It'll soon be time for me to purchase a radiator for my 62 Falcon project. It will have a 302 V-8 under the hood with about 300 horsepower. What I am pondering is whether to go with a copper/br*** NOS style rad out of a 63 Falcon that had a 260 V-8 in it or should I get an aluminum one built to fit my application? What are the pros and cons of each? If I should go with the aluminum one, it will get painted with Eastwoods black radiator paint. Also, how many cooling rows would be best for each material? This vehicle obviously won't be a restoration and I'm not concerned about being period correct with it either. Thanks.
Aluminum is sensitive to water, copper/br*** is not. I had an aluminum radiator in my '32 Coupe which worked great, but only lasted a year before developing a leak. The shop said it was caused by water in the system. Switched to copper/br*** and never had a problem for 6 years and sold the car. My latest car, a '52 Chevy, needed a radiator so I order a triple p***, copper/br***, 4 row direct fit radiator from U.S. Radiator. I was adding a/c and didn't want any heating issues. I couldn't be happier. The car never runs hot.
Not every radiator shop out in the middle of nowhere can fix a leaky aluminum radiator- especially if the tanks are epoxy'd.
Go here to read a realy in-depth evaluation of both copper and aluminum radiators. As always they both have pros and cons but this at least lets you make an educated decision as to what might work best in your case. http://www.caparadiator.com/aluminumvscopper.html
I have a nearly new 3 row copper/br*** radiator from my '36 project ('65 Mustang repop) that you can have cheap if you need one. Should be the same as your Falcon. For some reason it wouldn't cool a rumpity-rump Caddy 472... PM me if you're interested, it's just taking up space here. Brian
The "R" value of copper is about 50% of aluminum which depends on a alloys in the aluminum and copper. The copper will cool twice as much as aluminum roughly.
The least anounts of dissimilar metals the better. Large amounts of aluminum and copper don't get along together if the coolant system turns acid.
Aluminum radiators are less effected by vibration and fatigue than copper/br*** ones. While copper and br*** conduct heat better than aluminum, the designs commonly used for copper/br*** cores are not as efficient at conducting heat as aluminum cores are. Modern aluminum radiators with elongated airfoil shaped tubes are much more efficient at cooling than ones with traditionally shaped/proportion tubes. A two row radiator of this design significantly out performs a four row core with traditional tubes. Unfortunately most aftermarket hot rod/race aluminum radiators do not use the better elongated tubes. As was already posted, aluminum requires an appropriate anti-freeze or corrosion inhibitor. Copper br*** does too, but to a much lesser degree.
Wow, lot's of good info here. Thanks for the replies. Still a lot to consider before making a decision.
I just had the Heat Pump replaced in my home. the new one had to be double sized because aluminum replacing the old copper one. made me wonder about new radiators
46 Ford / 350 sbc, air, no shroud,long pump motor, ALUMINUM radiator. Installed in Las Vegas 15 years ago and NEVER had an issue. If you go aluminum, don't paint it.
This is lots of good info here. Since it is time for a radiator in my truck... Does anyone have a good reference that shows radiator dimensions? It is quite painful searching for a particular make/model to get the dimensions. Thanks, Jeff
I think some of the special radiator shops have all the dimensions. Br*** works had them for a Model "A". A friend just took his old radiator to a local shop and they put a new core in it. They used the old tanks etc. Turned out really nice. These kind of shops are hard to find in some parts of the country.
Per your experience, the thermal conductivity of copper is about double that of aluminum. But as I posted previously, differences in core design can more than make up for the difference.
used a $180 AFCO racing radiator in a 65 Comet and like them a lot you have to make mounting brackets
We had this discussion at work a few years ago. A very old wise Mechanic said Copper & Br***. Think of the old Steam Locomotives and the extreme pressure they had to handle as well as temperature differences. Try and repair a Aluminium rad or find a qualified Welder to do aluminium in a smaller town. I took out the Aluminium rads in my 30 & 40 Ford Coupes
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