Just my $0.02, but I'd be wary.... remember you get what you pay for.

I would for sure not buy anything important from autozone. They're good for fluids and some simple parts, but make sure they're real name brand. (ie fel-pro gaskets, etc) The house brand (dura-last now?) is cheep junk. That's their business model - sell ultra cheap junk parts. Kragen is a bit better but I've always felt that the napa type stores are a much better bet for good parts. Some exceptions, but that's by and large the picture.

There's a lot of room in something like a radiator to skim on things like thickness of metal. I'd bet that radiator is going to corrode and leak like a sieve within 5 years or so. The stock ones are well enough built to rebuild over and over and get many many years out of.

That's what I've done on these, just take the stock unit to a good radiator shop and they can pull it apart, clean and inspect and put it back together. Especially if you have a 4 core OEM unit.

 

hey buddy,
I know Fredericksburg might be a ways from you but I found this rad this morning

90 F350 Truck Parting out

TRUCK PART OUT / ALL EACH

richmond too
F250-350 DIESEL Radiator

 

Thanks Linus, but I decided to go with the Champion. I am getting all the rest of the parts in order, and will do the swap in a week or two.

 

hey good to hear.

 

Hey, the factory turbos are not that bad. i am now finding that out. boost is a wonderful thing!!!

 

So this project just got moved to the front burner! I was repairing a couple leaky return lines today (brand new kit leaked in 3 places!) and doing a diesel klean treatment in the fuel filter, when I noticed water under the truck. It turns out the top rad hose outlet at tank is cracked at the bottom, and leaning on it a few more times today cracked it enough to render it OOC! I could probably braze it myself, but I think it is time for this old dog to stop hunting! I'll drive the 93 until all the parts get here. Too bad, I just washed her for the first time and she cleaned up pretty well! I pulled a couple new hard trans cooler lines at the JY yesterday, so I'll do a tranny service, all new lines, water pump, t-stat, and new radiator hoses while I'm at it! Does anyone have any experience with the Gates water pumps from Rock auto? They are dirt cheap, lifetime warranty, and Gates has been around for a while, although they can't be making them here in the US for that price! One more question, I have two aux trans coolers installed in this truck, One is a B&M with electric fan, which seems to be in excellent condition, and one is installed between the grill and the radiator. It s filthy and clumped with years of leaking tranny fluid. should I try to clean that one up, or just go with the B&M and new radiator cooler? Also, will trans fluid damage brass pipe fittings? O.K. that was two more questions! It seems that wherever the solid lines were cut to install these coolers, the soft lines are leaking where there is no knurled end on the hard line. I can buy barbed hose connectors with compression fittings in brass for a decent price, but IDK if they will hold up. The nice thing about that is I could use Oetiker clamps, and still be able to disconnect the hoses at the compression fitting, and hopefully eliminate all the little drips at the trans cooler lines. I HATE LEAKS!

Thanks for all the help guys,

It seems to never end!

Mac.

 

Rock Auto is being a pain in the ***, I trying to login and its not working
I was able to finally look up the last order I put in, and it appears the last pump I put in was a Gates (#44018). I liked it better than the first one I got, but don't remember what that brand was, and can't seem to look it up now.

 

So the new radiator is in, It came undamaged, I made the Fed-ex guy stand there while I opened it. It looks pretty solid with good craftsmanship. I am waiting on a whole bunch of other parts, but should have them by this weekend for another two-dayer on the old girl. I picked up a new A/C manifold from Rock Auto and my buddy is going to charge the A/C system for me. Working A/C for 83 bucks... NICE! The good news is the P/O converted it to 134 already!

Here are a couple pics.







Mac.

 

congrats on the rad. i was also PLEASED with the craftsmanship of the champ rad.

 

good news?? id be pissed..

Did some quick measuring, found that an IDI rad wont fit between my frame, so guess i will be looking for a cookie cutter 3/4 row. Will look into Champion radiators. Also talked with a retired radiator guy and he said "not all, but typically aftermarket alum. radiators are one in the same, claiming that xxx brand is just as good as BeCool"

 

i just converted to 134a cus i couldn't find anyone around to charge r12.
i just used the basic off the shelf kit and didn't even bother trying to get the old r12 oil out haha.
well i figured the system was junk to me anyway if i wasn't using it.it was on/off/on/off crap cus it was low and didn't work good enough to use and it just hurt economy with all the cycling.
if she goes,she goes.i'll replace whatever latter.til then i might as well use it i figured cus it was worthless as is.
temps via my temp gun in the upper 20's out the vent.......at idle w/the e-fans.
i wont complain til my compressor blows up hahaha,then i'll get it properly evacuated then.could be years from now who knows,since we only need it here for 3 months top out of the year.
iv no complaints with the 134a in the old r12 system.

 

It didn't really matter to me because my buddy has some R12 in a private stash too, but it's nice if I ever need anyone else to work on it. I don't know how they can tell, but the place where I took it and the dealer both said it looked like a dealer conversion, which I am hoping means it was done right! I just need it fixed, Summer is definitely here in So Cal, and I am about to drive 1k miles to Denver in Late July or early August!

 

Well I finished her up this weekend, for the most part anyway!

It started out ok, I tore her down, pulled the water pump, t-stat and all the top and bottom hoses on Saturday evening. Sunday morning I was off to the auto parts store to get a few things and decided to make sure I had all the fittings for the new radiator. It turns out that the fittings were not interchangeable, and somehow I missed the new trans cooler hose fittings at the bottom of the radiator box, so I was going to get new ones. Turns out that the threads on the fittings were not standard NPT threads, so my problems began. I finally figured out that I could use a 1/4" NPT threaded coupler over the male radiator fitting then thread a 1/4" male NPT to 3/8" hose barb onto that, Which worked well enough. Afterwards, my buddy found the supplied fittings in the box, so I might change them out. The plug where the 5/8 hose for the trans cooler water inlet goes, was a funky size that I could not find anywhere so I didn't know what to do. This next part was a little scary, but it worked out great. I decided to get a NPT tap set from good old Harbor Freight Tools, and re-tap the threads! It was a little worried about ruining my brand new radiator, but I decided to do it anyway. I figured worst case, I would need to get it repaired. It turns out that I didn't need to, as the tap worked perfectly, and I was able to thread the old fitting into the new radiator to hook the hose up. After solving that problem, the install went smoothly, and the Champion Radiator was a direct bolt in replacement. All the mounting holes lined up, and the fan shroud bolted right up too.



I hemmed and hawed about making a bracket to hang the coolant filter off of the fuel water separator bracket, or finding another location for it. I finally decided to yank the jack mount which I wasn't using anyway and installing it on the passenger side fender well. It is a little close to the starter relay, but it looks real clean, almost like it belonged there, and this way, both filters are easily accessible still. If anyone else decides to put theirs here pay attention to the hood hinge clearance. I had to put mine tight to the starter relay, to clear the hinge, and used some #14 self tappers to secure it to the fender.




I got everything back together and filled her with 8 Gallons of Fleet guard and distilled water, and off I went. So far so good. I will update with any findings if problems occur. I have another problem with my trans cooler lines, but I am going to start a new thread for that.

Thanks for the input,

Mac.

 

do you think you'll be able to change filters without having to unscrew the mounting head though or?
if not,maybe rigging up some studs/nuts would be a good idea to avoid stripping out/need to keep using a larger size self tapper every filter change?

oops.
if im not mistaken,your flow through your filter is backwards that way? after the heater core like that i don't think bothers anything though.

i "think" you have it right now as;
out from WP-into heater core-out from heater core- in to out port of filter-out from in port of filter-back to wp.- don't take that as fact though,for all i know i could have mine backwards haha! i was fairly sure i checked it all out at that time though.......but,iv been known to mess a thing or two up from time to time lol.

ok so here's mine:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/a...1&d=1306965009

perhaps someone can confirm the line with the T (for auto trans) is the line "OUT" from the WP heater core port?
as far as the IN and out on the filter head,that's marked i believe.
one of us has ours backwards.if it's mine,so be it.i'll swap mine around.

 

Hey Ford,

What no flack about the Sidewinder!?! You're slipping!

I hear you on the through bolts, I was kind of in a hurry to wrap up the project, but I think I have enough room to drop the filter to change it. I will probably through bolt it later though.

I ran the hose from the water pump to the port marked "Inlet" on the filter head, then out the top of the head to the heater core, I believe that is right isn't it. It makes sense to me that the flow would be going from the pump to the outside of the filter then up through the element to the heater core, I think, but I don't know for sure. Like my sig. says, "None of us knows more than all of us!" Your thoughts?

Thanks,

Mac.