The RX8's oil coolers are pretty bashed - PO didn't have screens on them - and while I'm planning to fit screens, I also have the straighten the fins as well as I can to ensure half-decent cooling.
Harbor Freight has this tool, Amazon lists a bunch of others, does anybody have recommendations for any of them?
I did not have any luck using one, one time on a condensing unit for an air handling unit. We tried both the plastic style and the wire style. I feared I was doing more damage than good. Maybe the material on the condenser was softer than in an automotive application, and you'll have better luck.
Where's the thread on your new RX8?
I have a similar tool I bought from Eastwood. Works great.
One use trick is don't try to fix everything at once. Start along the perimeter of the damaged area using good fin rows as a guide, cleaning up no more than one or two bent rows at a time.
Was too lazy/cheap to go to Harbor Freight so I did this with a pair of tweezers and a youtube tutorial. You get a feel for it after awhile and it goes faster. Wasn't bad, did it over the course of a couple days while watching tv.
I've also done DIY straightening with small needle-nose pliers & screwdrivers. It does the job but it's real slow.
Hmm... The radiator and heater core I cleaned up were the older style with long, continuous rows of fins. Not sure how well a comb would work on the style pictured above with short rows.
Those rakes work well enough on the likes of an air conditioner condenser and such, where the fins are solid uniform throughout the depth of the air passage. On a car radiator, the fins are more complex and the rakes won't work.
I too have had semi decent results on radiators using a fine screw driver, a fork and other such devices that I can reach in with.
docwyte wrote: Where's the thread on your new RX8?
In my head mostly. I'm piling up parts and oil right now, should actually start working on it and document it this weekend.
butterknife
Shotgun. No, wait... needle nose pliers, small screwdriver.
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