Gee, don't get your panty's in a wad, the guy ask a question, we all have opinions and the last time I looked it is a open forum open to discussion. I have been building hot rods for more that 50 years and have used junk yard radiators, Chinese aluminum radiators and American made Griffin aluminum radiators, I had more problems with the Griffin radiator than the Chinese radiators. But in the late 90's I was trying to cut corners and installed a Chinese aluminum radiator in a Model A and in less than a year in bumper to bumper traffic in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee the radiator failed, with the expense of a wrecker and the Motel room and car rental to drive to Knoxville to get another radiator that would work in a pence I got a bad taste in my mouth for aluminum radiators! BTW... Champions warranty is 60 Day Walker warranty is 10 year. HRP
per Gave up panties year's ago... There not made over sea's primer... I stand behind shit I have experience with, An only speak to help... Again not everyone can afford a $1000.00 radiator, He asked a simple question is it crap, I said no, in fact here's picture living proof I have nothing but good to say actually .. Soo.. am I really out of order? Have a Great weekend... I'm Out on this topic Carry-on
I also agree that Boden will probably be just fine with a cheap aluminum radiator, but being me, I would also do my best to repair the original, keeping one as a spare. I like spare stuff.
Ya. I talked to my radiator shop and they said $400. I'm ok with that but I just want to know if I can get the cheaper one and it won't bite me in the butt later on Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I didn't even think about that. I didn't know I can do it myself. And it will be cool to learn how to do that. Thanks for the idea. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
This is when dopey kids like me come in handy. Only if there were more of us. [emoji23][emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have champions in 4 cars, no issues, over 15k miles on one of them over 5 years. The aluminum ones to avoid use epoxy, champions are fully welded.
I ran one in the Texas heat for a couple years in the low buck 32 car. No problems as long as I owned it. As far as I know it’s still in the car and working fine.
I believe Champions are made in California, not China. Mine had a "Made in USA" sticker on it out of the box. Haven't ran it yet, but it looks pretty solid built, good welds. We usually put anywhere from 500,000 to 750,000 miles on factory plastic tank aluminum big truck radiators. If a good one will last that long in a truck environment, I don't see why a good one wouldn't last 100,000 miles in a car. One thing we do in the trucks is run the nitrate free coolant, it seems to help the lifespan of all aluminum parts. Of course, your mileage may vary.....
Got an aluminum one for the Model A from Dillon Radiator, Rochester, MN the quality was amazing, had it powder coated Satin Black, drove the car a lot, no problems. Dillon Radiator is on eBay as well.
I know I've already posted on this earlier but I used the same vendor as Bob. Only negative thing was they sent me a radiator for a Chevy conversion into my 46 Merc when I had ordered one for a stock flathead. I phoned them, they sent me the right one and I sent the first one back, no charge. They made it right in 3 days with no arguments.
The champions have bungs welded for the auto trans coolers and are plenty beefy. Three of mine have automatics, NPT to inverted flare fittings went in with no issues.
My unboxed frame 32 tore my walker apart every 6 months , tanks, side straps, prop rod bracket you name it it came loose, no problems with recored original ... if you have a boxed frame or the radiator doesn’t move at all the walker would probably be fine but I don’t think it’s up to the task the stocker was I’ve used a bunch of cheapie aluminum ones mostly from superior radiator, I have no problem useing them with a can of black paint on a budget car but I also don’t have the same expectations of a $200 eBay rad that I do an $800 walker
local rad shop has built me 2 rads completly from scratch from my drawings for $600 w/heavy duty cores.
In my experience aluminum radiators don’t like to sit. Keep the coolant and distilled water fresh (I change mine every season) and you should be fine with an inexpensive aluminum radiator unless you’re cooling a serious high horsepower engine. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
i have bought 5 aluminum rads off ebay over the years from 100-150 bucks, all because of a few bent fins, straightened the fins and they never failed me
Odd that no one brought up the causes of aluminum failing,this also is why you will see used aluminum intake manifolds badly corroded https://www.hotrod.com/articles/keep-your-cool-preventing-radiator-eating-electrolysis/ If you are running aluminum parts you need to invest in a sacrificial anode on a yearly basis. Another mistake is not having enough grounds when you do a build or engine swap.
^^^ @JeffB2, Can you expand on 'sacrificial anode' ? i.e. What material works for alum radiators. Size - shape? Where best to place it; near the fill opening, inside the intake, or down inside the outlet?
99.99% of all new cars use aluminum radiators. Most if not all , have plastic tanks. They all mount using the plastic tanks. I have yet to see one with a ground wire going to the core or anode rod in the core. Same for engine blocks and heads. Please explain.
Yup, ground the radiator itself. I have to get another sacrificial anode for mine, believe it was from Permacool and was like $14.
Champion Radiator, 50/50 mix of distilled water and antifreeze, problem solved. Black paint optional. The $204 Champion radiator I bought last year says it has a lifetime warranty. If it goes 10 years, I'll be happy. Gene
It's pretty simple install it in place of the radiator petcock,because of shipping might as well order a pair https://www.jegs.com/i/Flex-A-Lite/400/32060/10002/-1
Recoring an original radiator is expensive period. For my 5-window I went to the NSRA Rocky Mountain Nats in Pueblo,Co and bought a new Walker for $700 with free shipping. That was cheaper than a recore. If you know what you are building shop for one. If you need one for a present ride ya gotta beat the bushes on the internet for the deals. That all being said, and for all of those like myself who may not be able to repair their own for whatever reason, think of an aluminum radiator as a temp unit to buy you seat time in your present ride until you can find that killer deal on a new replacement unit or score a good deal on a recore ..... That’s my inflated 2 cents -
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