Last Updated: 02/06/2022 @ 07:23 am

Community Member Credit: CMax03

I’ve installed the Megan Racing Radiator and I love it! It’s 1-7/16” thick core versus the OEM 1” thick core. No drain! So what, it has a lower radiator hose. Everything fit the only minor issue is the upper support pegs are slightly lower than OEM & the filler cap is slightly to the right causing the overflow hose to have a little less slack. That’s it fan shroud is closer to my Cattman Headers but they’re ceramic coated so and they don’t really radiate that much heat so applying some of that thermal barrier tape might be a good idea. Function tested it and it works great!

Side by side view with OEM radiator.

Reference Info by SquidBeak

Thanks for the follow up wellshii19.

CMax03, perfect timing! Thanks for the info and the pics. Looks great!

I know it’s overkill, but I really wanted a drain plug. So I bought a bung, drilled the bottom of the radiator then had a local guy weld it in. Then I got an aluminum elbow, plug and a pvc valve for draining. Now, it’s pretty slick. I’m going to do the install this week.

I did a test to see how everything would work this afternoon and I think it’s going to be nice. I was surprised to see that the Megan radiator only holds 1 gallon. I thought it would hold more. I think the original radiator only holds about a gallon also, but I’m not positive about that.

I just finished installing the radiator. Overall, I’m pretty happy with it.

Here are some observations I made in the process:

1. I wasn’t very impressed with the AN6-5/16 barb fittings that came with the radiator. They looked like leaks waiting to happen so I used some nicer aluminum fittings. Add 5-10 HP minimum per fitting.

2. I had to file down the welds on one of the fan brackets to allow the fan shroud to fit. Not a big deal. Add 1-2 ponies due to weight savings.

3. The 2 screws that hold the fan shroud on the original radiator thread into plastic and are basically sheet metal screws. You can’t reuse these screws, you will have to get some M6 x 1.0 screws for the new radiator. These cool red screws easily freed up 15 ponies each.

4. The drain plug made the 7-8 drain & fills much easier. Really too bad they didn’t include one. The plug was good for at least 15-20 ponies.

5. This is the most important. The original radiator cap is rated at .9 bar (13 psi). The Megan cap is 1.1 bar (16 psi). With the Megan cap there was no exchange between the radiator and the reservoir at all. None, no fluid nor air. I decided to re-use the original cap and this restored the function of the reservoir. -10 ponies for reusing old cap.

6. I decided to dissect the old radiator mainly because I was curious to see how the trans cooler works. I thought it would be just an aluminum pipe immersed in engine coolant. However, it’s actually a pretty ingenious design. It’s a hollow cylinder that the ATF flows through. This allows coolant to cool the inside and outside of the cylinder. I looked inside the Megan radiator with a scope and it has the same design.

Original ATF cooler.

ATF Cooler side view.

Megan ATF cooler

7. I did the intake manifold coolant bypass while I had the old radiator out. When I pulled one of the hoses off, some black liquid came out. This is strange because all of the coolant looked immaculate when I flushed it. No idea how this could happen. Any ideas? I blew out the coolant lines in the manifold with compressed air then looped one of the spare hoses to the other port of the manifold to plug them both.

8. During a 30 mile test drive, I noticed that the coolant temps now range between 190 and 208. Previously, it was 195-205. It probably doesn’t mean much, but it’s interesting.

9. Easily 50-60 HP gained on the butt dyno. Easily. Probably way more. WAY MORE. Definitely.