My 5 year old Spectra premium copper/brass radiator was taken out by a swarm of grasshoppers, 3/8" thick tumbleweed stem and a small rock all at 90mph - all these things went through the hole in the bumper above the liscence plate and left three pin holes that leaked at a fair rate, and the radiator wouldn't hold pressure anymore.
I searched around for a decent aluminum one and discovered that two rows of 1" tubes cools a lot better than 3 or 4 rows of tubes (greater contact area, etc). Champion Radiator (also known as American Eagle) sells C body radiators in two or three row varieties through their website or E-Bay. I ordered their "American Eagle AE332" two row radiator on a Sunday night and had it on Wednesday morning. Looks like good quality, especially for the $179 free shipping price.
Only one problem: The transmission oil cooler connectors are welded in, and they are too small for the factory stock nuts which are 1/2''. The cooler connectors are only .455", so the nuts won't tighten, they'll just leak like a sieve. I opted to add an external trans cooler (I've been meaning to for years) and bypass the radiator cooler altogether. I went with the second largest Plate and Fin cooler NAPA sells, made for trucks, SUV's and motor homes towing 5,000lbs.
I also ordered a 1/2" thick radiator "honeycomb" protective sheild used by dirt track racers to keep the mud and stuff out of their radiators (in my case it is to protect the delicate fins from the destructive grasshoppers and tumble weeds (it is available through Summit or Jegs). I cut it to fit in the recessed area of the radiator bulkhead and fastened it to the radiator with those plastic pins used to mount oil coolers. I installed a high flow 180F thermostat and replaced the brass drain petcock with a sacrificial anode to prevent electrolytic corrosion of the dissimilar metals, and filled it up with the good old green antifreeze.
Even running her really hard (zero to 110mph, ten or twelve times in rapid sucession) it has not gotten above 190F. Previously two or three blasts would heat it up to 230F or more. See the pics for installation ideas:
Joined: Tue Oct 11 2005, 01:33AM
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 5893
Great thread!
I was curious how/why a 2 row rad cooled better than a 3 row so I did a little digging to find this explanation. Take special note of the web specials with two rows of different sizes. Sometimes you've gotta just shake your head with some of the crap on the web from China!
Joined: Sat Aug 19 2006, 05:03PM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2919
Two years ago I needed a radiator. I considered the Champion aluminum rad, and probably would've gone with that if Rock Auto didn't still have the Spectra CU332 in stock for a decent price.
Since your old rad is copper, the puncture holes should be repairable by soldering them closed, if they're not too large. I would've looked into that before buying a replacement rad, especially considering your original rad isn't that old.
Those are some good tips. The sacrificial anode that installs in place of the drain petcock is a neat idea; I didn't know those were available. Not sure how necessary it is though, since you're running antifreeze and not straight water. The corrosion inhibitors in your antifreeze are supposed to prevent galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metals.
I was never completely happy with the Spectra copper/brass radiator--the fins were very fragile, and it could never quite keep the engine at a decent temperature even with a 16" auxillary electric fan. The new aluminum works so much better with just the old factory thermal clutch fan, I wonder why I waited so long to switch......
Here is a pic of the tattered Spectra (I'm going to turn it in to a scrap dealer for $40--costs too much to ship it anywhere):
Joined: Fri Jan 18 2008, 10:06PM
Location: Richmond, VA
Posts: 383
Very helpful thread, Krautmaster. Thanks. I had noticed the Champion Radiators and wondered about quality. I bookmarked the post. Bummer that the trans oil fittings are no good.
Joined: Tue Oct 11 2005, 01:33AM
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 5893
Krautmaster wrote ...
..... Only one problem: The transmission oil cooler connectors are welded in, and they are too small for the factory stock nuts which are 1/2''. The cooler connectors are only .455", so the nuts won't tighten, they'll just leak like a sieve.
Metric maybe?
After further Google search I came across the Champion spec, the fitting appears to be 1/8-27 NPT. This is a tapered pipe thread so an adapter should connect it to the stock Mopar fittings.
