I am trying to replace my radiator with a direct fit replica aluminum one, but I don't have anything to go off of at the moment. The car is a 54 Customline and originally had a 239 Y-block. Does anyone know what the dimensions of the core are and have any pictures? The dimensions will work great if thats all you can give.
most radiator shops can custom make one for you, thats it you cant find a replacement one. call around you shouldnt be much more then a direct replacement one.
I guess that was the part left out, I have Griffin making one for me but I need to get the exact dimensions of the core for them to make it correct. Sorry if there was confusion.
thats big bucks! have a local one make one for you. aluminum and br*** copper radiators are about the same when removing heat! not a huge difference, but the price is.
It's not really that expensive if you talk people down to where you want things. However now I need to get the core measurements so I can get this thing made, does anyone know what they are?
Measure the hole in your core support. Take 2" off of width for the ears than mounted and take 6" off of height for tanks and you have your core size or close to it. The 229 would have been a 2 or 3 row. About 3" thick more or less.
I have had two Griffins fail on me. They are cheaply built overpriced **** IMO. The tubes are epoxy glued to the tanks and come apart and are not fixable. Find another supplier...
call the radiator business in New Jersey He has all the dimensions at his finger tip and his radiators are a lot better than aluminum ones
This is great and would help out, but I don't have the original core support at the moment. I just bought one from a guy but it's not here yet.
thats why i said to go local, most time the guys will come to you to measure it for you. then ta dah! a new radiator in about a day. no shipping to deal with. we have two place here that i know of, one is burbank radiator, and the other is pacific radiator, both will come to your place to measure your opening. no guess work for you. call around, i hope this works out for you.
Big Creep, I see what you mean about going local and I now see the errors of my ways thus far. I think that the order with Griffin will be cancelled and the yellow pages will become my new best friend.
just trying to help a brother out! good luck i hope you find what you are looking for, you should just look for an old school type shop.keep us posted and post picture when you get it installed.
Yeah I agree with you guys and that's why I cancelled the order with these guys. I guess the painkillers from surgery were not helping me think straight. Unfortunately I still need a radiator and I'm having trouble finding a shop in my area that can make the thing. I'm sure this is just a lack of internet search skills. Thanks again guys for all the advice.
I'll tell you this Walker radiators are direct fit. Not so with many others. Walker is not aluminum but whats with using aluminum? Do you have a weight issue? Copper dissapates heat better and can be much easier repaired.
Even if they do, they Griffin will probably be late, and end up shipping the wrong year, with the wrong features. This happens to me EVERY time, and I am now going with different suppliers. AFCO and US Radiator are big houses and tend to be $200 cheaper than Griffin. A local guy makes them $100 cheaper than both of these sources. I have run Griffin exclusively in my builds, and have had no quality issues, other than the logistics and delays mentioned. For costing me time without any compensation, they deserve this kick in the balls.
Having replaced a good 4 row copper br*** walker with an aluminum dual 1" and immediately see a 20 degree decrease in temp with no other changes, I would coolly dispute your claim. I ran a dual row 1 1/4" tube aluminum in my tow vehicle and there is NOTHING on the market that will cool better than this, unless you add another row.
Everyone in my car club and most people on here agree that aluminum is a better choice. My friend replaced his br*** for aluminum in his 50 shoebox and had an immediate 20 degree drop. I'm not in a major hurry, to buy something just because it looks stock it looks stock, I Want something that will keep the temperature down with the large engine and transmission that I'm running. I looked at the US Radiator site and they have the actual size for what should fit, so I will use that as a guide. I looked at the local places here and amazingly I can't actually find one in San Diego that will fabricate one for me. So the hunt continues outside San Diego. Thanks guys for all your advice.
The reason why your friend and others have seen a temp drop going to an aluminum radiator is due to the core design, NOT the material. Copper actually transfers heat better than aluminum. Any good 2 row of 1" tube aluminum core is made in a High Efficiency style. Basically it means that there are more tubes and more heat transfer points compared to the original style copper cores. If you opt for a copper/br*** radiator constructed with the same style high efficiency core, then the copper/br*** unit will cool better. You mentioned that you already got the core size info from our website. If you need any other info let me know. As the others have said, there are a ton of radiator shops out there that can make you an aluminum radiator if you dont care about it looking original. We just finished tooling 57-59 ford radiator in aluminum and now we are moving on to the 54-56. We just got back from SEMA and received a ton of requests for it, plus I think the original style top tank will look pretty cool in aluminum. If you aren't in a hurry, you can be our guinea-pig in exchange for a free radiator. With the holidays coming up, we probably wont have the tooling done until late jan of next year. shawn
sharm welcome to the hamb, but do an intro before the intro police get you. and you are right about copper rad.
The Jalopy Journal
