Caprice Radiator & Black Magic Fan Install

Caprice Radiator & Black Magic Fan Install

Article by: Stuart McQuillen

Back when GM designed and built these cars, they built them mostly for gas mileage and emissions. However technology was not as good back then as it is today so our cars were plagued with inefficient copper and brass radiators with narrow tubes and a clutch fan that wore out a little bit each time you ran the engine. Fast forward 15 years and today’s cars have nothing but plastic tank/aluminum core wide tube radiators and electric fans. This set up is more efficient, requires less space, is lighter and frees up some power in the engine. Some of the more sporty cars in our cars’ era like the Corvette and the Camaro got this kind of set up and some of us have duplicated this using the Camaro IROC’s radiator, however, the problem with that is the lower hose outlet is above the lower transmission line and you have to bend the transmission line to make this fit. I found a radiator that offers the same benefits and you don’t have to bend the transmission line to make it work either. Quite honestly, this radiator was not what I was looking for. I was going to simply get the IROC radiator until the people that work at the place I went to gave me something different. What they showed me wasn’t for an f-body at all. This application was for an 86-90 Caprice. Originally these cars did have the old copper and brass units but radiator companies are shying away from that design because of the lead used in welding them together. This design is also more efficient, lighter and is cheaper to make and doesn’t cost any more than a copper and brass unit. The core measures 26.5” wide and 18” tall. This is wider than the average g-body radiator (21-22 inch wide core) but the tanks are slightly smaller and not as thick as the g-body’s OEM unit. It also has the outlet for a NPT temp-sending unit that is perfect for those who are running TPI. Unlike the F-body counterpart others have used before, with this one it is a drop in unit. No transmission line to bend to make it fit under the lower radiator hose, also no more cursing associated with it when you kink the line. It is also more efficient than the OEM 2 row or even the 3 row units. The availability of this part is unknown to me, you may be able to find it, and you may not be able to. I strongly suggest going to a high volume parts dealer (preferably one that specializes in HVAC) to increase your odds of finding this particular unit. The radiator’s cost is 120 dollars but they sold it to me for 110 dollars. While I was there I also bought an a/c compressor and an accumulator for my a/c system I’ll be repairing soon.

I also needed something to replace the fan since my shroud wasn’t going to fit this radiator. I wanted to find something that could pull a lot of air, was easy to wire up and didn’t put a huge load on the charging system so I ordered a Flex-a-lite Black Magic fan with universal mounts. The fan cost 200 dollars. The fan pulls 2800 CFM; spins at 2200 RPM and draws only 13.9 amps. It comes with everything you need to mount it, wire it up and get it running. It measures 18 x 16 and fits perfectly on the radiator. I suggest getting the version for the mustang, the reason is because the brackets are smaller and wont cover the adjusting knob for the thermostat and will fit directly on the radiator. The fan also has a rubber seal on the back of it so it will suck air through the radiator core, not through little cracks if there was no rubber seal. The rubber seal is a very nice addition to the fan and is something you don’t see with other fans.

Another part I got for this swap was a radiator top plate. I pulled mine from an 86 cutlass four door with an olds 307 engine and a 3-row radiator. It only cost me 7 bucks including the two braces I pulled. Expect the top plate to run you about 10 bucks (I was being charged 20 bucks for all the parts and they told me they didn’t take credit cards {they do, at ANOTHER site!} so they just told me to give them what I had in my pocket, 7 bucks). Its held on with only 4 bolts on top and two bolts holding the fan shroud on to it, so it’s real easy to get it out. Look for this piece in Regal and Cutlass models with the Olds 307 engine.

The parts you are going to need for the install are:

The radiator, application: 86-90 caprice (even has the NPT fitting for the temp sensor for you TPI guys out there.)

The fan Black Magic 150 or 175 (I suggest the mustang version or you’ll be hammering on the lower part of the radiator support to make the bracket from the “universal” kit fit.)

Radiator top plate (from your local junkyard) this will need to be modified, note the picture. This will need to be modified whether you get the mustang version or the universal version. If you choose to use another fan the modification may not be needed at all. Look for this in 81-88 307 powered g-bodies

Coolant, 2 gallons

Distilled water (NOT tap water! Unless you want to clog up the core with minerals and lord knows what else) 2 gallons, and its cheap, like a buck for 2 gallons at your local grocery store.

Suggested parts:

Upper and lower hoses (you will need an extra upper hose if you have a Buick V6, and a small section of 1 ½” diameter pipe like copper )

Maybe some new hose clamps.

New radiator cap (depends how old yours is), go for a 16-pound cap, better to be safe than sorry.

New thermostat (I’m replacing mine with a high flow 180 degree thermostat)

Maybe some hose clamps

An alternator with a higher amp rating

Removal and installation

First things first! We have to yank out the old fan shroud, radiator and clutch fan assembly. Using an 11 mm wrench and an 11 mm socket and ratchet, remove the bolts that hold the upper part of the shroud to the lower part of the shroud. Then remove the bolts from the upper part of the shroud that hold it to the radiator support (10 mm). Then simply lift the upper shroud out and discard it or put it somewhere out of the way, you wont need it anymore. Once you remove that, remove the fan clutch and fan, simply remove the four nuts that hold the fan clutch to the water pump pulley and put them back on once you remove the fan assembly, you may want to use washers when you put them back on. Now here comes the fun part! You can jack the car up if you want (this is not necessary but it can make this easier but I had little trouble doing this and I’m a big guy) and crawl under the car to take the two bottom bolts (10 mm) out so you can remove the lower shroud. Once all of this is done, open the petcock on the radiator and drain the system. Once this is done remove the lower radiator hose to let the rest of the coolant out.

Always use a pan to catch fluids that come from your car and dispose of them properly, it is illegal to simply dump this stuff anywhere you please. There are oil change shops that will dispose of this stuff for you for free, so please, get rid of this stuff properly and keep your pets and kids away from it, it can kill them.

Then remove the upper hose and the transmission lines and remove the radiator. There is also the matter of a small piece of plastic on the driver side of the radiator to be removed, you will need a 7mm socket and a ratchet to remove the three bolts holding it in. You will have to get them from in front of the support. They aren’t hard to get to so don’t worry.

Installing the new radiator is an easy task. You have to move the lower radiator rubbers outward to the corresponding holes in the radiator support (the holes are already there, no drilling required) and push the nipples through to hold them in place (I suggest using lithium grease, makes things easier). Next is putting the radiator and Black Magic fan in. What I suggest doing is attaching the fan to the radiator and putting it in as one piece, its much easier to do it this way and it isn’t all that heavy or bulky to deal with. Next get the transmission lines in the radiator, this is much easier to do BEFORE you put the top plate on, trust me! Once you get the transmission lines threaded in, all you need to do is bolt the top plate on and put the hoses on (no need to change the hoses because of differing sizes, only to replace them if they are old). If you do use the Black Magic fan with the universal brackets you will have to do the same thing to the radiator that you did with the top plate. I just used a hammer, no big deal.

Wire it up

Now you need to wire up the fan. The instructions for the fan are easy to follow. The only problem will be deciding what circuit to use for the fuse protected ignition on only wire. Do NOT hook this thing up to your ignition! You will regret it if you do. Find something else that you can splice this wire into. Or you can simply run this wire to the battery just like the other wire which has go to the battery. The fan will run even after you turn your car off if you wire it this way so if you don’t want this to happen, find a fuse-protected ignition on only source so it will turn off when you turn your car off. If you have A/C, use their three-way connector on the positive wire going to the compressor.

Start it up!

Start the car up and let it get up to operating temperature. Watch the coolant level as the engine warms up and add coolant and water as needed. I wound up using exactly two gallons to fill it up and the overflow tank. After the engine warmed up, the fan turned on (and it is loud, a tad louder than OEM electric fans). I grabbed a digital meat thermometer from the kitchen (its mine and I can do whatever I want with it, ask you wife before you use hers though! Hehehe) and stuck it in the radiator and monitored the temp. The fan is set to come on at 180 degrees on my car (I have a 160 degree thermostat) and after it came on the outlet temp went down to 125-130 degrees. Quite a nice drop in temp I must say! You can adjust the fan to come at any temp you want between 180 and 240 degrees, general rule of thumb is to set it to come on about 15-20 degrees above your thermostats rating. This is to ensure it doesn’t cool down too much and closes the thermostat.

Charge it!

It is very important you make sure your alternator can handle the requirements of this fan. An alternator can only produce so many amps before it eventually burns out. It puts out what the car demands so its always best to make sure you have an alternator with an amp rating higher than what your car will need. During this install I took out my mid 70-amp alternator and put in a freshly rebuilt 70-85-amp alternator and an AC Delco 6 year battery. You don’t have to put in a new battery but my previous battery was an open cell battery and I don’t like open cell batteries. There is no such thing as too high of an amp rating and it doesn’t pay to take chances with your charging system. If you happen to have power accessories and have added aftermarket electrical parts like a fuel pump, stereo equipment, etc., you may want to look into getting a 100-140-amp alternator.

Side notes:

Radiator rubber bumpers: for those with a Buick v6 you will need a total of four rubber bumpers that are the same ones found in the radiator top plate. They are the ones with the wide grooves in them. Not sure if this will apply to those with a Chevy or Olds engine.

Fan top bracket: I cut out the middle section out of it because it covered the knob for the adjustable temp sensor (note picture). If you get the mustang version you wont have to worry about this. If you get the universal version like I did expect to cut the middle section out or drill a hole in it.

Overflow tank: check it for sediment build up and clean it out if it has junk in it. Mine had sediment in it and I cleaned it out with a brush and refilled it.

Upper radiator hose: for those of you with a Buick V6 you will have to either splice together two radiator hoses (just use your Buick V6 application to get the second one), or order a hose from Summit. I spliced mine together as a temporary fix to the problem and replaced it with a 36” stainless steel radiator hose from Summit Racing. It cost 100 dollars, which is more than I wanted to fork over but at least I don’t have an ugly splice that could possibly blow apart while I’m driving.

The installation of both the radiator and fan was not hard at all. For an afternoons worth of work you can significantly upgrade your cooling system. I did this in about 4 hours, it was extremely hot and humid (heat index was above 100 degrees easy) but in cooler weather you could probably do this in about 2 hours easy.

Any and all questions should be directed to me at . Please be sure to put “caprice radiator” in the subject line so I will know why you are emailing me. This article and all pictures associated with it are free to copy, print, save and disperse as you wish. This article is to be left whole and unchanged, my name and email address are not to be removed for any reason at all.