260 radiator upgrade?

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Rusty260
Posts: 46
Location: Whangarei

260 radiator upgrade?

Post by Rusty260 » Thu Nov 22, 2007 9:25 pm

I currently have the radiator out of my 260Z and was abouyt to have it reconditioned when it has been suggested to me by the great people in the Z club that I upgrade it too a larger 280Zx radiator

I am not planning on modifying the engine in the near future so is it worth while bothering with the upgrade?

This vehicle will be used as a daily driver but it will be driven hard at times

cheers
Tony
1974 260Z Coupe in pieces
1976 260Z Coupe

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old_datto_fan
Z Club Member
Posts: 951
Location: Kapiti

Post by old_datto_fan » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:44 pm

Hi Tony,

After suggesting the 280ZX radiator to you, while searching the net for something else I found the following:

"For some reason there are many 240Z radiators floating around on the on the internet and on Ebay, get them while they last. I just bought a new 3-row 240Z Datsun radiator off the internet for $120, excellent quality. Mine was worth every penny: it dropped my temperature about 10 degrees and my needle barely goes over 170 now.

People obsess over 3 or 4 row radiators and lose sleep over which one cools better. Here's what to do: buy a 3-row radiator and if you need more cooling , buy a 4-row. But unless you have a some serious needs a new 3-core radiator is going to cool just fine. If you want to use a 280 radiator in your 240, I measured one and it's side frame bolt holes are off too much, and its too tall. Someone told me they had one in, but it stuck out of the bottom of the engine compartment and they were worried about speed bumps. In my book this means it doesn't fit. The V8 crowd has talked for years about using a Camaro radiator which is about the same size as a 240Z model. I used one for a while but found the Datsun model mentioned was superior in fit and finish so I got rid of the Camaro model. Keep it Japanese."

Check http://datsunzgarage.com/rebuild/index.htm for the rest.

He is correct in that you do need to drill new holes in the radiator support panel and that it does stick out the bottom a bit further than a 240 radiator. I went to a bit of effort with measurements to mount the radiator as high as possible and it sits slightly higher than the bottom chassis rail so shouldn't be an issue with speed bumps. My original radiator was for the 2 litre motor and it looked only about half the thickness of the 280 radiator - as I fitted a 2.8 it seemed to make sense to fit a matching radiator (and I happened to get a reconditioned one with my motor) but if you are staying with a standard motor then an original radiator that is in good condition should be fine.

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