After 34 yrs my OE radiator began leaking. I think I got my money out of that part. Bought a new Spectra rad from RA. The OE unit had metal side tanks, the new has plastic tanks and was set up for trans cooler. Had to buy plugs for that. The new unit also has a 3/8" NPT plastic screw-in drain plug while the OE unit has a 1/4" NPT propeller drain that I can afix a hose to when draining the radiator. I've already experienced a nightmare situation with the rad on my car. It too has a plastic drain that failed on the road. The plug broke off while driving down the highway.

I'm wondering if anyone has changed the plastic pieces to metal drain parts?

I'd need a reducing bushing from 3/8" to 1/4" and the propeller type drain. Dorman has the 1/4" propeller drain part on their HELP display.
I don't want to use the lower hose to drain because that makes a huge mess. Using the drain is a better way for me because I can drain the rad into a 3gal bucket....no fuss/no mess. I flush/fill cooling system every 2 yrs and recycle the AF.
So, anyone make the parts change from the plastic junk to metal?
Thanks
Dave

(btw: OE unit wt 22lb/new 10lb)
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Holy cow, someone actually said it. I am working on my situation right now with the same thing. I knew the drain petcock on this new Spectra was junk as soon as I pulled it out of the box, let me ask, did you get the aluminum or copper one? I myself bought the aluminum to get lighter service, needless to say, should have went with the copper, because it has the metal propeller drain plug from what my local distributor said. Good luck with it though!

 

Bought the Al one along with an Al HC. Screwed around for a while trying to come up with a blade type drain. Closest one I found was a Dorman, but the thread was wrong. Decided to trust the OE plug type
Got sick and only finished the replacement a week or so ago. All is well and the gauge tells me the engine is running a lot cooler. The thread is 1.25 x-fine. The only one I found was 1.5.
This plug is way better than the pos that came with the Al rad from Spectra I bought for my car. That 2 piece pos came apart, on the road, after 7 yrs! Spectra over-nighted me a redesigned replacement.
Any way, the old girl is healthy again with a new t-stat, housing and prestone coolant. The radiator don't have quite the same dimensions as the OE unit but I worked that out modifying the mounts.

 

Hey Im usually not one to try and say anything because most of the time the people I talk to are smarter than I, but have you tried places like ebay, or just googling a petcock with that thread pattern? Im sure that there are people out there who want the same thing as you, and if someone is willing to pay for it, someone is willing to make it.

On a second note, I got my 81 up and running with new everything, hoses, coolant, aluminum radiator, thermostat, water pump, belts etc. The only thing I havent done to the cooling was change to an electric fan. Still wondering about it since I have a 5 blade flex fan. I tested out the cooling system last night after getting everything finished up. Tried to get it to over heat any at all, even blocked off the radiator as best I could with an old pizza box laying in the garage. Not even a hiccup with over 3/4 of the radiator blocked, gauge was showing 195, and the hoses and pump was less than 160. So I think I am ready for summer this year! Good luck with your spectra and hope all worked out for you!