Do-It-Yourself High Performance Car Mods

Cooling System Upgrades

A more powerful engine can often put out a bit more heat, and racing often puts more demand on the cooling system even if you haven’t turned up the power very much. The aftermarket offers a variety of parts to help cool the engine better while wasting less power. Improvements in cooling can come from upgrading the radiator, fan, or even the liquid in the cooling system.

Although in theory a copper or brass radiator would provide the most cooling, many original equipment radiators that use these metals also use a lead solder to hold them together that impairs cooling. Aluminum radiators use welds instead of solder and often can provide more cooling for their size. Also, many aftermarket aluminum radiators are both larger ...