhere in the radiator so I'm guessing those things don't effect the performance. Weird.
Just an update in case anyone was looking for a replacement soon.

-Brian

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:12 pm

Those extra pipes are for 4EAT cars; ATF flows through them.

tris91ricer · Post by **tris91ricer** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:53 pm

yes indeedie! I found that out the hard way when i didn't clamp those down right on startup! got ATF/PS fluid EVERYWHERE! very hard to wash off, too.. be careful.

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