I have a small crack in the radiator on the passenger side. Since I have to change it and drain the fluid I will also be replacing the thermostat to the 160 temp. Do you guys think it will be better to upgrade to the bigger radiators? Will these be beneficial for the car, or an over kill and for track use only? Any and all suggestions welcome.

 

There is at least one after market radiator available that many swear by. I can't recall the brand name off hand but you probably want to look into one of these.

I do not know if there are any bigger radiators available. Not sure there is room to fit a larger in height/width. It is possible (maybe) that a slightly thicker radiator could fit.

When Porsche believes a 996 needs more cooling (for Tip or Turbo cars) it fits a 3rd (center) radiator.

I am not a fan of fitting a lower temp T-stat.

 

I'm talking about the high performance radiator by CSF racing - part #: 7044-M990 from pelican parts as apposed to the stock radiator. There aren't any descriptions to why this is better besides the fact that its all aluminum and twice the price. That's why I'm asking here to any one that is running these. Are there any benefits to them? If I decide to go with the high performance radiator do I need to change both at the same time?

Why are you not a fan of using a low temp T-stat? I had one in my previous 911 and it was great the temp dial stayed between the #'s 1 and 8 during the normal driving conditions and when I was doing canyon runs it climbed up to the #0 the car never ran to hot. With the stock T-stat I would do one canyon run and she was hot a couple of hours and the car was really hot. It might be my imagination but I would feel a little power loss in the high RPM's.

 

CSF is the brand name people speak of using for their Porsche radiator needs but I'm not sure they were using the racing radiator.

Was under the impression the CSF radiator, at least the non-racing version, was less expensive than the factory radiator. Are you sure the racing radiator will work for you? Will it fit? And for double the price that would have some superior radiator not only in construction but in performance.

Installing a low temp T-stat has been around for decades. Another mod I can recall being advised by some who claimed to know was to run the engine without the T-stat. As long as there are those who want to modify their cars/engine, there will be those who install a low temperature T-stat.

The T-stat is there to restrict coolant flow until the coolant is up to some temperature. If you want better cooling, that is cooling that will keep the peak coolant temperture down, more cooling is necessary. This is what Porsche does, it adds a 3rd radiator, and improves aerodynamics to improve air flow through the radiators. If it would get this benefit from simply installing a lower temperature T-stat it would. All that extra hardware adds weight which impacts Porsche's fleet emissions and fuel economy numbers.

Granted while adding a 3rd radiator is not that difficult improving aerodynamics and arriving at better cooling without compromising the car's aerodynamics/stablity at speed is more difficult.

 

I am very familiar with CSF as in the racing community several of my friends are sponsored by them and run their radiators. CSF and Koyo are the radiator brands that I trust. Typically, (also depends on vehicle brands) high performance full aluminum racing radiators are more expensive than the stock replacement due to several reasons. These radiators are full aluminum, come with a 2 year / 24k mile warranty and are really crafted well. More specs are listed on the image below. Personally, I believe in their radiators and the quality/performance that they provide.




ADDITIONAL SPECS:
OE type “Quick Connect” fittings for use with factory hoses

 

On their site all it talks about is the size of the unit that is a direct fit to the OEM radiator, and that is a single core. As appose to the OEM? Is that a double core or a single core? How much water passes throw it per second? What is the swing in temp's it can handle? Besides the fact that is made out of aluminum no plastic parts on it and that its made well, which it should be. I really don't have anything else to go on. The fact that race teams use them that is great, but why? Race cars have a lot going on that help the air dynamics and flow of air throw the cooling system/car. Race cars are just different beast all together.

Its like Macster said: Improving aerodynamics and arriving at better cooling without compromising the car's aerodynamics/stability at speed is more difficult.