Quick radiator question

Well, i have one of the old Autozone copper 3-cores. It fit in fine. ALl i had to do was trim one side of the rubber from the upper mounts. It will put your fan shroud closer to the motor so be aware.

I wouldn't go with an AL radiator..especially if you have cooling issues. While pure Al and pure Cu are not used in the radiators, the Copper/Brass radiator will have a higher thermal conductivity number than the AL alloy radiator. That means more efficient transfer of heat. The only benefit of an AL radiator...is weight.

MustangLX-5.0 said:

IAnd FYI, aluuminum is the best when it comes to heat dissipation. Why do you think that heat sinks for amps are made of aluminum?

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Sorry but you are mistaken. They use AL for machining purposes and cost reasons.

Cooling Fundamentals: Thermal Conductivity - FrostyTech.com

Silver #1, Copper #2, Gold #3, Aluminum a distant #4

I design a lot of weld fixturing at work and use copper as a material strictly because of it's ability to dissipate heat rapidly. Downside is cost and the fact that it wears out a hell of a lot faster than AL. When I gotta use AL , we need a longer cooldown cycle between weld cycles. It is very noticable the differences between AL and CU.

Unfortunately, they won't give me the budget for making this stuff out of silver or gold.


When it comes to radiators, Copper is what you want in a daily driver. Al is more for cars that make track passes and have time to cool down. It saves a TON of weight in the nose which is highly desirable. About the only reason to sacrifice cooling for it.


BTW, i have one of the OLD Autozone 3-core radiators. It's the copper 3-core they offered maybe 10 years ago for $150. Been in my car for 10 years as i bought it in 1999 i think. It's not made by ReadyRad, but i can't remember who made it. I'll have to go look at it. Think it began with a G? (there's a sticker on the side i'll have to look) Anyway, it's been in my car since '99 and works so well I don't even need to turn on my E-fan. One day this past summer, i turned the fan off to do some Key on stuff on the car and forgot to turn it back on. Proceeded to drive around for the next hour and a half on city streets without a fan on, and the car never got above 195 degrees on my Autometer gauge. I run underdrive pullies AND an e-fan which doesn't even need to be on all the time and i stay pretty cool. 180* stat too. I give credit to the radiator for this. Pity they don't sell that specific radiator anymore as my cooling system is VERY efficient because of it.

Well the build-up tends to be minerals in such reacting in the water you use. One way to seriously cut down on this is to simply use distilled water when you fill your rad and not garden hose water. You won't eliminate it complete of course since the block is iron, but you'll cut way down on it.

Unfortunately that means going to the store and buying 10-15 gallons of distilled water though for flushing purposes

fiveohwblow said:

This makes me sad as I purchased my fluidyne aluminum thinking it was the best, obviously I was uneducated on the matter. Now I have heating issues when stopped for a short bit and now know why

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I wouldn't be quick to write it off as the cause. I hate issuing blanket theories because there are always ways to design around them. In fact, part of me wants to say the OEM radiator in my '03 GT was in fact, an Aluminun radiator. It's been a while though since i had it, so not 100% sure. I'm sure there are guys with AL radiators in their car with no cooling issues.

But one way to work-around the lack of thermal conductivity is to simply pull more air across the core. So if you can improve your airflow at idle, you may increase your cooling ability.

No clue what your fan setup is though.