What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Ok, got you there.
With a 2.2 you definitely should not have belt slipping anywhere and gates is definitely the belt to have.

I have a 2” pulley and no slipping or belt noise. I did have the URD tensioner but the bearing went out after 25k, so went back to stock.

Yea I’m thinking my timing at full boost and rpms is like 20 or something.

Didn’t know it was different for an auto

 

How many miles on that pulley?

Here are two of my old worn out pulleys, URD pulleys tend to wear out easily.
The center ribs get worn down and belt contact is not there once worn.

You can see the belt slipping marks on the side of these two pulleys.
If the red color is gone in the center where the belt goes means it’s wearing too.

I bet if you measure the pulley inside across it will not measure 2.2 anymore.

When the center wears out the belt rides on the ears of the pulley

 

Both pulleys still have the red anodizing. Do you keep your alternator in the half way position?

 

That's an understatement, the one you have makes the plastic stock one look better than the Champion haha.

 

To be honest I don’t remember.

 

Yea, but the stock radiator core is less than an 1” thick and is limited in its cooling power.
Champion definitely cools a lot better and lowered my temps but the Champion aluminum thickness is to thin and will not last long term

 

Put your eyes on it next time you’re taking a look under the truck. I’d like to know. TRD/Magnuson instructions say to keep it in the middle of the adjustment range. I’ve seen a few customtacos posts where some users tensioned it fully. But I don’t want to wear out the nose cone with too much tension.

 

I'd still take an OEM rad over a champion any day, I'd rather sit at 195 or 200 than 230 because my budget aluminum rad leaked all my coolant out. Ultimately no one here is making over 350hp and a 250-300hp nominal engine is nothing to cool.

 

That’s why I went custom extruded style design, 175-180 all day long in 95 degrees temps.
I’m done with radiator drama

Pay now or pay later as they say, I want those aluminum head temps cooler rather then hot

 

customs the route im probably going to go. 180 is the ideal temp for an engine. 200 is ok. but 180 is ideal for most engines ever made

 

Champion must have an absolutely insane profit margin on those radiators replacing them all. A smart company would simply invest in better material
and charge a bit more reducing customer service, replacement, and shipping cost. But they seem to get by just fine by sucking ass.

 

They take your old radiator back and melt it into a new one again) round and round we go

 

Any pointers on custom radiators? My taco is cool as a cucumber, but I've got another car that could use some serious help.

 

My biggest issue was the dimensions were not correct the 1st time it was made.

2nd time the shroud was not matching up with the radiator and the tank and input tube.

So,Send the old radiator to them so it can be matched up WITH the shroud.

I had the core design that is referred to as EXTRUDED. It’s a much stronger design in construction but more expensive.

A custom will run 600-1000 depending on who does it.

But it will trump any radiator out there for performance and durability and longevity.

 

Good to know. Any companies to recommend/avoid?


Current one is just a stocker that has been made double thick. Pretty sure it's steel, or whatever they made them out of in the 60s. It's fine on the highway, but traffic jams are trouble.

 

That would be brass and copper with some lead to hold it all together

 

Excellent. I probably shouldn't lick it.

 

Dont have companies for you, my guy did an excellent job but had to send it back two times for it to be modified and that
was 3 weeks down time, so can’t recommend him. And I had to pay for the shipping twice at 60.00

 

Fair enough. I'll do some digging when I get around to it. So many other fish to fry first.

Thanks!

 

But if you want the extra performance and want your truck to run in the 175-180 temperature on a 90 plus degree day a 2” custom core quality radiator will do the job and will probably be the last radiator you buy.

My custom radiator core is 2” and the Champion is 2.5”.

But the custom 2” way out performs the 2.5. Champion core.