M45

OK, bad news, the radiator fits in my 88 I've had two weeks, but can't put the engine fan in, can't even put the electric fan in. No room. The engine fan can't clear the nub of the water pump shaft to get mounted on the water pump shaft. Even if the engine fan could be mounted, it would have about 2 mm clearance, which is not enough to allow for frame flex and engine movement. I am going to try to resolve this ASAP, because I should try to get it smogged and registered by Monday deadline if I can. The electric fan doesn't fit, though it nearly does. It goes all the way in, except for a last half inch or so where the bottom of the bracket hits the (yellow) oil filter. The bracket can be bent, and/or ground away, I think, to get it to fit, but that may make changing the oil filter a little more difficult, but not impossible. For the engine fan, there are some possible solutions that I can envisage, none of them easy. It would be most desirable to retain use of the engine fan. 0) I don't want to return the radiator. It is a two row all metal one, a vast improvement over the plastic single row one previously installed that had crumbled (fit aside). The guy at the shop was helpful and gave me a price break on it. 1) The engine fan has a longer shaft than necessary. If I could find a fan that had a shorter shaft, by about 1/2 inch, there would still be clearance between it and the engine. 1b) I don't think there is any economic way to cut and rejoin the shaft and maintain a strong component. 1c) I may try taking it in (by bicycle) to as many auto dealer parts departments as I can find open on a Saturday, to see if any may have a fan with a shorter shaft and the same bolt pattern. Does anyone know of a fan that would fit? 2) If the water pump shaft could be replaced with one about 1/2 inch shorter, that would help, but I doubt that is possible. I think the shaft is integral to the pump and looks to be made of hardened alloy, hence cutting and rejoining is not possible. 3) There are rubber grommets with a metal inner collar that the bolts pass through the metal frame to the radiator. On the inside of the frame, there is about 5/16 inch of rubber that could be cutoff and a thin rubber washer used. That would gain about 1/4 inch. I don't think I could gain the equivalent on the bottom, so the gain at the fan bolts would be about half, due to the angle effect, so say 1/8 inch. 4) The bolts on the radiator side of the fan protrude about 1/8 inch past the nuts. Those could be ground down. 5) The engine fan could be left off, but the pulley kept bolted on so that the water pump turns. The fan could be replaced with an electric fan, but it would have to be a very thin one. For example a duplicate of the existing electric fan would be too thick by over an inch. 5b) If I did get a very thin fan, I'd still have to rig up some electric relays with switches and rig power. If the switch is dash mounted, then it is too easy to forget to turn on. If the switch is simply a relay piggybacked on the ignition circuit, then the fan would be on all the time, which might not be best. If I connected the fan power in parallel with the electric fan, it might overtax that circuit and it kind of makes the arrangement "all or nothing", a bit risky. I'd rather not go this route if I can avoid it, since it seems tricky and riskier. 6) I could take a sledge hammer to the top of the front frame cross member and maybe bash it in a quarter inch or a half inch. It would be almost impossible to do that to the bottom, due to a lack of clearance. This would have unknown effects on the strength of the frame and might shift some other things out of alignment. I don't have a chain or solid distant attachment point to be able to pull either member out the fraction of an inch. I don't see how I could get leverage to pry them out. Anyway, this approach seems like a kind of caveman desperation ploy. Prior thread about radiator coming out: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=80104 Old rad (came with car). Notice damage and repairs where engine fan would be. Any other ideas for gaining clearance? How much flex in the frame and the engine mounts would there be? How much clearance do I need?

I think I will order the two row rad from RadiatorExpress. I am worried about it fitting and trust the mods suggested by Sonicfrog will work. I hope that with jostling on rough roads the fan won't bang into the radiator. I think I'll hardly ever drive on really rough roads, but it only takes one incident in an isolated location in winter in the Sierras to have a major issue on one's hands. I'm actually looking forward to the possibility of doing some winter driving with the always 4 wheel drive, something I couldn't do before, go places after snowfalls, etc. On the other hand, I also expect to be doing some distance driving in high California heat (90-105 deg) with the air conditioner on at 65+ mph (think turbo) occasionally, and I'm sure the engine will appreciate the extra row then.

Engine Fan Shroud (Cut) I cut this to remove it to get much better access to the engine fan nuts.

Belt Tension Adjuster Somehow this got bent before I got the vehicle. I can't remove it from the bracket. Both will have to be replaced.

The radiator I removed. It looks like it has been repaired in the past and the solderings are in a pattern suspiciously like where the engine fan turns. Not sure why this would happen, other than perhaps something pushing the radiator into the engine? I hate to think there might have been front end damage, but I see zero signs of that on my vehicle. Maybe it's a used radiator from another vehicle.

OK, with a little help from new friends (plural) on this great board, got the radiator out. * The extra radiator in front is indeed the air conditioner radiator. * The wrench size to hold the fan still while undoing nuts on it is indeed 22 mm. * I had to remove the electric fan before the radiator would come out. Just not enough clearance * I cut the engine fan shroud near the bottom between the two attachment points there, pulled it out, and filed the cut smooth. It made getting access to the engine fan much easier. * The radiator shows signs of repair (solder on several channels, so they were probably useless). Good thing to replace the whole unit. Might be a blessing in disguise. * Thanks for the tip to the 89 engine manuals! Yes, no turbo, and that means a different removal install procedure for the radiator (extra steps) but lots of good info there. * I'm still getting used to the car: dome light works: shines in the two outer switch positions, and is off in the middle one, but no interaction with the doors. I don't see how a two-row radiator can fit in there. The clearance to the engine fan was about 3/4 inch and I was rubbing it against the radiator to get it out. Afterwards, I discovered that the four bolts are headless and could be unscrewed to make it easy for the fan to come out. Two-row seems to be the way to go, but will it really fit into the 88 GL-10 Wagon Turbo 1.8L EA82 4spAutoTrans with A/C ?

Thanks for the thoughtful replies. Something occurs to me that I haven't seen in my readings. There is a second radiator that appears to be an oil cooler radiator, in front of the engine coolant radiator. The engine coolant radiator is completely separate. I haven't touched the front radiator. When people refer to a "two row radiator", they aren't referring to a radiator with this second oil cooler radiator builtin, are they? I'm surprised I haven't seen any mention of this second front mounted radiator. If I buy a replacement radiator (one row or two row) I'm just replacing the coolant radiator, right?

Hi, I just recently got a 1988 Subaru GL-10 wagon in a hurry in Nevada (six hours to find and buy a car). Seems in good shape, has had some maintenance on the engine recently, like timing belt. * Need some rear side trim. * Interior dome light doesn't come on for door open. * Radio and trip computer switch off and completely reset when ignition key is turned off. * Height adjustment seems inoperative; thus the rear suspension is elevated. * Interior hood release puller is missing plastic handle, just has a metal stub. * One hubcap missing. * Emergency blinker hazard lights don't blink. Drove it back to the SF Bay Area, no problems. However after a couple of days it started leaking coolant. I shifted and tightened the clamp since the radiator outlet seemed short. The next day it completely broke and spewed coolant. It seems that the outlet pipe crumbled due to age and maybe overtightening (wire type hose clamp). I was able to limp home two miles in two steps. It did heat up and steam, but gauge never actually went into the red, so I think I'm probably ok. I'm taking the radiator out to replace it, since with plastic side tanks it seem impossible to repair it and repairing an old radiator wouldn't be a good idea from what I read. So I'm wondering whether to get the stock Subaru radiator, appr $220; a Cooling Systems & Flex (CSF) "heavy duty" single row #815 radiator about $150; a CSF #933 about $125; or a two row Radiator Express $135 ? I have it ready to come out except for the engine fan that looks like it will need to be removed to provide clearance. I'm working without a manual since I hate chilton's and I haven't time for Haynes to be ordered.