Someone offers a C5 radiator with built in oil cooler. (?DRM?). I upgraded to a Be-cool and still have some temperature issues to fix. I plan to add an oil cooler, but will follow the simple tips above-- opening the shroud, wiring the deflector and opening up the rear hoodseal...I also need to insulate my oil filter as it sits too close to my headers. Another thought is to re-locate the oil filter. :flag

 

Snuckley:

I finally went with the wheel to wheel unit as Dave suggested. I am almost finished with the installation. I will try to post some pictures when finished, if I can get a camera in there. Basically, I built an aluminum bracket to hold the oil filter parallel to and about 1 inch above the air conditioner condensor coil. Ran the steel braided hoses out the driver side of the front shroud.

Take a look at this thread:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=187445

Take Care,

Alan

 

I haven't called Wheel to Wheel yet. What is their setup like? Price??

 

Who sells the Be Cool Radiator? How is it compared to the SLP, Griffin.

Jay

 

Jegs :cheers:

 

MellowYellow:

Here is the link to the Wheel to Wheel website:
http://www.wheeltowheel.net/

Alan

 

Hey Everyone, I live about 2 miles from Be-Cool here in Michigan. If anyone wants more info or possibly a GP on these, I'll stop by and try to get some info. Later

 

A GP would be great. I'm in.

 

Alan.. I am right near you in Suwanee.. I have been running the BeCool for about 7 months with great results.. It is a nice peice, is well constructed, fits well, and performs as advertised. I recently removed the radiator and went with a Rippie.. If you want any info, or help installing it, email me for a phone number..

 

I have the DRM radiator w oil cooler in my car. The radiator came in a Ron Davis Racing Radiator box. On the track the coolant runs at 190 and the oil temp runs at 230. This is with the stock thermostat. Based on what DRM told me the oil might run a little cooler if I had plugged the oil filter bypass valve in the block's oil filter mount. That way it couldn't divert any oil from the remote filter and cooler. Right now I am happy with the coolant temp being 40 degrees cooler and the oil temp being 70 degrees cooler. However, as the weather has gotten cooler my oil temp on the highway has dropped to 160. Only way to get the temp up is to drive the car hard.
Bill


[Modified by Bill Dearborn, 12:34 AM 12/10/2001]

 

Mike, I am trying to get ahold of Dave & Julio to see if they can put something together on this. If you speak to them ask them also.

 

I had a Be-Cool radiator installed in my 2001 Coupe w/automatic trans, back in March '01. I've forgotten some of the details, but here are the basics:
The coolant and oil will both run cooler when you are pushing the car hard. On a 90' day at Mid Ohio, running the car absolutely as hard as I could, coolant was 219', oil was 279'. The stock setup would probably have been about 15' warmer for both temps.
As others have mentioned, the Be-Cool is thicker, and clearance between the elec fans & front sway bar is reduced. Seems to work OK.
The thicker radiator pushed the top of the fan shroud up/forward a little, leaving a gap so some air could flow around the radiator instead of through it. We used zip ties to pull the shroud back against the radiator, seems to work OK.
BIG PROBLEM with automatic transmissions: some time in '00 or '01, Chevy changed the fittings on the trans cooler lines where they go into the radiator. Be-Cool really screwed me up on this, the radiator had the wrong fittings, they gave me wrong info on what fittings to get, etc. It's now resolved, but if you have an auto trans, test that your trans cooler line fittings will properly attach to the Be-Col fittings, BEFORE you install the radiator. The new Be-Cools are supposed to come with two sets of fittings, use whichever ones fit your tranny lines, but test them first. Of course, if you are running a road course you will want an additional trans cooler, but you will also want to keep the stock in-radiator unit, too.
Would I do it again? Yes.

 

neverenuf:

Thanks for the offer, it's already in. Was pretty easy, just dropped everything out the bottom. Only problem, as Gearhead Jim mentioned, is small gap between radiator and shroud, doesn't hook like it did with stock radiator. I was thinking of cable ties also, glad it works well. Also had to trim the tabs at the rear of the upper rubber mounts so the upper radiator support brackets would sit flush on the frame.

Did you switch to the DRM radiator for the Oil Cooler or some other reason?

Take Care,

Alan

 

I run the Ron Davis radiator with the heat exchanger built in. A very well built unit. I got it from DRM.

SW

 

Same here, I recently upgraded from the Fluidyne I go through Mallett in '98 to the Ron Davis, sold through DRM. The Fluidyne worked great, but I wanted the oil cooler. Definitely worth the $$$, I'll end up getting another for the 2000 when I do a 422. :yesnod:

BTW, did you know that the factory C5-R's also use a Ron Davis radiator. :yesnod: