Ok.........
What do ya'll think of aluminum radiators ? I found one that is aircraft raw aluminium . I see that corrosion is harmful to aluminium . Then I thought how reliable is an aluminium .
Also thought airplanes are aluminium & they last a very long times ......well until they CRASH... I see aluminium change kolur and need to be cleaned so are radiators reliable ?
Do most use copper tubes or what material ??? Also may have to use special fasteners
Let me know ..........if you can........

 

I replaced my stock radiator with an aluminum one and so far it works great! Cools really well.
Cowling bolted on fine. I also used my stock fan. Didn't opt for an electric fan you can buy for them.

I see a lot of them at classic truck shows here in the south.
Also, everyone I talked to thought the corrosion issue was bunk, so I didn't install a sacrificial insert that is supposed to prevent corrosion.

My experience is here: My Radiator Replacement Thread

Cody

 

Yeah , Texas I agree . Sometimes I find too much information or over-think things which gets confusing
What got me wondering/worried was the " RAW Aluminum " description . I saw Stacy David talk about using shark hide on brushed aluminum & others treating Airstream trailers , so this got my worried .
Manufactures are constantly cutting cost buy using subpar materials & techniques , so just trying to avoid another remorseful purchase !!!
Some use 4 or 3 small tubes in a radiator which do not cool as well as a 2 core with big tubes !
Then you got the downflow vs crossflow debate .........not much easy anymore...........ha...
Your comments help greatly.......

 

Knew a guy, he had a '67 Mustang notchback, 427 tunnel port, 2x4s, wide 9" rear, all moved over from a '61 Starliner drag car. Big tear drop hood, it run low11s in the early '70s. To drive it on the street, he would hang 3" pipes with doubled mufflers under it, and grooved slicks. It run hot in the tight confines of the Mustang though, so he plumbed in long lines to a 5 gallon old aluminum Moon Eye's fuel tank behind the seat where used to be a back seat, added inch sized hoses to the cooling system from the engine. so the tank was like an unfinned storage, like a large heater core without fins. It worked, the engine was happy, but he had to fashion an enclosure to carry heat from it out into the trunk on warm evening cruise rides. He had a hinged door on it if he wanted heat.

That Moon Eye tank used to be mounted in the grille of the '61, had a hand pump to pump air in it from the driver seat in the '61.

 

Phoenix here. Hotter than hell itself.
I had a 3 row copper/brass radiator in good condition. It worked.
I replaced it with a 3 row champion radiator (aluminum)

Noticeable difference in cooling. It probably dropped 5-10 degrees. I never had to worry about the engine getting hot. Even when it was 120* outside and I was stuck in traffic (while towing). Never overheated. I could let it idle all day.

 

Just to be clear it appears to me there are good 3 & 4 core radiators with decent size tubes , but some advertise 3 cores and give all dimensions of the radiator EXCEPT tube size !!!
All I have seen that do this are China made & look the same no matter what company sells them . I bet they are all made by the same company.......except the well made , proper size tubes , 3 & 4 core ones .

 

Copper conducts and transfers heat better than aluminum. However aluminum is stronger than copper so aluminum tubes can be larger.

The draw to aluminum rads is that the tubes are aluminum and thus are capable of being larger than copper (though in many cases they actually aren’t.)

So between a copper rad vs Al with same size tubes, the copper rad will cool better. A copper vs Al with larger tubes, the Al will cool better.

Al does corrode very easily, even faster than steel because it’s a soft metal and very reactive. Therefore a sacrificial anode is cheap insurance.

Airplanes are made out of aircraft grade aluminum which is a much better grade than cheap rads are made from.

 

I've had them in my autocross truck fro Champion, Summit, Frostbite and Cold Case (made in USA) and they all failed. The QC on the Cold Case was the worst. The other three made in China were built better in my opinion. I think my failures were caused by the flexing at track events. I have soft mounted the latest 125$ ebay radiator and it's holding up fine. Performance and design is exactly the same as the others.

 

I think I paid $189 for my champion CC433 off eBay probably 5 years ago.

 

What is sad , is companies are so dishonest now , many say things about their products that are just lies & us consumers find out much later when they are caught , if they do
I do no what to believe anymore ...
This is one big reason I come on the FORUM , to ask you guys opinions cuz my brain is getting smaller.........
The remark about the aircraft aluminum helped

 

OK , I still am guilty of the same things I have slightly & suttily accused others of . That is buying things because bigger is better or some fancy looking high dollar , or more octane thing is what I MUST have to be faster or more hip & KOOL .
It is plain & simple , slick & smart MARKETING from HOT ROD magazines & TV shows , etc...etc...etc...
There is a lot of truth to their stuff , but also a lot of deceptive information & inuindo , & a little dishonesty
I say al of this because I was about to & did buy a fancy alumninum radiator because of these very reasons plus the one I bought was dirt cheap & IAM A SUCKER FOR A BARGAIN.....
My 2 times failed repaired , ( needing a third ) radiator kools my truck perfectly . It is a slighly biigger than stock for my Ford but it is a period correct Ford , & my new 180* thermostat keeps my engine right on 180 degrees Witch I read is what is recommended for the fuel to burn thoroughly & efficiently according to the engineers . Marketing has almost convinced me Kooler is better so I go hunting for a flashy , shiny aliumnium , 18 core , ha , radiator , well actually I did because stock replacment are more than $800.00 on CJ pony parts is another reason I started looking at aluiminum radiators.......
I proably do not need a fancy 4 core aliumnium radiator , but they are very cheap now , which is another LONG story........it never ends..........ha.......
Anyway I am tired of typing & spell check .............I hope you get the jest of my message & hope it helps............some
Thank-You 4 ur support.......

 

Hotter is better. To a point.

180 works very well on our older carbureted engines.

I tried running a 180 thermostat in my '86 and it confused the hell out of the computer. Ran all sorts of funky. Put a 195 back in it and all of those problems went away.

New modern engines are coming with 205-210 thermostats. Getting engine and oil temperatures up helps with efficiency and emissions.

 

Yes 351ClevelandC4 , I should have specified 1971's should be 180* , makes sense........ . I almost got a 160* until I read that about the 180* .
I have become almost obsessed with Ford truck info..............I have countless factory service information & parts catalogs , & many manuals & magazines from very reputable publishers
I like things right & close to stock and keep all the old parts , to go back stock if desire to........
You are a great help...........thanx........

 

I am running a stock plain Jane original copper radiator with the 390 in my 70 F250.