Radiator leak repair or new.

[ozkiwi]

My original factory radiator has a couple of small leaks at the top which will cost $150 to weld here in the most expensive country on earth (Australia).
I can buy a new one off flea bay for $300 delivered.
Or maybe one of these ? W0133-1688255 Vista Pro.About $400 delivered
I am unsure of the quality of those cheap ones on ebay I suspect they are chinese made.Has anyone installed one these or the vista pro?

[andrewmp6]

Talk to championradiators.com i have used them before on other stuff they fit right and are made nice.

[gchemist]

Check with www.radiators.com.

[ozkiwi]

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

Talk to championradiators.com i have used them before on other stuff they fit right and are made nice.

I am going to go with these guys.

Thanks

[ozkiwi]

The Champion radiator(AMERICAN EAGLE) is great set up with a shroud and twin 14 inch fans but the wiring kit is low quality rubbish with the circuit breaker and relay not up to the job.It left me with a boiling motor very quickly in traffic when the circuit breaker kept tripping instantly when the fans tried to start.Have had it rewired with a relay and circuit breaker for each fan with quality parts and all good now.DONT BUY THE WIRING KIT WHEN ORDERING A CHAMPION RADIATOR FROM LEDFOOT RACING.

[weider1717]

Have it recored it'll last another 30yrs. I'm an original kinda guy had mine recored also my heater core wanted to keep the harrison tanks etc on them but the entire cores are new and haven't had a problem yet.

[ozkiwi]

26 Months later and my nice Champion radiator is shot. It had a minor leak develop about six months after I installed it.I am talking a couple of drops after sitting for a couple of days.I could not locate it so just tightened up all the hoses and forgot about it.Big mistake according to the radiator guys this leak would suck in air when cooling down and this causes corrosion that has wrecked my newish radiator.
On top of that I should have changed the coolant yearly with a high quality coolant of the exact same type I first used ?
I did not understand that alloy radiators are not fit and forget.Even motorcycles are only coolant changed every second year.
Think I will go back to copper and brass.
I guess this means my new alloy heater core will go soon.

[old Rusty C10]

should have recored your old one these new and improved ones are not so improved

[tucsonjwt]

Copper and brass is much easier to fix and tends to stay fixed longer, in my experience. They are also less expensive.

The few aluminum radiators I have seen in modified vehicles have all had problems - mostly with the fittings leaking. Aluminum radiators are more fragile, in my opinion.

I had a 63 SWC Corvette as a youngster and back in the day (1968-69) that had a factory aluminum radiator with an aluminum elbow on top which connected to a hose to an aluminum overflow tank. Due to bad design by GM, that elbow broke off because the reverse opening hood would come in contact with it when closing. The elbow was too small and fragile to be heli-arced back into place, so we used some Permatex and a brass threaded elbow to make it work. In those days, nobody would touch those new fangled aluminum radiators. After that experience, I never wanted an aluminum radiator again.

My neighbor has a Champion in his modified Toyota Land Cruiser diesel. When pushing a new hose on the overflow fitting the fitting broke off. This reinforced my belief that aluminum radiators are not as sturdy as copper/brass.

My cheap Ready Rad 2 core radiator keeps my stock 454 C20 below 180 degrees in 114 F temperature in the AZ desert, so I think it would do the job for you down under. I do have a factory oil cooler and granny 4 speed.

[77 Big 10]

I've been running a champion 4 core. It is well made and the fitment was surprisingly right on. Cooling is on par with copper & brass, we'll see how long it lasts.

[Bigstevex4]

i bought a cheap aluminum from parts geek 2 row like $115 worked great so far. 7 months

[ozkiwi]

Originally Posted by 77 Big 10

I've been running a champion 4 core. It is well made and the fitment was surprisingly right on. Cooling is on par with copper & brass, we'll see how long it lasts.

According to my local radiator shop cheap coolants and air in the system was the cause of my problems but 6 months from new before it started leaking seems to point to poor quality materials to me.Maybe it was a combination of both but if I go alloy again I will be very careful with it as they seem pretty fragile .

[77 Big 10]

I'll keep an eye out for pin holes.

[Skunksmash]

For me, it was cheaper to just buy a new radiator at the parts store, rather than have mine repaired at the local radiator shop.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Have a few options for ya!

Driver: http://www.speedcooling.com/Radiator...r/prod_39.html

Baller/Show(shown as 67-72, but we have 73-87 as well): http://www.entropyrad.com/1967-1972-...-radiator.html

My oldest friend from here in the states is the lead fab guy at Heasman Steering in Sydney

[ozkiwi]

I ended up geting a custom copper brass copy of my champion so I could use my fan setup.I have to say the champion radiator fail was not the fault of the radiator but the assholes who I trusted to fit my crate motor 2 years ago.
The instructions that come with a GM crate motor clearly state the block must be flush carefully to remove casting debris/sand etc.
When I flushed my block before installing the new radiator I removed the water pump and thermostat and reverse flushed it, the amount of crap that came out was amazing but was nothing compared to the old champion radiator
with the lower 1/4 completely blocked with black crap.
So you guys with Champion radiators should be fine if you change coolant every few years.I would have bought another one but the local built copper brass unit was about the same price.