bigzook
Well-known member
This is for all you guys who either have cooling problems or would just like a little extra cooling.
? ?For a while now my samurai had been running warm in the summer. I treid alot of things to fix this, but finally I decided that I needed a bigger radiator. I had been putting it off for quite a while. So when I picked up a sidekick rollling chassis it happend to come with the radiator. I started looking at it and thought it would be a good swap.
? ?
? ?The kick radiator is about half again as big as my stock zook one.
? ? The insatll was actully pretty easy. I used the stock brackets from the Kick. All you have to do is grind a little off of the bottom and lower sides of the brackets where they come in contact with the frame. I then welded those brackets to the frame. I had to place the bottom a little back twards the motor as teh kick radiator is much wider and hit the steering box. I then leaned the top twards the grill to make it fit better. I also had to cut off the little bracket that holds the overflow bottle and fab up a small piece to hold that.
? ? ?I know in these pictures its hard to see the brackets but its the best I could do. (diddnt think about a write up until after I installed it). The only problem I can see with this install is you would pretty much have to use an electric fan. I used one anyway so it wasnt an issue. Although with the bigger radiator I was able to step up from a 12" to a 16" fan. It is installed on the front of the radiator to save on space.
? ? ?Over all I am very pleased with the performance and ease of this install. I had to turn my thermostat for the fan up quite a bit. The temp stays right around the halfway mark with the fan only coming on at traffic lights and under sustained high rpm (like5,000 and above) runs. And this was on a 87 degree day.
? ?For a while now my samurai had been running warm in the summer. I treid alot of things to fix this, but finally I decided that I needed a bigger radiator. I had been putting it off for quite a while. So when I picked up a sidekick rollling chassis it happend to come with the radiator. I started looking at it and thought it would be a good swap.
? ?
? ?The kick radiator is about half again as big as my stock zook one.
? ? The insatll was actully pretty easy. I used the stock brackets from the Kick. All you have to do is grind a little off of the bottom and lower sides of the brackets where they come in contact with the frame. I then welded those brackets to the frame. I had to place the bottom a little back twards the motor as teh kick radiator is much wider and hit the steering box. I then leaned the top twards the grill to make it fit better. I also had to cut off the little bracket that holds the overflow bottle and fab up a small piece to hold that.
? ? ?I know in these pictures its hard to see the brackets but its the best I could do. (diddnt think about a write up until after I installed it). The only problem I can see with this install is you would pretty much have to use an electric fan. I used one anyway so it wasnt an issue. Although with the bigger radiator I was able to step up from a 12" to a 16" fan. It is installed on the front of the radiator to save on space.
? ? ?Over all I am very pleased with the performance and ease of this install. I had to turn my thermostat for the fan up quite a bit. The temp stays right around the halfway mark with the fan only coming on at traffic lights and under sustained high rpm (like5,000 and above) runs. And this was on a 87 degree day.
