Aluminum Radiators

[NWD02]

I found the on e-bay and wanted some opinions. You guys think these are decent? I'm looking for something to cool a stock 350 with a small cam.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/67-72...ayphotohosting

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ALL-A...m220245455884&

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEVY...m200231194526&

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Alumi...m360061360027&

[1969-08 chevy]

It looks and sounds good, but that thing is expensive. I put an aluminum radiator and external tranny cooler in mine for less than half that cost.

[petey-pablo]

Originally Posted by 1969-08 chevy

It looks and sounds good, but that thing is expensive. I put an aluminum radiator and external tranny cooler in mine for less than half that cost.

Looks nice 1969-08 chevy; Where and how much was your set Up?

[whatnow123]

I'm interested in this as well as I need to get a new rad.

[stunna]

there are some people on this site that have tried this radiator setup. I was wanting to know about the fitment and the cooling capacity myself. I did a thread a couple of weeks ago and i don't remember anyone with a small block rplying back about the setup. i don"t think that price is too bad at all when you compare to some like Griffin.

[1969-08 chevy]

I bought the radiator from spredway motors and the the tranny cooler is from summit. The radiator was $155 and the cooler was $30 something. I trust stuff from speedway and summit, because I run these products in my race car and they hold up. I made a special mount for the cooler, but you don't have to, same with the radiator. The only thing you will need is some rubber to put under the radiator, because its channel bottom, or cut it off the radiator. Sorry for the long reply.

[haysonj]

Originally Posted by NWD02

I found the on e-bay and wanted some opinions. You guys think these are decent? I'm looking for something to cool a stock 350 with a small cam.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/67-72...ayphotohosting

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ALL-A...m220245455884&

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEVY...m200231194526&

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Alumi...m360061360027&

I bought the $199. one and it seems to work alright. Its made overseas and has poor quality welds on it.

[superchevy]

I bought the entropytec set-up. Have'nt installed it yet. Truck is apart right now. Quality is awesome...really first rate. The shroud and fans are top notch as well. $600 is pretty stiff...a lot better than a $1000+ BeCool though.
SC

[petey-pablo]

Originally Posted by 1969-08 chevy

I bought the radiator from spredway motors and the the tranny cooler is from summit. The radiator was $155 and the cooler was $30 something. I trust stuff from speedway and summit, because I run these products in my race car and they hold up. I made a special mount for the cooler, but you don't have to, same with the radiator. The only thing you will need is some rubber to put under the radiator, because its channel bottom, or cut it off the radiator. Sorry for the long reply.

What do you mean? rubber "to put under the radiator, because its channel bottom?" And do you remember the part# they seem to list a couple of them I am interested in buying one. Thanks thats a good price haven't found anything cheapper than that yet!

[shifty]

Why bother with Aluminum? They really don't make it that much cooler. Just buy a stock 3-core radiator and it's good for 500-600HP worth of cooling.

[Longhorn Man]

I agree with shifty 100%... esp for a stock engine.

[72BLUZ]

i bought mine from radiators r us. it works great. but and there is always a BUT. my radiator cap sits to close the the hold down clamp. i had to modify the cap

[shifty]

I got mine from www.radiators.com, delivered to my door in a couple of hours.

If there is anything I learned after wasting the money to buy 3-4 different aluminum radiators I bought when trying to find one thta actually fit in my truck well during my LS1 swap, it's that:

- A 3core stock radiator cools just as well as a 2core aluminum radiator

- Aluminum radiators typically don't fit well in our trucks, generally look like ass because of the poor fit, and no clips on the market today make it look "natural", even with newer engines.

- You're paying 50%-100% or more higher price ... to get, what? 10-15% better cooling efficiency? WTF?

- Stock 2core, 3core and 4core radiators use different mounting positions, and in some cases different "hangers" (clips). 2- and 3- core models use same clips, but different location. 3- and 4- core use same mounting position but different clips (4core is larger)

- Prices on aluminum radiators are stupidly high for what you actually get.

- Even with a high performance GenIII (LQ9), a 3-core stock radiator kept the engine perfectly cool in the heat of a texas summer (ask FirstGen, his truck had a badass 450HP+ 6.0L engine with a stock 3core radiator)

Personally...I think it makes about as much sense to put an aluminum radiator in our trucks as tits on a boar. But more power to you if that's the route you choose - we all have our thing; you just need to decide if paying more money for 10-15% more efficiency and something that probably won't look right in your truck is the direction you want/need to go.

[1969-08 chevy]

Originally Posted by petey-pablo

What do you mean? rubber "to put under the radiator, because its channel bottom?" And do you remember the part# they seem to list a couple of them I am interested in buying one. Thanks thats a good price haven't found anything cheapper than that yet!

on the bottum and top of the radiator it is not flat. The edges on top and bootum have about a 1/4" lip. My picture is viewing the radaitor frome the side view (right or left).

[Riveted1]

Not to hijack this thread, but I gotta get this off my chest....

I love you Shifty! About as much as a hetero man can love another that he's never met that is! Seriously though, I appreciate the experience you bring to this forum. It's people like you (and many others) on this board that make this such a wonderful place. You people have kept lots of money in my wallet and have taught me more than I could have learned through trial-and-error.

Now kind of thread related... I wanted one of those "blingin" radiators, but didn't want to spend so much money. I had read before that the stock ones were fine for anything I was going to ever build (streetable stuff), so I went with a stock replacement. Glad I did, b/c that money saved bought my bucket seats.

[shifty]

I just sit around and hope nobody takes what I'm saying the wrong way.

You'll always have people hop on and be like, "OMG man, totally do it! You'll burn up that engine if you don't!"

I'm not much better in the way that I'm telling people it's a waste of money. The actuality is, being totally against them is bad, being totally for them is bad, putting one in your vehicle based on the application is "just right".

One of my biggest downfalls on my truck was building it based on "feeling" rather than "reality", trying far too often to overbuild/make it "perfect", "beefier", "<insert your fave 'maximum degree' term here>". I think we all, as guys, have this affliction. It's totally natural.

I just hate being the single voice that says, "Dude. Really? C'mon, let's be serious now..."