which aluminum rad do you use?

i'll be doing the cheapy summit universal

to me why spend 400+ for an aluminum one thats made to fit when i can get the rad for 180 and make some brackets out of aluminum stock that will maybe cost me another 20 bucks

I have one of the Griffin Direct Replacements 24"x16" with 2x1.25" cores apparently good to 600hp. It's a nice piece, I think it cools off my car so well that my thermostat will close. It had a hefty price at $750 canadian, but I needed a rad ASAP and it was the only one my parts store had in stock.

i need a nice aluminum radiator too....but i dont want to shell out big big bucks. I can fab up some bbrackets, i just need to find one that is as thick or thinner than a stocker.

Not intending to derail the thread, but when my radiator gave out a few months back I looked into aluminum radiators as an option. Several radiator places, even ones who sold aluminum radiators, all insisted that aluminum will not last on a daily driver.

Anyone else hear this? Anyone able to refute this claim?

why would they say that? all new cars have aluminum crossflow radiators with plastic headers? i think it would last just fine

i think vettes have been using aluminum radiators for YEARS. I have had two other cars that were daily drivers with aluminum radiators and they worked perfectly with no mishaps.

I wonder what they meant by 'last'

I found this saved in my favorites.....

http://www.midnightdsigns.com/Mustang/aluminum_radiator_install.html

I agree that aluminum radiators are more efficient than copper/brass ones, but is it worth the additional cost if a copper/brass one is all that you'll need?

I was having overheating problems with my 302 in my '68, so I bought a 4 core 24" wide copper/brass radiator for a 390(my water pump is on that side).

I had a 160 degree thermostat in it. I quickly took that 160 degree thermostat out of it as the car was too cold! I had no heat as the temperature gauge only went as high as 160!

I put in a 180 degree thermostat and got some heat back. Of course this was in the winter, but I've had no problems with overheating anymore at all. I believe my old radiator was clogged up with a bunch of crud and that's why it liked to overheat.

Anyway, a aluminum radiator theoretically is better(it's definitely lighter) than a copper/brass one, but when you can get a 4 core big block radiator that is probably overkill for $230 or less that will bolt right in with no modification, why bother with the aluminum?

Just my thoughts.

edit: I see that you've got a '65. I noticed that http://www.classic-mustang.com has a 4 core copper/brass radiator for a '65 for $165.

I took out my GIANT T-bird stock radiator and replaced it with a Be Cool Aluminum radiator (universal fit), the car runs so much cooler when it is 100F. I was amazed at the efficiency and the weight. Making a "bracket" is easy, just get some rubber to set it on and some carriage bolts. I think the aluminum is worth it.

To make the T-bird radiator fit we actually had to notch the front frame rails, not the smartest thing, but it kept the engine cool. It was like 31x2.5, the Be Cool is 22x1. So with my big block it give me a little more room to work.

I know I will never get a brass radiator again.

Hope this helps

steel1212 said:

I know I'm asking a lot of ?s lately but how else do you learn. Anyway, I would like to get an aluminum radiator on a budget. I saw one in jegs, I think griffin, for 179 but it looks like its to wide. Do you guys get the universal ones and just make them fit or do you pay for 300-400 ones that are made for the classic stangs with late model engines?

Click to expand...

When I saw your question I recalled someone else was asking about this a while back.
This thread has a lot of links to sources with prices and whats required to make it work. (lots of answers using search)

I gather you have a 65 coupe? The front end is the same as the fastback and I found a Griffin which bolted right in for my FB. I got it at Mustangs Plus, as I recall. A bit pricey but I got the biggest one they had because I was worried about over-heating.
Roy.

This is a chebbie radiator from a company called "Northern", it is the series they call "race-pro". It was cheap, it is very lightweight too. I mounted it with those little rubbery/spongy spacers you can see on top of it in this picture:



Here's a better picture of the size and fit:

I'll add that I also have a '96 Corvette that I put an aluminum BeCool radiator in. The stock radiator was a aluminum one with plastic tanks. The stock radiator started leaking at the seal of the plastic tank with the aluminum core.

I took the stock one out and had it recrimped which was good for almost two years before it started leaking again. :-( I found a BeCool off of ebay and won and installed it in the 'Vette instead of using another plastic tank aluminum stock one.

The temps in the 'Vette are usually around 190 degrees with the BeCool(188 in the winter). With the stock radiator, my temps were usually around 194 degrees both using the same stock 185 degree thermostat.

The BeCool does cool much faster than the stock radiator and does not reach as high a temperature as fast as the stock radiator either as well as keeps the oil temperature cooler.

It is a very nice radiator.

My Mustang was my first car and I really haven't driven it as much as I should as it was sitting at my parents house a few hours away. I decided I wanted to bring the Mustang down except it liked to overheat whenever it was on the highway for any period of time(like a half-hour).

I decided I'd buy a new radiator for it. I looked at the aluminum ones, but the $400-$500+ price tags didn't really appeal to me. I then saw that 4 core copper/brass 24" 390/428 radiator for $230 and thought that if that doesn't cool my car, then something has to be wrong with my car.

As it turned out, my old 2 core 24" radiator was clogged up more than I thought and that is probably the reason why I was overheating.

Anyway, the point that I'm trying to make is that I've had both aluminum and copper/brass radiators and they both can cool well. Yeah the aluminum radiators look cool and are lighter, but I don't regret getting the copper/brass 4 row unit for my Stang.

If you can get a good deal on an aluminum unit(and if it's contructed well. Do those Northern "Race-pro" radiators have fins as thick as an aluminum "street" radiator? What's the difference between them?) without much modification, then I would probably get the aluminum one.

I wouldn't pay $500 for an aluminum radiator if all you need is a $165 copper/brass unit though, but then I'm not the one spending the money!

I put an Afco 26x19 universal ford radiator in my 69 stang. Fit is great and brackets were easy. Its a racing 2 core radiator which you would thing would be bad on the street, but it cooled better than a brass 4 core radiator. It was around $180 shipped to my door. I probably spent $20 in materials to mount it and it looks nice.

I have a BeCool unit in mine but at a price tag of over $500 it wasn't cheap!

Keep an eye on Summitt and Jegs, they will have them on sale every once in awhile. I got mine for about $229.