Purchasing a New Raditor, Q's

[Alch]

Well the original radiator in my '95 S14 failed at the junction between the core and the plastic top tank right near the hose, and I need to purchase a new one before the temporary fix goes bad. So I was wondering what the opinion was on the best bang for your buck radiator. The car is my DD.

Just for ease of purchase and the fact that everything should fit together without any trimming I'm thinking of just picking up another radiator from Autozone/O'Reilly/NAPA/etc.

Another option is to order an ebay-special all aluminum radiator (Mishimoto?), however the few reviews I've found seem to say that often some trimming is necessary to get the fan shroud to fit, or the radiator doesn't mount very well, or even worse, the welds are bad and it starts to leak.

This is what I've read from a few other forums, but I haven't found much on the 240sx forums concerning these radiators.

There's also the option of picking up a Koyo aluminum radiator from SPL Parts, but honestly I think that's overkill and I'd rather not spend $300 when I plan to replace the car in the next year or two.

Thoughts?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

If the car is stock, you won't need a bigger radiator. Just get a stock replacement and save yourself the cash and the headaches of changing things to get a bigger one to fit.

[Alch]

Thanks for the advice. It's stock so I agree that just getting an OE radiator would probably be the easiest.

I do have one more question. The radiators I'm finding at most part vendors appear to have automatic transmission coolers built into them. (I have a 5 speed.) Will I need to somehow plug these inlets/outlets if I use one or could I drop one in, as-is?

[sx moneypit]

You don't have to worry about that.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

you can drop it in, as-is.