Wes Dumalski posted on March 23, 2012 00:00
Company Profile- Radium Engineering
By Wes Dumalski
por·nog·ra·phy
[pawr-nog-ruh-fee]
noun: obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or no artistic merit.
Shit, I could use the above to describe just about every article I have ever written. But the reality is that when I first laid my eyes on the offerings of Radium Engineering, PORN was the first thing that came to mind. In the current sea of inferior parts to lay gaze on the products that Radium proudly engineers, prototypes, and builds here in the States is nothing short of inspiring!
I first came across Radium engineering while browsing the Lotus forums. They were a newer company starting to offer fuel rails, surge tanks, as well as a prototype turbo kit. Quite frankly all I wanted to do was get my hands on their stuff to see if it was just smoke and mirrors and a really good camera showing off their wares. I cooked up a fancy worded e-mail, touted myself as someone of stature from the famous site MotoIQ and hoped for the best.... After exchanging a few e-mails, Aaron agreed to send me their fuel rail for inspection and use in our Lotus Elise.
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| Not your typical cut stock fuel rail here. Custom design and machine work on every product. |
It took a few days for me to get the fuel rail and those were spent drooling over pictures of their parts on the internet to pass the time for the real thing. Once it arrived I felt like Ralphie's dad revealing a "Major Award" from a large wooden crate marked in Italian.... Something so simple as a damn fuel rail was a work of art. Nothing like the typical rails that are made out of a length of pre machined stock cut with a band saw... No siree their 2ZZFE rail is custom machined to their spec and so are the mounting brackets. Once machined they are anodized to perfection and then the custom hardware is used to secure the mounting brackets. Radium spec AN fittings and caps are then placed in the ends with plastic caps to keep foreign objects out of their perfect creation. The fuel rail uses OEM injectors and also has a center port for a gauge.
The 2ZZFE in the Elise uses a returnless system however in forced induction applications many people will choose to convert to a return based system. As such Radium features ports on both ends of the rail and simply caps one for OEM type use. The kit included detailed instructions, all necessary hardware, lines, fittings, adel clamps, as well as the necessary quick disconnect tool for the OEM fuel lines. And do not forget the 12 month warranty! After taking the fuel rail kit to a local Lotus meet up to let people check it out I could tell I was not the only one impressed by the fit and finish as well as the perfectly complete package for installation.
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| Here is the anodized and assembled rail. The silver fitting in the center of the bottom is the additional port. |
Not long after receipt of the rail Radium announced a dual catch can setup for both universal and Lotus specific use. When I clicked on the link to see the prototype kit and custom bracketry my mind was swept to the gutter again! More porn and the need to fondle the product. Once again I spoke with Aaron and I had the full dual catch can kit in my possession just a short time later.
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| Holy complete kit Batman... Every piece serves a function and is included, even the stickers... |