I got a rude shock when I took my radiator to the radiator guy and it would appear that he wants to send his kid through university on my radiator!

Late night eBay surfing (oh man is that dangerous) found me a Chinese Flathead radiator delivered for just under $300 AUD, so I bought one...

I'll let you know how well it fits etc once it arrives, I have used this particular sellers radiators before on a couple of rebuilds and found them to be a little sharp on the edges but for the price represent good value for money.

I probably should have posted a 'hasy anyone used one' post but an impulse purchase at 2am negates ones common sense

 

Right on. Some of the Chinese stuff in getting good these days, some factories are getting the quality accreditations. I've found their LED electronic stuff of eBay pretty good as long as you go for a known supplier with lots of +tve feedback.

So what did the local guy quote for the replacement?

 

He wanted $580 for a re-core, and said he could get a 'new' one for $850, to be fair it's a no brainer for $300 really

Not like it matters on a truck, but think of the weight saving eheh..

 

I did that when I snapped a fitting off one of my radiators, and ended up buying 2 more before biting the bullet and buying a genuine Ford one. It's still in the car 7yrs later.

 

You managed to buy a new OEM flathead radiator O_o !!! Not worried about snapping necks, have TIG will travel !

I can only assume that my radiator guy's version of 'new' for a 70 year old truck is buying some non genuine or used tanks and stiching a couple of chopped up NatRad cores in to it.

There are grades of Chinese radiators, all of them B Grade and below, people do their load over the well priced 'ProCool' (readrocomp rubbish) radiators, there just another B grade Chinese radiator with some flashy red paint stenciled on to them, perception is some peoples reality.

If I'm building vintage / classic horsepower I typicaly use a 3 core copper Desert Cooler, the alloy radiators can't dissapte heat soak anywhere near the rate of copper, and the old blocks soak it up.

I'd never put an el-cheapo in my XR8 ute, pushing out 500hp in a hot modular demands quality, but the old truck, well, she's a weekender and I am running a budget build on this old girl for poops and giggles.

I'll have her on the road, 100% roadworthy and oozing kewl for under 11K including the purchase price AND NSW rego but if I must be fair I have been a motor mechanic and welder since the early 80's, the only thing I haven't done myself are the tailshaft modifications, I have no means to balance them and I hate driveline vibrations, and it's oh sooo much easyer to point the finger at the tailshaft when someone else has to sort it..

The only real pain is the wait time on parts from the US, I was hoping to have her on the road at the end of this month, but I doubt I'll have my bits before mid next month, I spent too much time procrastinating and not enough 'head down bum up'.

Man, can I prattle on and on about nothing..

 

hahaha yeah sorry, I was talking about for my Fairmont. Not the truck - which does need one because the previous owner (farmer) has jammed a tractor one in there and cable-tied it to the grille. That's right, the grille - not the radiator support panel.

I like the sound of that though, and I agree 100% with copper radiators. I've never liked the ali ones - mostly because they're stupidly over-priced and it introduces a dissimilar metal to the mix, and ali gets eaten by just about every other common metal.

Got any more info on the XR8? 500hp from a Boss surely means a blower?

 

Indeed, she huffs and puffs and blows my savings down

And O M G to farmer brown, the sad thing is most of these old beauties went 60 odd years without much damage, then some 21st century knuckle dragger uses it for an anvil or pretends it's a bulldozer !