308 GTSi radiator replacement or recore

I'm sure that this has been covered before.

I'm going to sell my father's 1981 GTSi. But I want it to be in a no-excuse state when I do sell it.

It apparently overheats. I'm not sure of that's because of the thermostats or the radiators. I may need a better technician in Pittsburgh. Any recommendations are welcome.

How much are 308 replacement radiators worth with an exchange? Do you have any other tips to re-core them?

Thanks!

Matt

 

There are a bunch of little things to check first before you drag out the radiator.

T-stat working, fans coming on, air out of the system...

That model didn't share this issue with the QV so it can be fixed.

 

I had mine re-cored and it worked great. I just went to a local shop and they found a copper core that would fit the existing tanks and swapped it all out. You would have to look really close to notice it's a different core pattern than stock.

 

I think that 'guy' thing believing you know what the problem might be is kicking in and probably the worst problem :.

As other posters have said it could be many things. Maybe find a trustworthy independent in the area and start there.

 

FWIW My '82 GTSi has never overheated. Waters gets to 195 oil gets 210-215. I had my radiator cleaned and painted only because of an age crack on a tank seal. I run 20/percent antifreeze and a 0.9 bar (13lbs) cap.

 

My ex 2V did overheat. I exhausted all the other possibilities, which you should do first, but in the long run I had a custom aluminum one made and updated the fans and never had an issue after. So if you don't solve the problem via checking the other areas I would go new vs recore. IMO updated rad isn't going to be a major roadblock to resale. BTW a custom aluminum one is very comparable in price to a direct repo one you'd get from a ferrari specific place

 

In my case I had the existing one re-cored. Others will most likely debate this but core sizes being equal a copper rad will transfer heat better than an aluminum one. The key to that being "core sizes being equal".

I could look it up sometime as I don't recall off the top of my head but I think for water pump, hoses, re-core and a bunch of other ancillary "while you're in there" stuff I spent about $1k total redoing my whole cooling system. Probably a third or close of that was the pump. I think it was about $600 to re-core the radiator. Oh and the new copper core was better than the stock...from 3 row to 4 row or something along those lines.

 

+1

 

Thank you, everyone.

Matt

 

Surface area is more important that material.

I have one of those big fat ass aluminum radiators and the difference is remarkable vs the stock unit. It weighs about a thousand pounds less too.

 

Versus stock yes. Versus an updated recore not much difference though. It's a choice, both will work well. I am frugal and doing the recore was less at the time than going with aluminum and, not that I was anal about keeping things totally stock looking, a recore fit right back in the same spot with all the same hardware and looked stock at a glance etc. so to me was easier.

 

Had I known I had that option, I probably would have recored.