APS and overheating
we put my big BeCool in the car. It was a pain to get in there and barely fits but it fits. We had to shorten some lines and the power steering cool barely clears the fans and the pulleys but it works. We also had to modify the brackets that hold the radiator in but we made it work. Will try and get pics up, now have over 1000 miles on the car and ran it on some hot days and never got up to 190degrees.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 346
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From: Raleigh, NC
I have a ron davis radiator and I will install the aps kit within the next couple of months..................I will do whatever I have to to make it work, so I will let everyone know how it turns out.........................that being said, I really don't expect a major problem with it, the Ron Davis fit almost like stock with my D1SC........infact it did fit like stock when I put the factory radiator holdown back on
the ron davis isn't much thicker when you look at the tank section and the section where the radiator hold down attaches
One thing that may help is removing the powersteering cooler and replacing it with a solid rubber hose................the freed up a lot of room between the upper rad hose and the waterpump pulley
Guess I will know either way in a month or so
the ron davis isn't much thicker when you look at the tank section and the section where the radiator hold down attaches
One thing that may help is removing the powersteering cooler and replacing it with a solid rubber hose................the freed up a lot of room between the upper rad hose and the waterpump pulley
Guess I will know either way in a month or so
Coolant Best setup, is a Be Cool or comparable rad with a ((evans water pump)) and ((evans coolant)) The evans coolant is the best **** out there as far as i know. It pulls so much heat from the heads it isnt even funny !!This stuff is very costly ,but does what it say's Its kinda like an oil based coolant and actually feels oilly to the touch. Do a search or call evans and talk to one of their reps , there very good with talking about their product!Pros & cons!!
Ps, Cost really shouldnt be a factor guys LOL If you had enough fto buy a APS kit ? you need to find the monet somehow to finish the build the right way The better cooling you do! The longer your liquid cooled turbos and engine will last! Bottom line Even if really scrapping for cash ???Go with the LT1 rad and atleast the Evans coolant!
PS, And stay away from internal tranny coolers on any rad you decide to go with!!! LOL Dope style mounting is the way to go on our cars with external tranny coolers. Mine and my buddys have never seen above160 in the hottest of summer days
Ps, Cost really shouldnt be a factor guys LOL If you had enough fto buy a APS kit ? you need to find the monet somehow to finish the build the right way The better cooling you do! The longer your liquid cooled turbos and engine will last! Bottom line Even if really scrapping for cash ???Go with the LT1 rad and atleast the Evans coolant!
PS, And stay away from internal tranny coolers on any rad you decide to go with!!! LOL Dope style mounting is the way to go on our cars with external tranny coolers. Mine and my buddys have never seen above160 in the hottest of summer days
that pic looks to me like removing the ps cooler would deff help with the clearance issues. With the ps cooler and the ron davis the upper hose would come close to the water pump pulley like that. Now that I removed the cooler and replaced it with a solid hose, I have plenty of clearance.
The reason for this is that the 1 peice hose doesn't just go straight to the the radiator. It has a bend in it that makes it go a little higher above the water pump pulley providing more room in that area...............I'll snap a pic of it tonight.
OneMean01, did you have to do any additional trimming for the ron davis? I am a little concerned about the lower radiator support.
I am still about a month away on my install,
Also, did you paint your entire cooler, or just the top portion.........that looks really good.
The reason for this is that the 1 peice hose doesn't just go straight to the the radiator. It has a bend in it that makes it go a little higher above the water pump pulley providing more room in that area...............I'll snap a pic of it tonight.
OneMean01, did you have to do any additional trimming for the ron davis? I am a little concerned about the lower radiator support.
I am still about a month away on my install,
Also, did you paint your entire cooler, or just the top portion.........that looks really good.
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Verdad Gallardo Its a BeCool but no the only thing we trimmed was some of the plastic on the fan shrowd on the outer edge to try to get it to go a little closer to the radiator. It wasnt to bad to put it in just took it nice and slow.
Yeah I had a buddy of mine smooth off the APS letters in the front and make it as smooth as possible, then painted the entire intercooler looks nice when its up on the lift.
Yeah I had a buddy of mine smooth off the APS letters in the front and make it as smooth as possible, then painted the entire intercooler looks nice when its up on the lift.
I'm finally installing the APS kit with my Ron Davis radiator.
I had three problems that were simple to fix:
The outlet of the APS intercooler hit the top of the Radiator........I just got the dremel out and removed material from the top of the radiator to keep the outlet from hitting the radiator.
The radiator support brackets would not fit the Ron Davis...............I cut the APS radiator brackets to clear the radiator
The radiator hold down/ cover needed to be cut...............1.5 inches from the inside of the cover.
I will post up some pics in a day or two showing exactly what I had to do.
The Ron Davis will work, but not without some trimming.
I had three problems that were simple to fix:
The outlet of the APS intercooler hit the top of the Radiator........I just got the dremel out and removed material from the top of the radiator to keep the outlet from hitting the radiator.
The radiator support brackets would not fit the Ron Davis...............I cut the APS radiator brackets to clear the radiator
The radiator hold down/ cover needed to be cut...............1.5 inches from the inside of the cover.
I will post up some pics in a day or two showing exactly what I had to do.
The Ron Davis will work, but not without some trimming.
Good to know the Ron Davis will fit on there. So you have a powersteering cooler upper hose still?
Be waiting on those pics..Nice to have options for better rads. Also was thinking could get one of those new edelbrock water pumps if necessary.
Be waiting on those pics..Nice to have options for better rads. Also was thinking could get one of those new edelbrock water pumps if necessary.
I took my power stearing cooler off.............that gave me a lot more room between the hose and the wp pulley.
If you still had the cooler on there though I don't think it would be a problem. It would be close, but I think it would work
If you still had the cooler on there though I don't think it would be a problem. It would be close, but I think it would work
Evans 
also ,i deleated the power steering cooler and used a diffrent hose like the one guy posted on here
Last edited by barnat; Mar 20, 2009 at 02:17 PM.
I just put a LT1 radiator in, about 25% dexcool, 75% distilled water and a bottle of water wetter. It's 81 degrees out right now. Driving around town with the a/c on it seems to level off at about 205. Both fans going full blast with a 160 stat. Idling in the driveway it got up to 220. I bet it would boil over if I got stuck in traffic.
I'll probably try removing the PS cooler but I don't know how much that would help. Where did you get the hose? I'm reluctant to drop that kind of money on coolant. I guess you save it when you take things a part with at least $60 in coolant.
I'll probably try removing the PS cooler but I don't know how much that would help. Where did you get the hose? I'm reluctant to drop that kind of money on coolant. I guess you save it when you take things a part with at least $60 in coolant.
Crap lt1 rad and pretty much running that hot at only 80 degrees! That don't sound good. I didn't see any overheat last season but only drove the car a few weeks in end oct/november and think it hit 70 degrees out one day but most were a lot cooler.
I guess may also need to get a ron davis or bee cool rad and possibly that edelbrock high volume water pump. But still thought there are some guys like hugger z running around with nothing special and not overheating?
I guess may also need to get a ron davis or bee cool rad and possibly that edelbrock high volume water pump. But still thought there are some guys like hugger z running around with nothing special and not overheating?
I don't know how much of a difference it actually makes having the AC on, but I drove it all last summer w/o AC because I cracked a hard line. That was with the stock radiator, and it ran about the same temps. I finally got around to putting a new line on and charged the system today. Just so happened to be the first time driving the car with the new radiator as well. I'll see what it does with the AC off sometime soon.
I could drive the car all day, but idling and driving slowly don't seem to go so well. Seems the fans alone aren't doing enough, it needs the airflow from moving. My air dam is a little out of shape, I'll see if I can dig up a part number and order one or see what the stealership wants for one. That won't solve the idling / slow driving part though.
I could drive the car all day, but idling and driving slowly don't seem to go so well. Seems the fans alone aren't doing enough, it needs the airflow from moving. My air dam is a little out of shape, I'll see if I can dig up a part number and order one or see what the stealership wants for one. That won't solve the idling / slow driving part though.
A tip if you are looking at boilover is to put on your heater on high .Its uncomforable but has saved me in other cars many times in the past. I had a big 400 80 ta that used to run stupid hot till found out guy had a 301 rad in the car and inadequate fan.
Yeah, I don't drive the car much. I don't see it really being a problem; I'm not dealing with rush hour traffic or anything like that. It's just a little irrtating to know the car runs that hot. How accurate is the temperature reading from the PCM? Where on the motor is the ECT sensor? I wonder if I should take a second reading elsewhere to see what the difference is.
AC will make a big difference..........best just roll down the windows if it is hot and your in traffic.
I have been thinking about it a little......................If you look up the air tunnel, there isn't much room at all for air to get through.
Anybody thought about cutting out around the tag bracket area and also the APS air tunnel so that air can get in from two places on a Firebird. I am getting the bumper support from burkhart.....I got it for weight purposes, but It would allow for a direct path for air to go throught the intercooler and radiator if the tag and aps air tunnel were cut for it.
I have been thinking about it a little......................If you look up the air tunnel, there isn't much room at all for air to get through.
Anybody thought about cutting out around the tag bracket area and also the APS air tunnel so that air can get in from two places on a Firebird. I am getting the bumper support from burkhart.....I got it for weight purposes, but It would allow for a direct path for air to go throught the intercooler and radiator if the tag and aps air tunnel were cut for it.