Zionsville Autosport E36 Competition Cooling Kit Review

[vinnymac]

Background: My 99 M3 was purchased with 40k+ miles and I replaced the OEM radiator with a Zionsville Autosport Aluminum Radiator at roughly 75k miles. I decided to spend a little more and went with the Zionsville setup because their radiator is 100% aluminum and does not have failure prone plastic necks. However, the regular Zionsville aluminum radiator still uses the OEM plastic expansion tank and radiator shroud. My car will see 8-10 track weekends a year and I drive it 4-5 days a week on the street. A few weeks ago I noticed my coolant levels were slowly dropping and I had to top off my coolant twice in two weeks. I also noticed my fan clutch was starting to make noise so I decided it was time to perform a little maintenance on my cooling system. I suspected my OEM expansion tank needed replacement and my fan clutch was probably due as well. I started pricing options and came across the new Zionsville E36 Competition Cooling Kit and decided to give it a try since it eliminated the plastic OEM expansion tank and allowed me to remove my engine fan all together.

Description: The E36 Competition Cooling Kit comes with an aluminum radiator with aluminum expansion tank, aluminum shroud, and a 16-inch Spal electric fan. I also picked up the optional wiring kit (highly recommended) to complete the install. The setup shipped in a well-packed double-boxed container with everything fully assembled. The wiring kit is a Spal specific kit including a relay, relay harness, inline fuse adapter, terminals, temp sender (not used), and connectors.



Construction: The Competition Cooling Kit is an expansion on Zionsville’s popular aluminum radiator. They mounted a 16-inch Spal electric fan on an aluminum shroud. They also added an aluminum expansion tank that accepts all the OEM factor hoses and coolant level sender. The only difference compared to OEM is the location of the bleeder opening. It is relocated to drain closer towards the passenger side of the radiator cap housing. All OEM mounting points are the same.

A NOTE ABOUT THE SHROUD DESIGN: Some people have expressed concerns with the design of the shroud and how it apprears to block airflow. The fan shroud is designed like that for a reason. The shroud creates a low pressure area behind the entire radiator and improves the heat exchange. Removing the shroud and just bolting a fan to the core will effectively reduce the working core to the size of the fan.



Install: The install was pretty straightforward and fitment was absolutely perfect. You retain all the factory mounts and you use the OEM coolant level sensor and temp sender. I drained my existing radiator, disconnected the hoses, and released the OEM mounting clips. I transferred the OEM coolant level sensor and temp sender and installed the petcock (included with kit) in the drain hole of the new radiator. I also had to reuse the OEM expansion tank hose that runs along the top of the radiator. Once all the necessary OEM components were installed on the new setup, I simply dropped it in the car, connected the upper and lower radiator hoses and snapped the OEM mounting clips back down. I filled with 50/50 OEM coolant and distilled water and started on the wiring. Also, there is plenty of clearance between the Spal fan and the OEM fan shaft.




Wiring: The wiring is not very difficult if you get the optional wiring kit. The Spal fan attached to the radiator shroud has a male connector that mates up to a female connector in the wiring kit. The simple setup is to wire the Spal fan to come up with the factor auxiliary fan. I believe my 99 M3 temp sender turns everything on at 195F. You can install different temperature rated senders to adjust the trigger temp if necessary. I located the Spal relay in the engine compartment right below the ECU housing. The screw holding the positive battery terminal mount is a great location to secure the relay and it allows enough room to run all the wiring. The factory temp sender is tapped easily with a wire splice and spade connector for the relay trigger. You also need to splice tap the #16 position wire on the ODBII diagnostic port for switched power to turn on the relay. You can also wire in an optional bypass switch if you want to be able to manually control the fan…which is handy if your car is sitting at a standstill for a long time on a hot day.




Impressions: Everything works flawlessly and the install was pretty easy. The only thing I have left to do is run a little more wiring for the bypass switch I plan to mount in the cabin. I haven’t decided where I want to locate the switch so I’ll wait until next weekend. I tested the setup after I was done bleeding all the air out of the system. Yesterday was the hottest day we’ve seen this summer…102F…and the car ran cool as usual even with a few 6500 RPM romps on the highway and 15 minutes at a complete standstill on an asphalt parking lot. Overall, I’m very happy with the setup and can’t wait to try it out at the track. Hell, it even looks cool.



I highly recommend Zionsville Autosport. They are a good group of guys. Dwight sent me wiring diagrams and we had a 20-minute conversation on the phone Friday afternoon to review the setup and he answered all of my questions. He also stated they tested the setup with half the radiator taped up to simulate blockage and they did not notice any significant rise in temps.

Here’s some information from Zionsville Autosport’s website:

Zionsville Autosport E36 Competition Cooling Kit Product Link:
http://www.zionsvilleautosport.com/s...egory_Code=AR1

Zionsville Autosport Aluminum Radiator Product Link:
http://www.zionsvilleautosport.com/s...egory_Code=AR1

Email me if you have any questions: vko@lotn.org

[G. P. Burdell]

Excellent write-up, Vince! I have been contemplating some preventive maintenance on my car's cooling system, and the Zionsville radiator looks like a great choice.

[Vio]

Looks like a great setup. I will have to put that on my future to-buy list. Great job on the write-up.

[95DinanM3]

Cool. My car is getting to the point where I think it would be a good idea to replace the radiator and I think this might be the one I get......

[Griz]

Nice write-up, but please clean your car.

[vinnymac]

Nice write-up, but please clean your car.

HA HA HA...I know I know...it's filthy.

[jmargo]

That looks nice. I wonder if the new fan shroud may hurt the cooling though. It seems to block alot of surface area. It does look like the shroud is riveted on. Maybe it can be pulled of and some of the metal trimmed out to alloe more air to go through the fins.

[GotBHP?]

That looks nice. I wonder if the new fan shroud may hurt the cooling though. It seems to block alot of surface area. It does look like the shroud is riveted on. Maybe it can be pulled of and some of the metal trimmed out to alloe more air to go through the fins.

Good point. A heat exhanger with a solid shroud over the back of it will do little to nothing for cooling. Only the area with the fan behind it is doing going to function well. It looks cool, but I would remove it and find another way to secure the fan to the back of the radiator.

[jmargo]

Here is a simple way to help. (don't mind the mad skilz)
But still I think this is a nice kit.

[vinnymac]

Here is a simple way to help. (don't mind the mad skilz)
But still I think this is a nice kit.

I had concerns about airflow as well when I was considering this product. I spoke with Dwight at Zionsville and he said they tested the setup with half the radiator taped up and it still kept the car cool. That was enough for me.

[M3Alpine99]

nice i want one

[widebody_bimmer]

man I've been looking at this setup ever since it came out and I am definitly purchasing one ....one question though the bleeding of the system seems alittle wierd...how does that work .....it looks nothing like the little enluftung bleeder screw on the OE setup

[wheresmym3]

Will the fan delete nut fit on the end of the fan shaft with the electris fan in? Just to protect it from rust/dirt whatever?

[Bill]

wow this is a nice setup. Who wants to see if we could get them to offer a group buy?????????????????

[vinnymac]

Will the fan delete nut fit on the end of the fan shaft with the electris fan in? Just to protect it from rust/dirt whatever?

It's a pretty tight fit...I don't think the nut cover would fit.

[vinnymac]

That looks nice. I wonder if the new fan shroud may hurt the cooling though. It seems to block alot of surface area. It does look like the shroud is riveted on. Maybe it can be pulled of and some of the metal trimmed out to alloe more air to go through the fins.

The fan shroud is designed like that for a reason. The shroud creates a low pressure area behind the entire radiator and improves the heat exchange. Removing the shroud and just bolting a fan to the core will effectively reduce the working core to the size of the fan.

[Speedlimits?]

does anyone have any idea what a fan delete would do on my supercharged application? also i know that when they install the dinan kit they muck around with the fan setup, what would need to go? vinny- great looking install

[GUINNESS]

Excellent write up. Looks like another thing for me to add to my ever growing list of mods I want.

[GotBHP?]

The fan shroud is designed like that for a reason. The shroud creates a low pressure area behind the entire radiator and improves the heat exchange. Removing the shroud and just bolting a fan to the core will effectively reduce the working core to the size of the fan.

If that shroud as as close to the core as it looks like it is, the working area is only the size of the fan. The engine bay is already a high pressure area to begin with, so I doubt that blocking off parts of the radiator are going to do anything positive.

The stock fan is only there for when the car is moving slowly or stopped, and I'll bet that electric fan is no different. Once the car is moving that radiator would be more effective without the shroud. If you dont believe find some examples of racecars with a shroud blocking off the backside of the radiator...my money says you wont find any

[bmwpower]

Yea, looks like it would have been easier to weld 2 bars vertically to mount the fan. Not to mention less aluminum equates to lower price.

[widebody_bimmer]

oh and another thing...hows the size of the upper radiator neck? the OE plastic one is pretty small and didn't have much room to fit the upper hose with the clamp....so what I guess I'm trying to say is does it seem pretty secure?

[Mad Dog 20/20]

Good-looking and solid kit, but you are likely talking about spending $850 on a cooling kit that does not increase cooling capacity at all vs. the OE set-up (its an OE radiator with alu side tanks). Frankly, that shroud prolly results in less cooling capacity thant OE. Also, a straight-blade fan is LOUD compared to a curved one.

Prolly better-off just sourcing a curved-blade fan and a truly upgraded alu radiator. I've never heard of the plastic overflow tank being an issue with these cars, so the need for an alu one is questionable. You could prolly save $300 and get a true upgrade in cooling with a quiet fan.

[calypso]

good write-up - let us know how it performs at the track.

how does the overall weight compare to that of the stock unit?

[vinnymac]

oh and another thing...hows the size of the upper radiator neck? the OE plastic one is pretty small and didn't have much room to fit the upper hose with the clamp....so what I guess I'm trying to say is does it seem pretty secure?

All the radiator hose necks are sized properly and I didn't have any issues getting the hose clamps on.

[vinnymac]

good write-up - let us know how it performs at the track.

how does the overall weight compare to that of the stock unit?

Hopefully, I'll hit the track on Aug 20th...maybe sooner if I can round up some people to head out to an out of town track.

I think there isn't much of a weight savings. You lose the weight of the OEM fan clutch and fan but you gain most of it back with the Spal fan. I think weight savings are nill.