Congratulations on your purchase on your new aluminum radiator. This radiator is designed to be installed in 1uz swapped 1989 thru 1995 Toyota pickups and 4runners. These instructions are designed to guide you on the installation process, not be an end all of what is required for a successful installation. Remember that an engine swapped rig is designed by you so adjustments and modifications may be necessary based on your vehicle, or installation of other products. If you have questions along the way please feel free to contact us and we will do our best to help you thru the installation process.
Tools requiredGrinder
Side cutters
Flat tip screwdriver
Metal shears
Drill
½” Drill bit
12mm socket
6” socket extension
3/8” drive ratchet
Items needed to complete installation but not supplied with radiatorHose clamps
Upper and lower hoses
4 mounting bolts
¼” thick x 2”x 12” rubber stip. Used as isolator pads. Coolant hose cut can work as well.
Minimum 1” body lift is required for this radiator to fit without removal of lower cross member
Bolts and nuts to secure new radiator
Installation of radiator1. Start by removing stock radiator after draining coolant. Recycle coolant appropriately. Once radiator is removed it is time to make modifications to your rig to now fit this radiator. Remove the hood release latch from the core support. Once the latch is removed it’s time to cutapproximately ½” to ¾” of material needs to be removed from core support where the original radiator mounted.
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2. Now it is time to remove the front of the core support cross brace. You will need to cut the brace far enough back so as to create enough room for the radiator to sit in its place. Usually trimming back to the width of the new core support hole is enough. If you want something cleaner you can remove spot welds and pull the whole brace out.
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3. Moving on to the front frame brace. What you will end up with is an “L” shaped bracket for your brace. You can either remove the brace as a whole, and replace with and angle iron; or you can cut and hallow out the OEM brace. If you choose to go the hallowed out route, start by cutting along the top of the brace towards the front of the brace. Second cut the bottom back side of the brace. Once both plates are cut you can cut the brace hear the frame rail and removed. Once that’s done the top and back part should come off and be thrown away. With the top and back part of the cross member removed you will need to remove the welded in nuts from the bottom and front plate. Once removed this will give a nice smooth place for the radiator to sit. Rubber isolator pads can be installed to cushion the radiator from the steel.
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4. With the radiator in place it is now time to drill new 12mm holes thru the core support and radiator flange. Once the holes are drilled you can bolt the radiator in place. The radiator mounting flange may sit slightly out from the core support at the bottom. You can put rubber isolator pads between the flange and core support to eliminate this gap and provide a cushion for the radiator against the core support.
5. It’s now time to make adjustments to the hood latch. You will remove the bolt hole tab located at the bottom of the latch and the metal guard that is found on the bottom of the hood latch. Cut this tab off and grind smooth the bottom of the latch. Once smooth you can reinstall back onto the rig. Here is what the latch will look before and after adjustments. Once adjusted this latch will have about 3/16th of an inch between it and the radiator top. It’s tight but more thandoable.
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Now it’s time to cut the center mount off the grill. You will no longer need this mounting location. If running A/C the grill will need to be flat, while if you are not running the A/C condenser then trim as needed.
It’s time to fill the radiator with fluid. To top the cooling system off you can add coolant thru the burp bolt located at the top of the engine coolant bypass. This bolt is found right behind the location of the thermostat.
