Can you use Racing Radiators for the street?

I notice that Jegs and Summit offer aluminum racing radiators for under $200. Is anybody using these for street duty? I'm a tight wad, but don't want overheating problems with my Dodge 400 bb. I was hoping to stay cool enough with a radiator and electric fan for less than $300. Advice please.

 

Radiators are another favorite debate. AFCO racing built the radiators in all my early stuff and they work great.

 

Ive been using Ron Davis radiators and AFCO's for 15 years without a hitch.

PLEASE used distilled water like they insist from the manufacturer. It will make them last so much longer.

 

usually race car radiators are on the small side, aren't they? so make sure it's big enough, and a big block mopar will want a huge radiator

 

depends totally on the manufacturer. Some use Ford or Chrysler cores and weld on thier own fabricated tanks (AFCO, Be Cool) and others manufacture thier own cores (Ron Davis, CR, Griffin) to thier own specifications. I know for a fact that Ron Davis furnace brazes thier fins to the tubes for better durability and thermal conductivity and companies like Griffin just press the fins in place.

Fin count is the biggest difference, Ron Davis uses 18 FPI (fins per inch) with louvered fins. They are dense and if you have a weak fan like most 16" aftermarket electric fans, you will not have enough air flow through the radiator sitting in traffic. The flip side is lower fin counts and less dense radiators do not have the capacity to drop heat out of your cooling system under loads. I have seen plenty of old Modine two row 8 to 10 FPI radiators cool your average street engine but puke their guts out at freeway speeds or under severe loads like pulling a long grade.

Your radiator is nothing but a huge heat sink. Got a lot of horspower? You will need more surface area to dissapate the generated heat.

 

Another concern with the racing style universal radiators is that they typically do not have a trans cooler. Not a concern if you have manual trans, but if auto, then you need to run a cooler. You also need to fabricate new mounts for the universal radiator, a minor issue.

 

I'll be running a 727 auto and was planning on a seperate cooler just for it. Thanks guys.

 

i am running a all aluminum race radiator from summit 25" wide 19 1/2" tall it has two rows of 1" veins 42 total no trans cooler in it and they also dont have drain valves i run a 16" electric fan and a seperate trans cooler i do run the shit out of it and never get above 195 the tanks are bigger than most stock radiators but still fit great.

 

i used a griffin circle track universal radiator in my hemi tub ......cruised that piece around indy goodguys for hours.....only got over 195 once.....and that was when the radiator cap went south ......did the same at louisville ....02....man that summer was hot.........brandon

 

So what's the concensus?
Race Radiatiors take a little more work fabing mounts and you need an external trans cooler but, they do work if you can go big enough?

 

I'm using a Griffin aluminum job 19x24 i think. Works pretty good with a 12 inch flex fan, but had to add two 7 inch electrics on a switch to handle the in heat and shitty traffic that we in Stockton have to endure. Used to get up to 230 sitting in traffic but now only 210 going across town in 95 deg. weather. On the freeway it sits at 185 no matter what the temp outside. In the winter it has trouble staying warm. I also recommend grounding the radiator to the chassis with a peice of 14ga. wire to prevent electrolisis, which can ruin an aluminum radiator.