Hot Rods Who is the go to radiator company now?

It's been a while since I had to source an aftermarket radiator, so who is left? I'm specifically looking for an American made reputable company. Not interested in off shore epoxied jobs.

This is for a 56 F100. Not a stock replacement radiator.

Thanks,

Root

 

I bought a US Radiator unit for my 33 through Dale at WeedEtr. Nice quality unit, not cheap like an aluminum one, but more affordable than a Johnson.

 

Johnson's bought out Walker. https://www.johnsonsradiatorworks.c...AKUdtbFWTPHVai9oSFtSTqsDOVgFRK8S__tlVdg1ARRIc

Br***works also makes nice radiators. Neither is cheap but the quality and performance is outstanding.

 

Br***works

 

I have a US Radiator unit in the car in my avatar and have been happy with it.

 

Got 2 Brice Thomas ones , working great. They also make US Raditors.
About 5 miles from there JHRS bought the tooling form Walkers.
Neither are cheap
But are nice products
Brice Thomas makes an excellent aluminum with stamped tanks. US radiator are their copper/br*** ones
JHRS are copper br***.

 

Johnson's, US Radiator are the two big ones that I sold when I was at Affordable Street Rods. Great product, pricey but they work.

 

I've had a Walker/Johnson radiator in both my '32 roadster and '46 Wagon and both have over 50K miles on them with zero complaints. Not cheap but well built. Br***works also makes a great product but very costly.

 

my go to these days is the chinese **** on ebay for $75-150. Haven't seen any epoxy on them, so I don't know what you're talking about there? They generally work fine, don't fit perfectly, and don't look that good, but if I'm buying a few radiators a year to get old cars working, they are just right.

But I spent $$$ to buy a DeWitt for my Corvette. I'm not selling the car any time soon. They don't make them for Ford trucks.

 

Actually, I spoke with Dewitt today. They said they would pick up my old radiator for a pattern and build me one. It’s definitely not cheap. Just wanting to do some comparison shopping.

The epoxy is how they attach the tanks. We have had several Champions **** out, so we don’t buy them anymore. My time is always calculated into the price, if I have to change it a year later due to a separated tank.

 

I have bought 4 radiators in the past year(ish).
2 from US Radiator - One for a '62 Galaxie with a knarly 401 FE and the other for a '60 T-bird with a 438 FE.
1 from Griffin for my '51 F-1 with a turboed and intercooled 300.
1 O'Reilly's Auto blue light special for my '85 F350 with a 7.3 - I am sure this is a chinesium special, but it seems to work well.

No complaints about any of them. For a cl***ic car I will almost always lean towards a proper br*** and copper rad from US Radiator, or similar.

 

I have a U.S. Radiator (copper) in the Cyclone and have zero complaints. Well built in the USA.
I like the fact that is looks factory original compared to the fabricated look of some of the aftermarket offerings.

 

The last radiator I bought was two years ago. I bought from US Radiator and have had great luck with it. I'm about to buy another radiator for a different car and will use them again.

www.ironandsteele.com​

 

I have a Walker in my '40 and a Johnson in the roadster. Pricey, but excellent quality.

 

The radiator I got from them is virtually identical to the original, the only obvious difference is it doesn't have Harrison (supplier of GM radiators back in the day) stamped on the top tank

 

I have a Johnsons, pretty happy with the build quality. But it was $1600

 

That’s comparable to what I was quoted from Dewitt.

 

Got to tour Brice Thomas. Was super cool to watch a rad get built

 

US Radiators….cooper/br***. 4 efficiencies to meet your needs. I feel they are the best. Not inexpensive and appear stock for my 56 Ford.

 

Custom Auto Radiator built the one's in my flathead '32 and FE '40, as well as a couple of my friends cars with no issues. I would highly recommend.

 

U.S. Radiator or for aluminum Speedway Motors....both very good

 

It took me a while to learn which aluminum rads are epoxied vs furnace brazed/etc.

I found out that the BeeCool brand doesn't use epoxy, which means they can be repaired by local shops if needed. Bought it in 2006. Sitting in garage rafters-might get to install it this coming spring....

-rick

 

Yikes!!! 1600 bucks!!!! Il be sticking to my £150 alloy rad painted black Thankyou very much.

I try to stick to tradition/original as much as possible but I ain’t made of money and I’d rather spend it on fun stuff

 

I've had nothing but bad luck with aluminum radiators, so from then on I have used Walker with no complaints, the one in my old beater is now 40 years old, The one in our '54 Ranch Wagon is 14 years old but alas Walker Radiators are no longer available.

After the accident with the wagon I called Johnson's Rod Shop about a replacement radiator for the wagon, they told me they didn't have a pattern for a '54 Ford, I politely told the guy I have a 1954 Ford Walker Radiator in my car and I need a replacement due to a accident, I basically got blew off.

I pulled the Walker Radiator out of the car and took it to a old school radiator shop here in town and they re-cored it with a copper core and the original Walker tanks, it runs cool but doesn't look as nice as the original Walker unit.

I did have a US radiator in my '28 high boy years ago and it ran cool, I only had the car a few years but during that time I never had any problems. HRP

 

I’m with ya. I may have fab a different radiator core support and use a junkyard radiator.

 

Measure and find a universal
I bought a universal gm for my c10.
Mounts were EZ

 

If I remember correctly, and I think I do. I used a radiator for a 77 F150 in my 53 F100 with a 302. Minor mods for a fit.

 

Thanks for the info , going to shopping for a Tiger radiator soon .

 

Lee at Br***works for br***/copper,
Brice Thomas for aluminum.
I own one currently from each, top quality. Worth the price. Buy once - cry once.