Just finished the install of my Fluidyne on my 2001 GTS. DO NOT GET THE FLUIDYNE RADIATOR IF YOU ARE EXPECTING A BOLT-IN PRODUCT!!
I was sooo pissed that I refused to take pictures since that would just make relive the entire episode. Here's the poop on this...or the poop all over me (however you want to characterize it)
Radiator arrived ahead of time from ROE Saturday AM. Opened the box and first thing I noticed were the ROE silicon hoses crunched into the cooling fins smashing several inches of new fins...top middle...bottom on the engine side. Well I thought.great. Paid damn near $700.00 for a high end radiator and it arrives battle scarred. I get my little bitty screw driver out and spend then next 30 minutes trying to make the fins half way functional. OK. Got through that. Now I grab the fan assembly to check the fit of that. NO WAY. The bolts in the Fluidyne do not match up with the factory holes. In fact, the instructions state this and they direct you to cut off the two bolts that do not work. [******]?? If they know the bolts don't line up...DONT PUT THEM IN THE RADIATOR TO START WITH!!! Plus there is an open bolt hole that aligns perfectly with the radiator shroud that isn't even used!!! Cut them out of a new radiator?? Again, [******] over? In my past days, there would have been tools being thrown all over the shop since I was so pissed. So I get my cut off wheel out, bite my tongue, and off they come. Now I have a $700.00 radiator with bent fins and two sawed-off bolts. More to come. I now put the fan shroud on the radiator and low and behold, the bottom two holes are off by 1/2 inch...so I have to drill two additional holes right next to the factory ones so I can use the bolts in the radiator. Why not put the bolts in the "right" spots to begin with??? Come on, it’s the 21st century. Now I get the shroud mounted and notice huge gaps on each side of the radiator where the shroud meets the aluminum. When the fan runs, it would **** considerable air from the sides of the radiator vice pulling through from the front...Top/bottom OK. So I get 1/2" sticky back foam weather strip and create a gasket that gets pressed/sandwiched along either side. But wait, the fun isn't over yet. I get the radiator installed and the shroud bolted on (thankfully that went well)...and now the instructions state I have to modify the factory air cleaner assembly. Again, [******]?? Seems the extra inch or so of the radiator that extends into the engine compartment hits the bottom of the air cleaner assembly. So here I go butchering my airbox to get it back into place. So, now I'm ready to hook up the radiator overflow tube line to the metal tube that comes from the coolant reservoir. They give me a new piece that is support to be longer than the OEM piece due to the fact that the Fluidyne radiator has a straight fitting vice a curved one coming out of the radiator. The little piece of tubing is actually SHORTER that the OEM piece so wrong on that boyz. I go to the auto parts place and get a piece long enough to go the entire distance without using the steel tube ($2.95). From this point on, filling/bleeding/etc went fine. The ROE silicone hoses are way too cool!! On the road, I can really see on the gauge when the thermostat opens since the gauge now jumps from 190 down to the lower three marks and then rises slowing back to 190...and then the cycle continues. Before it just stayed right at 190...Fan does not come on at stop lights as much either...so the radiator does work well, just getting there from here was a bit disappointing.
