New Member.....Question

flashback87 · May 20, 2010

greensvt21 said:
The stock radiator is a 2 core he is running a single core. I'm running a stock 2 core w/o issues either so this is why I was pointing to a the radiator. I agree on further testing to set his mind at ease and double check but to me a car with a bad head gasket that gets hot isn't going to cool at low speeds and idle more so to specs unless maybe it slight once they get hot they are hot.

Don't know why pep boys would sell u a single core..because it was a low price. The rows are the tubes that run across the front of radiator and carry the coolant, the fins support the cores & dissapate the heat from coolant. A stock and mild motor will do fine a with a good solid 2 core radiator. teh second core allows for more fluid to flow through another set of cores shrugging of more heat for better cooling. If the coolant cannot loose enough of the heat when it flows across the radiator that hot coolant will flow back through the motor and get evn hotter when it tries to take on the heat of the motor. A really high HP car would need a 3 core if the 2 core couldn't handle the chore.

The core is the center section of the radiator that is the fins and tubes the tanks are on the ends that hold the coolant. That's my basic explanation.

Thanks greensvt21, you're really giving me some great info. i apologize but i am still a little confused. i am trying to confirm that my radiator is a 1 core radiator. i found the specs online and it conifirms that is 1 row but it does not say how many cores it has. again it is specra and the part number is 433556. below is a link to the description i found.

More Information for SPECTRA PREMIUM CU556

am i missing something? is there any way to confirm that it is a single core? dudes at pepboys had no idea.

i just want to make sure before i buy a new one.

Also, if mine is a single core and i do get another should i get a 2 core and 2 row rad?

Thanks again i really apreciate it

skunk21 · May 20, 2010

flashback87 said:
Thanks greensvt21, you're really giving me some great info. i apologize but i am still a little confused. i am trying to confirm that my radiator is a 1 core radiator. i found the specs online and it conifirms that is 1 row but it does not say how many cores it has. again it is specra and the part number is 433556. below is a link to the description i found.

More Information for SPECTRA PREMIUM CU556

am i missing something? is there any way to confirm that it is a single core? dudes at pepboys had no idea.

i just want to make sure before i buy a new one.

Also, if mine is a single core and i do get another should i get a 2 core and 2 row rad?

Thanks again i really apreciate it

A 2 core has 2 times has much cooling capability as a single core. The size also matter or the surface area of the core. A large aluminum single core will cool or it should has well as a 2 core copper/brass since aluminum dissapates heat faster. problem is all single cores aren't created equal and again surface area is key. Also the part # you give for the spectra comes back to [V6 Ford Granada] on rockautos site don't know whats up with this but a V6 and 4cyl will get away more with a single core than a V8 even though I have seen listings for single core rads for V8's I just wouldn't use one myself. Get yourself a good 2 core radiator and yes the price will go up some maybe even in the 200 range for a good quality 2 core radiator. I don't think you have the right radiator the car, 3 core would be over kill. each row of tubes and fins once made up intoa full section is a core a 2 core has another section tubes and fins and it goes on. So the whole front of radiator when you are looking at it the finned section with the tubes running through it is a core, a 2 core would have another row behind or infront depending which way you are looking at the radiator. By the way have you had any coolant loss? either way run some qiuck tests but my gut says that a car with an internal problem wouldn't cool down at idle it would just overheat. The problem you describe 99% of time is a bad radiator either plugged up or blocked but I'm really thinking in this case undersized.

here are some good radiators..
JEGS 51180 JEGS 1979-93 Mustang Aluminum Radiator

Summit Racing SUM-380451 - Summit Racing® Direct Fit Aluminum Radiators - Overview - SummitRacing.com

79-93 Mustang Aluminum Radiator For Manual Transmission by Mishimoto at LRS - Same Day Shipping!

also on the flip side when the car is overheating at slow speeds or idle but runs cool at higher speeds it could be fan related due to the fact the radiator isn't getting a flow of air going by it like it does at higher speeds to aid in cooling it is aided by the fan at this point. Fan related problems could be a broken fan, bad fan clutch, pushing instead of pulling, not enough CFM's, not running fast enough, lack of shroud or not covering enough of the radiator surface, etc. low speed problems can also be other things which can be tested but this gives you a good idea about high speed/low speed cooling issues.

flashback87 · May 20, 2010

i am looking at these radiators and the descriptions do not say they have 2 cores anywhere. they only have the dimensions of the core but not the number and the core dimenstions seem pretty close to the dimenstions i have now. the dims of mine are 24.5x18
More Information for SPECTRA PREMIUM CU556

am i missing something?

the biggest difference i see is the numbrer of rows (mine has 1 and the other have 2)

sorry for all the questions, i just want to do my research before i buy.

you guys are a big help

thanks

skunk21 · May 20, 2010

flashback87 said:
i am looking at these radiators and the descriptions do not say they have 2 cores anywhere. they only have the dimensions of the core but not the number and the core dimenstions seem pretty close to the dimenstions i have now. the dims of mine are 24.5x18
More Information for SPECTRA PREMIUM CU556

am i missing something?

the biggest difference i see is the numbrer of rows (mine has 1 and the other have 2)

sorry for all the questions, i just want to do my research before i buy.

you guys are a big help

thanks

That's the same part # you gave before and from what I gather it's a standard duty radiator they offer a heavy duty radiator part # CU138 but doesn't specify if it's a 2 row since the description mirrors that of the standard cooling radiator . I went on spectras web site and it's plain jane w/o info either no damn help. further searching leads me to believe this being a bottom rung radiator on the cheap.

If you want to trust your motor and cooling to this low budget radiator then go for the CU138 and cross your fingers, at the very least when I googled that part # it showed up on other forums has a radiator used on the stang. Best of luck..you could spring for a well known radiator that is well known for doing the job but it's up to you but in the end the spectra could serve you well once you find the right one who knows.

Maryland Stang · May 21, 2010

I don't know if the radiator is the cause. The construction of the whole radiator has more to do with it's ability to exchange heat than a simple count of the number of rows. Fins per inch is extremely important. A well designed single row rad will exchange heat better than a poorly designed 2 row anyday. Even if a 2 row is designed as well as a single row it still won't exchange heat at twice the rate.

A good example of this can be seen in oil coolers. There are 2 basic kinds of coolers. Plate and fin. A plate cooler will easily out perform a fin cooler even if the fin cooler is much larger.

That said...

I have a single row rad in my 1995 F150 with a 5.0 and auto tranny. This truck works and it works hard. It pulls a 4,000 pound trailer with the A/C on through 100+ degree temps in stop and go city traffic without so much as a whimper.

I would start with removing the thermostat and drilling a 1/16" hole in the lip of the t-stat. Then reinstall it with the hole in the up position.

Do the free stuff first.

skunk21 · May 21, 2010

Maryland Stang said:
I don't know if the radiator is the cause. The construction of the whole radiator has more to do with it's ability to exchange heat than a simple count of the number of rows. Fins per inch is extremely important. A well designed single row rad will exchange heat better than a poorly designed 2 row anyday. Even if a 2 row is designed as well as a single row it still won't exchange heat at twice the rate.

A good example of this can be seen in oil coolers. There are 2 basic kinds of coolers. Plate and fin. A plate cooler will easily out perform a fin cooler even if the fin cooler is much larger.

That said...

I have a single row rad in my 1995 F150 with a 5.0 and auto tranny. This truck works and it works hard. It pulls a 4,000 pound trailer with the A/C on through 100+ degree temps in stop and go city traffic without so much as a whimper.

I would start with removing the thermostat and drilling a 1/16" hole in the lip of the t-stat. Then reinstall it with the hole in the up position.

Do the free stuff first.

I agree with that and stated that in one of my posts that a well made single core with proper size should provide enough cooling and in alot of cases it does and in some it doesn't. Aluminum can disappate heat faster than copper/brass so a good aluminum single core can cool has good has a 2 row copper/brass. I was going by the symptoms of the cooling issues he described
but there is nothing wrong with trying free stuff but with a proper running cooling system you shouldn't have to drill the stat and I'm not totally sold on the standard spectra radiator either has a top shelf single core. The other part number I gave could be a single core but it states it's a heavy duty cooling rad, it could have larger tubes and thicker core section providing enough cooling = to a 2 row.

flashback87 · May 21, 2010

greensvt21 said:
That's the same part # you gave before and from what I gather it's a standard duty radiator they offer a heavy duty radiator part # CU138 but doesn't specify if it's a 2 row since the description mirrors that of the standard cooling radiator . I went on spectras web site and it's plain jane w/o info either no damn help. further searching leads me to believe this being a bottom rung radiator on the cheap.

If you want to trust your motor and cooling to this low budget radiator then go for the CU138 and cross your fingers, at the very least when I googled that part # it showed up on other forums has a radiator used on the stang. Best of luck..you could spring for a well known radiator that is well known for doing the job but it's up to you but in the end the spectra could serve you well once you find the right one who knows.

greensvt21, sorry i did not explain myself well. i was referring to the links for the radiators you posted. from what i can tell they did not show 2 cores in the descpritions and the core dims were very close to what i have now.

what you are saying makes complete sense escpecially since i bought the cheap radiator. just want to make sure i am getting a sweet upgrade for $200

Thanks

flashback87 · May 21, 2010

Maryland Stang said:
I don't know if the radiator is the cause. The construction of the whole radiator has more to do with it's ability to exchange heat than a simple count of the number of rows. Fins per inch is extremely important. A well designed single row rad will exchange heat better than a poorly designed 2 row anyday. Even if a 2 row is designed as well as a single row it still won't exchange heat at twice the rate.

A good example of this can be seen in oil coolers. There are 2 basic kinds of coolers. Plate and fin. A plate cooler will easily out perform a fin cooler even if the fin cooler is much larger.

That said...

I have a single row rad in my 1995 F150 with a 5.0 and auto tranny. This truck works and it works hard. It pulls a 4,000 pound trailer with the A/C on through 100+ degree temps in stop and go city traffic without so much as a whimper.

I would start with removing the thermostat and drilling a 1/16" hole in the lip of the t-stat. Then reinstall it with the hole in the up position.

Do the free stuff first.

thanks maryland, if i recall correctly i am pretty sure my mr gasket t stat already had a hole drilled in the top and i did install with that hole at the 12 o'clock position. would i need to drill another?

skunk21 · May 21, 2010

flashback87 said:
greensvt21, sorry i did not explain myself well. i was referring to the links for the radiators you posted. from what i can tell they did not show 2 cores in the descpritions and the core dims were very close to what i have now.

what you are saying makes complete sense escpecially since i bought the cheap radiator. just want to make sure i am getting a sweet upgrade for $200

Thanks

all the radiators I posted for you are 2 row radiators. The Summit, Jegs, Mishimoto. The core dimensions will be same because the radiators are physically the same size so they fit the specfic application. It comes down to core thickness, tube dia, fins,etc. Best of luck and i hope everything works out. I have giving my best advice from the description of the symptoms go ahead with other tests also if you would like it never hurts.

Maryland Stang · May 24, 2010

flashback87 said:
thanks maryland, if i recall correctly i am pretty sure my mr gasket t stat already had a hole drilled in the top and i did install with that hole at the 12 o'clock position. would i need to drill another?

If it already has a hole then there is no need for another. I was concerned about an air bubble caught in the intake. Despite the fact that most 5.0's don't have a problem with this, some still do.

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