Just got back from the junk yard. I was able to pull a used 2001 S10 radiator and bring it over to the Land Rover section. I mocked up the size and fitment of the S10 unit. I went over and measured the coolers on a P38. I don't see them fitting at all. They are about 2.5-3" thick each. And combined about 10 inches high. It would take a serious amount of cutting and fabbing to run those things plus the condenser fans. The radiator support would have to be hacked all to hell. As would the grill.

After comparing the Rover radiator to the S10 it was like half the size it seems. Way thinner. Way shorter in height. Maybe I'm a simple fool but I don't understand how this could equal better cooling. It seems to me if the air flow is the same (meaning the area open to flow in the radiator support ) how can a smaller radiator cool more efficiently? Better flow? Larger tubes/fins? Or is it the ease of air bleeding with the standard cap?

I sadly backed out for good when I priced the coolers and the lines (for a factory clean install). They wanted 30 each cooler with lines. So that combined with the cost of the radiator itself seemed to be marginal savings for an improvement that I'm unsure of.

One day I'd like to tackle this when I'm not trying to get the rest of the truck up to current standard maintenance.

 

Width /height should be about the same

Thickness is fine to be lower, aluminum has larger channels and a 1in aluminum rad will cool as well as a 3in copper/brass.


If the basic core size is the same (or similar) then you should be fine.

I got my old work phone here, still need to get the pictures off to post

 

Larger tubes yes, but at least some of that is off-set by the fact that aluminum is about half as thermally conductive as copper.
It's not as simple as saying "aluminum radiators have larger tubes".

 

Agreed.. perhaps someone could find a comparison between the two..

Because of flow restrictions, and the diminishing returns based on how many cores (or "radiators" .. be it oil, AC, or engine) each stage of the copper does less per.

" The solder that secures the tubes to the fins does not transfer heat as quickly as copper and slows down the heat transfer."

a good read: Cap-A-Radiator

i'm sure there are more informative sources... Copper has better heat transfer but once you take into account all the extra stuff that comes with it the aluminum has better heat dissipation based on the same size..