has anyone bought one of these aluminum radiators from china on ebay?

Very good point! Greed i guess.
JimV

 

I would like to know this as well, shopping now for a radiator, 300 HP 350.

 

I had to get a radiator modified to suit my car, so I bought one from China. Figured even if I bought a dear one, I'd still have to get it modified, voiding any claim to a warranty, which I think, was the main drawcard in considering a better brand unit. Saved hundreds of bucks on the Chinese unit.
However, The radiator shop guy who soldered the new neck on my new radiator said the Chinese stuff was inferior due to the thinner metal in their construction. Anyway, he was able to solder it (after telling me what a pig of a job it was) and it worked fine. So, I guess in my case where a custom job was required, I'd say it's worth going for the cheaper unit as you lose any warranty deals with the brand name radiators you might otherwise have. I think my Chinese radiator had a year warranty on it.
The way things are these days, it wouldn't surprise me if the brand name units were Chinese made anyway.

 

I recently pulled the plug on a deuce project....I had bought original ford parts from all over the US and imported them, the only non Ford part apart from a Brookville body was going to be the rad......I would not use Chinese parts on the car and priced up a Walker rad suitable for a flatty...it came to £700 ($1150),...it was the final straw, it has just got too expensive to do things right , I sold all my stuff off .....building old HotRods at home used to be workingman affordable but it's just getting stupid pricewise.I could have afforded the Walker, but I could not justify spending that amount.....I paid through the nose for the FoMoCo parts as they are a limited resource, but I draw the line at paying such high prices for reproduction stuff.Comparing the prices of other Walker rads for other models makes me wonder why and extra inlet and outlet and a bit beefier core make such a difference in price?

 

I bought a champion and it has no problem keeping my flat top aluminum head 383 at 180 cruising around town 0n 100 degree days, it was around $210 and got a 16 inch 3000 cfm fan from them for another $40. it all works great togeather

 

looks like it fits fine to me. mine is a 6cyl so i feel like a 2 row will be fine since no ac. on car.

 

This is one of the reasons I try like hell not to buy chinese.. They're notorious for cloning stuff without permission or paying for that right.. Yeah, it's cheaper and the quality isn't too bad, but they're screwing legit companies big time.. Guess what happens to workers of those small companies that close after this stuff comes ashore!



http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/02/china-jac-does-it-again-with-ford-f-150.html

 

i buy one aluminum radiator for my flathead....they make the radiator after i send the right dimensions i need.....is nice and work good.....279$ shipped to italy,,,i save a lot of money...

 

I just bought one of those aluminum 4 core ebay radiators and stuck it in my 66 impala convertible.. nice piece, runs cool, no problems... i recommend them. ~ Craig

 

Same here! It was a Champion Radiator and it works like you would dream it would.

 

I have a couple of these in use and they work great.

Junkyard

 

anyone have a 2 core?

 

i have run two in two seperate cars and so far no issues. They price is right as well.

 

I've got one in front of 331 hemi. 165F all day.

 

2 or 3 core?

 

You guys that have bought Champion radiators for a 32 Ford, do they come with the cutouts for the cowl to radiator support rods or do you have to cut those out for yourself? I ask because the photo they show does not have them cut out; nor the side mount holes, but those holes are no problem.

 

Mine didn't.

 

i bought one of those tawain radiators off of ebay recently....

mainly because with a daughter in her first year of college, i just couldnt spend 800 on a walker....

looks well built, we will see how it holds up....HOWEVER, the one i ordered was supposed to be specific for 33/34 ford with the dummy filler neck and suport rod brackets in place....they were not even close to where they needed to be , so i had to cut them off ,reposition and have them re-welded back on in the proper place,,,now it fits perfect....
just figured i'd mention if anyone else is sonsidering one...

 

What do you suppose the Made In USA one would cost if there wasn't the competition of the Made In China one ????????

 

Running one and a buddy has one both in daily drivers no problems for three years. Simple truth is none of us could afford the 700.00 brand and did what we needed to do to get it down the road.

 

A while back, I was on the fence on buying a new Radiator vrs having my original re-cored on my 55 Chevy truck. After discussing it with my local radiator shop, he showed me the difference with the quality of the core he would use and what was being sold assembled over the counter. For me, it was a no brainer even tho building mine was more than twice the cost. I'm not sure if what he was comparing his core material to was USA made or not, but I think it was money well spent, especially since he was able to squeeze 4 core's into my original tanks.

 

I'll bite the bullet and buy a Walker. My old 46 Ford Convertible with A/C has a Walker in it for at least 15 years and still going strong. You can't overheat that car if you tried. BTW it fit perfectly with no modifications. When it comes to brakes, steering and cooling buy the best. You won't be dissatisfied.

 

After two failed re-core's I decided to go with Champion. I've put them in three of my cars and havn't had one problem. Can't beat $200 delivered

 

well I bought a USA made radiator, (not non traditional aluminum either) and it was only $235 delivered..so........

P.S. aluminum radiators in our types of builds looks out of place, and an after thought

 

My old 55 effie had the orig rad....it too, came apart at the upper tank...

Great advice was....have the rad shop weld in 2-3 straps right at the base of the tank top......never had any more come loose problems.

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I bought a superior rad for my red fleetline...a couple of folks around here had them in their 50's chevy...and they were very happy....I think it was xmas and the guy was ready for some cash....I think I paid about 180 for it delivered thru ebay....looks nice but not in yet.

 

Bought one four years ago and it's still working like a champ!

 

Picked up a show special at Daytona last week, 32 Ford with trans cooler and outlets for Chevy engine. $150 Business card was from Dillon Radiator
www.dillonradiator.com

 

Just got me a Walker coming because of the same thought.