Post your Radiator/Fan Shroud setups for V8 swaps!

[Axis2011KR]

Been lurking through several of the ongoing builds and was wondering what people were using and having success with.

I've seen a few people running upgraded FR-S radiators like the Mishimoto or similar and a few custom setups and was mainly curious if an upgraded FR-S based setup was handling these LSX builds for daily driver duty.

Planning to upgrade mine shortly and don't want to buy one just to have to replace again after the motor swap if the standard upgrades aren't cutting it on the v8 builds.

[DustinS]

Full Blown FRS Replacement. Works great on my 630bhp LS3

[Sportsguy83]

Word of CAUTION:

I run the Fullblown slim fans/shroud kit with a Koyo Radiator. The slim fans rpovided by FBM are the super slim 900 cfm option. It has worked fine so far on most situations EXCEPT on 99 degree hot weather with A/C on and in traffic. I see coolant temperatures go all the way up to 230. Turning AC off allowed the temperature to drop to the 220 range. I am now upgrading the slim fans provided to the 1300 cfm option that fits in the same shroud with the same bolt pattern.

[Axis2011KR]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

Word of CAUTION:

I run the Fullblown slim fans/shroud kit with a Koyo Radiator. The slim fans provided by FBM are the super slim 900 cfm option. It has worked fine so far on most situations EXCEPT on 99 degree hot weather with A/C on and in traffic. I see coolant temperatures go all the way up to 230. Turning AC off allowed the temperature to drop to the 220 range. I am now upgrading the slim fans provided to the 1300 cfm option that fits in the same shroud with the same bolt pattern.

This is my exact concern. Being in Dallas Ft. Worth it could see frequent 100+ degree days in traffic with the AC blasting. Will definitely look at the upgraded fan option if I go with their setup or aim for a 1300+ cfm setup. Appreciate the feedback guys.

[ILLSMOQ]

I have the full blown rad and fan shroud kit. 900 cfm fans were not up to the job. I upgraded to the 1300 cfm fans and it does great except for extended aggressive back roads driving where after 10-15 minutes it starts to get too hot. I haven’t tracked it yet but I gotta think back roads driving would be a similar scenario to tracking.

I’m running 20 AN hoses and a 187 degree thermostat. I also have a larger oil cooler in front of the radiator along with the AC condenser. Those may be contributing factors.

I’m looking at how to improve cooling from here because what I currently have isn’t gonna cut it.

Ducting, moving my oil cooler, opening up the front mustache/grill and removing the front crash bar are next up to try remedy my situation. I really can’t fit larger fans with the current radiator unless I get creative, also the current (full blown)radiator may just not be big enough.

900 cfm fans




1328cfm fans




Front situation




Gonna try the cheaper easy things first and re-evaluate after that.

[ILLSMOQ]

Originally Posted by Axis2011KR

Been lurking through several of the ongoing builds and was wondering what people were using and having success with.

I've seen a few people running upgraded FR-S radiators like the Mishimoto or similar and a few custom setups and was mainly curious if an upgraded FR-S based setup was handling these LSX builds for daily driver duty.

Planning to upgrade mine shortly and don't want to buy one just to have to replace again after the motor swap if the standard upgrades aren't cutting it on the v8 builds.

So if I were to do it again, I would run a larger radiator. The upgraded frs/Brz setup works for many but I think they must be close to the maxed out end of their effectiveness.

[Axis2011KR]

Originally Posted by ILLSMOQ

I have the full blown rad and fan shroud kit. 900 cfm fans were not up to the job. I upgraded to the 1300 cfm fans and it does great except for extended aggressive back roads driving where after 10-15 minutes it starts to get too hot.

Ducting, moving my oil cooler, opening up the front mustache/grill and removing the front crash bar are next up to try remedy my situation. I really can’t fit larger fans with the current radiator unless I get creative, also the current (Full Blown) radiator may just not be big enough.

Yeah I'd think moving the oil cooler would help for sure since it's blocking so much of the radiator on your setup. Maybe a dual oil cooler setup behind the fogs like the RX-7's used to run might work really well in this case.

I ordered a Drift Armor front crash bar to free up some space/improve cooling and am planning to cut out the top part of the grill mesh like I did on the fog light fake mesh. Realize that's not as easy an option on yours with the BRZ bumper as it is on my FR-S but still could probably dremel that sucker out of there or create some vents through it. Clearance definitely looks tight on the backside of the radiator.

My deduction would be that the Mishimoto shroud would not be sufficient either with 1150cfm fans in hard driving/track scenario unless they too have an upgraded option.

The other kit I've considered is the Verus kit. I emailed them yesterday about the specs of the fans and am waiting to hear back. This is a shroudless kit with the fans direct mounted to the radiator. That kit uses a thinner radiator core than the Full Blown or Mishimoto kit and the only pic I've seen of it installed was their shop car which had amazing shrouding around the front side to funnel air into the radiator.

[ILLSMOQ]

Originally Posted by Axis2011KR

Yeah I'd think moving the oil cooler would help for sure. I ordered a drift armor front crash bar to free up some space/improve cooling and am planning to cut out the top part of the grill mesh like I did on the fog light fake mesh, it is a giant PITA time wise though probably took me a couple hours to do both fog light mesh areas with an exacto knife so the main bumper grill I assume will be a few hours by itself.

My deduction would be that the Mishimoto shroud would not be sufficient either with 1150cfm fans in hard driving/track scenario unless they too have an upgraded option.

The other kit I've considered is the Verus kit. I emailed them yesterday about the specs of the fans and am waiting to hear back. This is a shroudless kit with the fans direct mounted to the radiator. That kit uses a thinner radiator core than the Full Blown or Mishimoto kit and the only pic I've seen of it installed was their shop car which had amazing shrouding around the front side to funnel air into the radiator.

Show us the mesh! Yes also thinking of a dual oil cooler set up like you described.

Been researching quite a bit lately. Looked at the verus unit but when I saw that it was “thinner” I lost interest. Thinner isn’t gonna help. They are running the 1328 cfm fans. I undertstand the theory behind their shroud (lack of one) and I think I may also try to modify my full blown shroud to let more air through at speed.

The Mishimotor radiator and shroud look almost identical to the full blown stuff...I’d expect similar results.

[Axis2011KR]

Here is the modded vent where I cutout the fake "mesh" on the fogs. I'm planning to do this to the top part of the grille where it has the fake "mesh" section as well. It would be perfect for dual oil coolers without blocking anything

[ILLSMOQ]

Yeah, that looks nice, I like it!