Radiators?? Custom or Rebuilt Original?

Ok so I'm to the point where I need to wrap up the grille and radiator for my T coupe, I'm running a 28 Model A grill. So I take it to the local radiator shop, they tell me it's going to run $418 for a new 4 row core installed, and shortened 5 inches.

My question, is there a place I can get a radiator that'll work out of the box. I tried my 60's mustang but it doens't go far enough up in the grille and hangs too low.

Thanks fellas!!

 

May be hard to find direct bolt in. Many older catalog # are becoming obsolete as the radiator industry has to keep up demand for honda accords and the like. AS for the 418.00 Rad... that would not be bad if they where recoring with 14 FPI(fins per inch)Copper and br*** are through the roof!!!! Craftmanship would be the major factor I would concerned with

 

I bellied up and paid $450 for my radiator for my 30 Model A coupe. To me it seemed a little expensive. But since i've had it running it doesn't overheat at all. Good insurance I say.

 

DO NOT CUT CORNERS ON COOLING!
Pay the money, a well built radiator will out last ANY off the shelf factory built one. Copper and br*** are ****ing good radiators. If you must have a cheap one look for a Walker radiator, I believe they have stock dimension A radiators and ones to fit channeled cars off the shelf, though they may not be much cheaper.........
Doc.

 

If you can change your own core Try contacting GoDan industries in Windsor Locks Ct. tell them what tanks you are using and give them the measurement of the height of the core itself between the tanks.ask for a 4 core unit they can price it out for you .This place can build you ANY radiator for ANY application.I worked in a radiator shop for close to 5 years as a bench man and almost all our cores and replacement radiators came from them and this is where all are seminars took place.This is the only connection I have with them they were the main supplier to our shop.

 

Leon has a good idea there, even if you order it and have a shop put it together for you. I don't know what suppliers you have there in the US so didn't think of this idea...
My family has owns a number of radiator shops for about 40 years now, even know I haven't worked in one for 20 years I still remember what my father taught me.
If you wont listen to me, listen to Leon. A little more lay out know will save you doing it all over again in a few months or years.
Cheers,
Doc.

 

Yep... great advise, this is what I was thinking also. That was for a 4 row, I'm not sure the fpi on it.

Thanks fellas for the help!

 

I know alot of people who are running 66 mustang, V-8 radiators in a 28 grill shell, i'm runing one in a t shell!! The 3 core work great( mines a 2 core witha 400sbc!!).also theres a place to get brand new ones for $109 plus $5 shipping!!
JimV

 

I tried my 65 mustang radiator but it hangs too low, well below the axle. And I want to keep the top of the grille flush with the top of the cowl so it will look right.

I think I'm going to go ahead and have em recore mine, it'll look better too.

 

I had a radiator shop put four cores in my wife's Fury's radiator. I'm having cooling problems because......I believe......my flex fan can't pull enough air through the radiator because of the thickness. I have the shroud installed, I've pulled the copper core out of the thermastat. It get's progressively hotter around town. Get it out on the interstate where you can get some air flow and the temperature decreases and stays stable.

Maybe mine's a isolated problem. I spent a little over $500 on recoring the radiator.

I'm going to go to aluminum as soon as I can s****e up the bagitas.

 

If you remove the thermostat, the water doesn't stay in the radiator long enough to cool. Overheating problems are usually not enough air flow or collapsing radiator hoses. You say you have a flex fan. All flex fan are not created equal. Do you have a full shroud? The factory metal fans and clutches with full factory shrouds work the best. Also check if there was a difference in air conditioned cars. Chevy big block air conditioned fans were 7 bladed.

 

Hey GG, what cfm would be best for my 350 chevy in my coupe, no hood.

 

Chadillac ;
GoDan makes the cores any size/fin count you want !we used to get custom cores overnight .They operate some odd hours by that I mean they start like 4 am and run to about 10pm.I've been giving some serious thought to doing recore work here in my home shop.the other thing you need to consider is are you going to need to move inlet/outlets? they can supply new tanks at the same time made to your specs

 

try running a stock steel fan for a bit, That flex fan may be flattening out and not moving any air at all through your radiator.A good fan shouldn't have any problem at all with a 4 core radiator .

 

“If you remove the thermostat, the water doesn't stay in the radiator long enough to cool. Overheating problems are usually not enough air flow or collapsing radiator hoses. You say you have a flex fan. All flex fans are not created equal. Do you have a full shroud? The factory metal fans and clutches with full factory shrouds work the best. Also check if there was a difference in air conditioned cars. Chevy big block air conditioned fans were 7 bladed.
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try running a stock steel fan for a bit, That flex fan may be flattening out and not moving any air at all through your radiator. A good fan shouldn't have any problem at all with a 4 core radiator.”
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I’m sorry if I’m hijacking this thread. Great ideas. I had a 160 degree thermostat in and the car overheated much quicker than it does now. I pulled out the copper core out to see if there was any improvement. There was, it takes longer for the car to get hot. It’ll run up to 230 degrees and if I push it, it’ll go to 250 plus.
<o> </o>
I’ve got a big block 383 in the car that dynoed at a little over 400 horse power. I had the original fan (off the original 318) on the car but it was so heavy the fan belts squealed unmercifully. That’s why I went to a flex fan; it’s from be-cool. There’s not enough clearance between the radiator and the water pump to put in a clutch fan, I have one and tried it. I have the original fan shroud on now.
<o> </o>
When the engine was on the dyno the block cracked. The shop said they could fix it. I agreed due to their ***urance they could fix it, lack of bagitas to build another engine, and the fact that the engine was cast in 1963. I got the engine in the car and the crack started leaking. I used Moroso ceramic engine seal. I followed the directions to the T. The block is sealed, however, in the back of my mind I wonder if the ceramic seal may be contributing to my problem.
<o> </o>
I bought this car two years ago and it is yet to be road worthy. Sometimes I think it’s possessed by evil spirits. I’m rationalizing my dumb-***edness.
<o> </o>

 

It's actually a bit of myth about slowing water down in the radiator.
Besides over heating,under cooling can and will **** your engine too.

I have found over the years that putting the wrong size pulley on a water pump causes a pump to either run too fast and cavitate the coolant ( fills it full of bubbles,which don't conduct heat.) or too slow,the water is not moving through the engine and it's getting hot ,so hot that waster is going to get cooled by the radiator.

Putting block healing stuff in a radiator doesn't normally mean that an engine will run hot,but if the radiator is blocked before hand,it will make it worse.

If,by removing the thermo ,your engine is still getting hot it indicates to me at least ,that you have a compression leak.
When the block cracked on the dyno,what else happened?
Did the engine get hot?
I am willing to bet you have either a cracked head ( or heads) or a blown head gasket or two.
Also,how much ignition advance are you running ?too much advance equals hot running as does too little.
Is the carb tuned properly ? too lean and it will run hot

 

The engine didn’t get hot on the dyno. I’m running Edelbrock Aluminum heads. I don’t think I have a cracked head or blown gaskets as the engine pulls really strong, oil pressure runs at 60 lbs. I’ve retarded the timing to around 30 degrees advanced, normal being around 34 degrees. The radiator was recored prior to application of the ceramic seal. I’ve got a complete 383 pulley/bracket set from Bouchillons. So my pulley set up should be right. I think the carb is pretty close.........at least as close as I can get it and is probably a little rich if anything.

I was just over at Ebay looking at a 1964 big block Polara. The seller specifically pointed out the part number for the radiator. I did some research and discovered that the radiator is for the 383/426 engine. I had a 318 poly in this 1964 Fury. I swapped out the 318 for a 383, but recored the original radiator. Not sure if there is any significance here.......I need to do a little more leg work.

 

With that radiator being recored with a 4 row core it is no longer 318 radiator,Unless the big block tanks are physically bigger.I did bench ***embly/rebuilding of radiators for close to 5 years.Almost every older car [Pre Electronics]around here has a 185-195 thermostat with most being 195 degree.your fan should sit at least 1/2 its blade depth into your shroud.Have your radiator cap tested also a 14lb cap is the usual around here.going to a higher cap pressure might help but check with a shop in your area you don't want to go too high here.In a good clean system NO sealer should cause a problem I have rodded out enough cores to know this for sure.This tale comes from the fact that folks usually dump sealer into a system that is almost dead in an effort NOT to need the "expensive"services of a pro shop!GM ,And I'm sure others use sealers ON the ***embly line!Every single radiator I have opened up that came in after someone "plugged it up "with sealer was full of rust/corrosion or water deposits the sealer did it's job and plugged the last pinhole of a p***age in the already existing restriction.
HAVE YOU TAKEN THE CAR BACK TO THE SHOP THAT RECORED YOUR RADIATOR ?caps are emphasis only not to be an ***.My shop would have worked with you to cure a cooling problem and usually at no charge if it was one of our products.Some of the things found while I was there.A new in the package swap meet fan that should have been for a serpentine system on a conventional one {the blade pitch was backwards .In another case it was the pump running in the wrong direction .In a 37 Chevy coupe with a blown big block all that was needed to cure his problem was a panel from the radiator to the top of the grill to close it off the air was just flowing up over the radiator into the engine compartment.With aluminum parts in that engine NEVER use tap water!several manufactures will not warranty their products if tap water was in the system.Are you using Antifreeze/Coolant ?it too will help and protects the system.Get deionized? water in the laundry section of your supermarket/department store it's cheap insurance it's sold for use in steam irons etc.The first thing I would do is call the shop that did your recore and have them take a look at it

 

Thanks for hanging in there Leon. Here&#8217;s the background. I had the radiator recored a little over a year ago. Went over to the radiator shop a week ago....it&#8217;s a one man operation whose reputation was built by the now deceased old man. The son runs it. In between his getting on and off the cell phone he was basically useless. Getting ugly with him isn&#8217;t going to help me. I just tell people to go elsewhere.
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Yes the fan blade is almost half way into the shroud. Just a little short. I&#8217;ve used 50/50 coolant exclusively. When I got the engine in the second time is when I installed the gage package.......I never had the car running long enough without more serious problems the first time to worry about temperature.
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Prior to putting the sealer in we really flushed the system; I&#8217;ve got a friend at the local Kwik Kar Lube place.
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I&#8217;ve got a couple options......low cost/labor intensive, but I&#8217;ve got a summer cold, so it&#8217;ll be a few days before I start working on the car. I&#8217;ll keep you updated on my progress.

 

How about using a stock 28' model A radiator to cool a SBF 302? Is their anything I need to change. The radiator I have is like brand new. Is their a cap to suggest?
Thanx

 

I used the stock radiator, on my 56 chevy powered 2dr A bone. It worked ok.

'back in the day' dave

 

Chad I live near Topeka KS (about 5 hrs N ) I had a guy name Bruce Schefflen build my rad in the 41 he used the org top tank and custom built the bottom w/ a new 4row core for 300 I gave him an extra 50 after because it fit and worked so well just as if I had bought it from B-cool or US radiator. PM me and mabe I can hook you up w/ him or I may be able to have him get you a core. Just a thought.

 

If I run the stock model a radiator do I need to use a pressurized cap or will stock cap work fine?

 

just for info : as I recall my buddy had a 28 A, with mild 36 flathead, and we used a 48 ford radiator. It was the right height, just trimmed the sides down to fit the A shell. I was surprised the chevy didnt overheat in my 30' A bone, I didnt even run a fan, but then it was always movin. We found,the overheads ran much cooler than the flatties.

 

oh and no pressure cap , just the stocker.