6G Celicas Forums

like the titles says, what are the pros and cons for half-rads like some hondas have?

im about to change mine soon so i started thinking about this.
i have a 7a and no turbo/supercharger. so will i really benefit from this?

do you have A/C? or plan on getting rid of it?

Yes sir

pros : you only put half the coolant

cons you have to dispose the other half coolant legaglly


pros: you have more space in your engine bay

cons: you have to figure out what to put in that space


Cons: youll engine will blow up faster

pros: you have a reason for a swap...



LOL. i heard its good for racing purposes, but i would not do it here in summer where it gets 100 degrees... and i dont race.. and i dont have a civic

Well there's only one pro to them and that's space savings, if you ever need to.

The two cons I can see are figuring out how to mount it and routing a custom lower radiator hose.

Facts: It won't cool any better, your stock radiator is better because it's the same size but spread along a larger area. Half radiators from hondas are basically a single core radiator like ours but folded in half, so it's a 2-row, half-length radiator. Ours is full length but only 1 row. (stock)

More area for air to flow through = better cooling

So unless you need the space for a supercharger for example I wouldn't do it. I was going to do it once since I thought I needed the space for my turbo but I don't need it anymore.

Just curious... why do you think you would 'benefit' from this?

oh man some responses here, i might slap the word "FACT" infront so this seams more legit...

The only two pros from this are space and weight otherwise there is no real benefit. (You're not even loosing much weight)
A half rad will be just as good as your full rad but takes more work to hook up and mount. You won't be blowing up your motor any sooner as you'll still be able to achieve sufficient cooling. A/C also has nothing to do with the cooling system.

Honestly unless you were shaving your engine bay, this is not worth the effort.

half rad from a GT4



This post has been edited by playr158: Apr 1, 2013 - 1:10 PM

OEM replacement is only about $100 and it takes no modifications to work. So yeah.

Well since you're basically calling me out, what of what I said was fact is not? Please instruct us with your vast knowledge.
While I said it won't cool any better I never said it would blow his engine from insufficient cooling. It is just technical common sense that a honda half rad isn't as efficient as an oe full rad. Will there be a life and death difference? Probably not.

^He was talking about njccmd in regards to things blowing up. Personally if space isn't an issue then just use the OEM radiator. I thought about the half-radiator as well, but when it's all said and done it costs more. So OEM is the way to go.

I have one, so here's my 2 cents. You can get one for an integra on ebay for like 60-70 bucks..cheaper than stock. They are aluminum and generally thicker than stock, so it will cool at least as well as a stock radiator. It will also fit in with the stock 7a rad hoses. There's no reason to switch to one if your current radiator is fine, but if you need a new one you can't beat the price. I got mine because I needed room for the supercharger when I had it, but I still use the half rad and have had no problems. I recommended the same one to celica74 and he has had no problems either.

Did it come with the fan(s) needed? All the ones I saw were without the fan, therefore making it more expensive than just getting the OEM one.

Yes it did come with the fan. A stock one would work if necessary.

Hmm, interesting.

Thanks for the input guys.
Your thread kinda got me thinking. My radiator is clogged so I need to replace it. I was just looking at options.

One reason was because aftermarket "performance" ebay honda rads are usually cheaper.
Don't necessarily need space but more room can never be bad
Is one fan enough to keep temps normal?

This post has been edited by Malhar95: Apr 1, 2013 - 11:13 PM

Clogged?? How do you know that. If so there's many products under $10 that can fix it. Most likely you can just flush it.

my car over heats randomly, dealership said its the headgasket (i personally dont think so b/c 1.im not looking coolant very quickly, and 2. the car drives normal, no smoke or anything.)
but the shop that warrantied the car, said its the radiator is clogged, asked me if i put any stop leaks but i didnt. they flushed it twice, according to them, still clogged and not enough pressure (not under warranty) and were charging me 500, its not a hard job so i decided to do it myself.

read my thread see if u think it might be something else?
it basically overheats untill i turn the heater fan on, then it stays normal. and the relay is fine, it does switch on on its own, but the heater fan cools it down to normal temp.

Replace the thermostat?

I told him that a million times on the other thread to no avail.