Severe abuse, long hours idling in subzero temps, pulling a trailer up steep mountains in 100+ heat with the A/C on, 4:10s and a 4 speed screaming at 90 MPH down the interstate at 5400+ RPM....and LOTS of 4 wheeling.

I need a very kickass radiator. Like the best ever made kinda radiator.

What are you running, how do you like it, and what did it cost you?

thanks!

 

Griffin ExactFit Performance Radiators and Cooling Products

Find a Griffin part number 7-70138
I think they retail around $500, I bought a new one on eBay for $225. But had a blemish, which took me 15 minutes to find.
Then mount a Lincoln Mark VIII fan on it.

Aluminum radiators transfer heat more efficiently than OEM's

 

The largest stock radiator Ford made was a big 4 row radiator for heavy duty. Those things will cool just about anything, but requires the radiator support with the large hole for it.

Aluminum radiators are supposed to be better than copper/brass. They claim that a smaller aluminum cools as good or better than a big copper/brass. Many off roaders and hot rodders use them with electric fan setups.

I run a 3 row aluminum with a dual fan setup in my 77 with a 521 and while it stays under 205 on 100+ heat, I'm not that impressed with how it cools. I'd like to see it cool better and not have to run my fans. On cooler days though I only have to run one fan plus sitting in traffic the electric fans work very well. I do think I have an air flow problem with an A/C condenser and transmission cooler in front of the radiator though.

Those Lincoln Fans and also the crown vic fans move a ton of air. They pull alot of amps so an alternator upgrade is a plus.

 

I did a fair amount of research on radiators and came up with the following:

1. Aluminum does NOT cool better than brass and copper. The manufacturers went with aluminum due to cost and weight savings. It also has to be grounded or die-electric corrosion will occur.

2. I went with a four row from Cool Craft (coolcraft.com) Well made and built in the USA! This thing is pretty heavy and the core is the 4 row with trans cooler. They make another core that is a triple pass w/ four row but not available with trans cooler due to construction. This radiator cost me approx $750 and they guaranteed it to cool the approx 500 HP engine the TMeyer is building for me.

3. Look on their website for some good information and their testing results between aluminum and copper & brass.

4. There was another company called Detroit Radiator I believe and they looked like they had nice products as well. I went with cool craft due to them being on the west coast as I am.

5. I am also going with waterless coolant. Look it up. More expensive, but having no water, there will be no corrosion. Plus it has a much higher boiling point than standard antifreeze.

Those were my research results. I have not installed it as of yet due to the project being a long ways off, but I feel like I bought a quality radiator that will more than do the job. I also will be using an Edelbrock water pump and the factory fan shroud with electric fan.

Good luck!

 

Only part true

The thermal conductivity of aluminum is twice that of brass but only half that copper. Unfortunately the tubes on the radiators are brass not copper.

The thermal conductivity of each material is listed in units W/mC

Aluminum 202
Brass (70 Cu - 30 Zn) 99
Copper 386

See the link
Thermal Conductivities of Heat Exchanger Materials

Let me say that this just the thermal conductivity of the materials. If the aluminum radiator has twice the tube wall thickness the it would be the same as brass. There are a lot of physical factors that go into a radiator that will impact it's performance.

Flow rate of the coolant can have a large effect as well. In fact going to a four row could show little improvement if the coolant slows down so much that it flows in a laminar flow vs a turbulent flow. So a big radiator would work best with a high flow water pump and high flow t-stat.

As bareaneye says the coolant can make a big difference as well. Specifically different fluids have different heat capacities. Which is a fluids ability to carry or hold heat. Straight water cools a lot better than water and antifreeze mix. Straight antifreeze is terrible. There's a product called water wetter which increases the heat capacity of straight water.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/et...col-d_146.html

 

What is the difference between an X-tra cool and Super cool?

 

Thanks Drac! I appreciate the facts that you provided behind what you are saying. I didn't have time to get into the response real deep.

The waterless antifreeze that I will be using is Evans Waterless Antifreeze (evanscooling.com. While it is expensive, you never change it. And it never corrodes anything. With the other quality pieces that I have for the cooling system, I never expect to have a problem.

Craig

 

Also copper & brass, I feel, are more durable and can be repaired/ recored much easier than aluminum.......
My .02 cents.....

 

Agree with that. I use to work a Junk Yard years ago we would repair and pressure test all the time. Now we seem to live in a throw away world.

Thanks for the Waterless Information. Hadn't heard of that before.

I had also heard the cross flow radiators are more effecient over the down flow type that these truck have. I stayed with a down flow because it just looks more original and les GM like.

Unfortunately, I cant tell ya how well my set up does or doesn't work as I'm not completed with her yet. I did break the cam in running 2500 rpm for 30 min. headers were red hot glowing, water temp never went over 190

 

Thanks for all the input. I picked a few great ideas from here. I most likely will be doing a diesel swap with an auto trans a few years down the road, so Ill be looking for big, heavy duty with trans line attachments.

Wealth of info, thank you.

 

My vote goes for the oem factory "super cooler" radiator (copper/brass), almost 24qt capacity.

It most cases it will make you run too cool, it's a beast of a radiator.

 

If a 4 row Super Cooler wont cool it then there is probably something wrong with the motor. I got mine from Performance Radiator. I have no idea what they would want for one these days. Takes 2 people to get it in there.

 

rockauto has a Vista Pro 4 core for $510.

 

X2 on the Griffin. My 4 row super wasn't cooiling my built 460 effectively on hot days so I went to the huge Griffin within a trasn cooler built in. $$$ but cool as a cucumber now. The fan and shroud are important too. I've got a huge electric fan now and a correct comprehensive shroud.

 

when i was looking for my truck i saw a 71 with a used radiator out of a f-750 guy said he never had issues with temp