>Yes Suzuki sold the Swift in the US; I believe Chevrolet also sold it as
their
>"Geo?" (memory foggy here...)
>
>Will the radiator fit without any modification to the location or size of
the
>inlet and outlet?
>
>
>> >Next step is to use a Suzuki Swift radiator. It is *much* more efficient
>> >than the old BMC ones. It also has an integral electric fan and is small
>> >enough to fit in the right place. It is actually a little skinnier than
the
>> >sprite radiator so you need little tabs (make them yourself out of 25mm
>> >x umm alloy flat bar). to mount it. It is efficient enough for full race
>> >motors and is a *lot* cheaper than the allow race radiators! A$50 from a
>> wrecker's
>> >yard.
>
In order to install the Geo Metro radiator vertically (at least the one I
got out of a 96 metro) you will need to cut channels in to the two front
posts. You must also cut a slot into the front cross-member to allow
clearance for the bottom hose. An alternative would be to slant the
radiator with the top tilted forward. The later Sprites may have more
vertical clearance and thus may not require these body mods.
I took the cut and fill approach (not for the faint hearted). After cutting
the channels I welded patches into the cuts to seal off the frame members
and cross member (see photo <www.us.net/kaplan/metrorad.htm>). For the
cross member, I used a piece of pipe, and angled it as part of the patch.
This gave to bottom hose a nice smooth transition up to the radiator.
The Geo Metro radiator is mounted to the metro by means of lug holes that
are cast directly into the plastic. The two lug holes at the bottom should
on no account be cut off as they are cast much closer to the tank than you
might expect (trust me on this one). You will need to cut out additional
holes in the channels to allow the lugs to clear (I did not have to do this
because I cut the lugs off and plugged the two holes I ended up making in
the radiator tank with PC-11).
I used a hose from a 1986 VW Golf for the top (I happened to have an extra
hose from my Golf and it fit perfectly, see photo A mechanical fan is out
of the question with this hose, as it will chop it to bits real fast. I
used a thermostatically controlled fan (available at Track Auto around here
for $75.00 + $15.00 for the thermostat).
While this fix is cheaper than many of the after market solutions (cross
flow radiators and such) I don't think most people are going to want to take
this rout due to the cutting and welding required. All I can say is it has
solved all of my overheating problems.
Rick
|