Personally....recore the original radiator (archive)

There was never anything wrong with the capabilities of the stock radiator. Out of 7 e12z I have owned, none of them have ever run over 1/4 on the guage and we have hot summers here also. The two best were the ones I had re-cored. The pluses...
1) you stay with metal header tanks
2) No tricky hoses as with e28 radiators
3) Costs just a bit over $100 and it's a new radiator for all intents and purposes.
4) It works best of all the variations I have heard.

Just go to a good shop...Behr certification is required to recore the e28 plastic header tank rads, so I figure that certification qualifies them to do the much easier metal tanks like onour e12z. Last time I did it... It ran about $280, but the shop did all the R&R and testing and put on new belts while the radiator was out. If you take the radiator in, the recore should cost about $125. You don't have to get trick with it. Some people will say to recore with an extra row of tubes for increased capacity, but what you actually get is decreased air flow over the tubes. No Good. Believe me... the stock radiators were not marginally or under-engineered. If the rest of the system is up to snuff, the stock radiator with a new core will be way sufficient.

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