Best way to cool car? Electric fan or Rad?

all you need to do is measure from frame rail to frame rail and see if you have at least 31 inches there. i had a bigger radiator there and i had to cut a little outa there but then i put this radiator in and it looks like it would clear without any cutting. there are others here that have used a 31x19 radiator and all they did was bend the holdowns.

I would suggest a griffin radiator for about 200 bucks. Mine has been working great for the past year and I have no complaints. I got the generic 31x19 and all I had to do was trim a little rubber off the original bumpers and bent the corner on the bottom outside mounts so it didn't dig into the radiator tanks. To back it up I also put a stewarts waterpump(stay away from milidon... absolute junk!) and an electric fan from a viper. I went a little overboard with the fan but a taurus will be a great option without a lot of fab work unlike the viper. When looking for a radiator the ammount of rows is not that important. If you had two 3 inch thick radiators with the same ammount of fins per inch and one was a 3 row and the other was a 2 row, the 2 row would be better at dissapating heat because each row would have more surface area. When you overload with rows you loose contact area. With that said there aren't a lot of brass/copper radiators with 1.5 inch rows because they are not as strong as AL though a copper/brass does have better heat transfer capabilities.
Kevin

Copper/brass radiators have improved with regard to specific power, and there indeed is improved internals to help facilitate this. But:

Alum rad's are so common these days, it's almost easiest to go that route.

Good luck.

Fluidyne aluminum rad and a MKV8 fan-bad boy never moves from 185.... summer, in the winetr- 170..... Proof is in the pudding! i would never use any other set up-learned the hard way throug experinece having to watch the dayuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum temp gauge constantly! No thnaks... been there, done that-Its annoying

Just my 2 cents,
Ant

i have a 3 core aluminum and i would say if you had the cash go with a 4 core specially since your intercooler is blocking the rad some.

The problem with using a copper radiator is that it is difficult to join together properly. Aluminum is easier to work with, lighter, and more durable to a certain extent.

I always ground my heater cores and radiators. Every Ford we have owned has had the heater core start to slowly leak within 5 years of ownership whether it was the brass style core or aluminum. I figured, what the frack, might as well ground the core and radiator on the new Fords and see what happens. I'm going on 5 years with the Crown Vic, 4 years with the E-250, and about 5 years with the T-bird.

What about water wetter along with the electric fan and alum or brass/copper rad? Water wetter claims a 30 degree drop in temp.

I saw the single biggest improvement on my car when I changed the fan clutch. I had previously changed to a 180*, H/V waterpump, water wetter, and the 31x19 universal alum radiator. Those 5 together dropped maybe 5*. If i made a run around my block(3 miles) and beat on it, it was around 220+. Those 5 things got it down to 215. Finally changed the fan clutch and now its at 180 or less. Now thats its cold, my damn thermostat is stuck open and I cant get it above 130-135(can you say no heater?).

Of course, I prefer the radiator. You need a much bigger radiator for your car's ventilation system.

_________________________
Ron Davis Aluminum Radiators - Download the Custom Aluminum Radiators by Ron Davis Racing Products