Champion 26" Radiator Review

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Prine

Prine

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I just wanted to start this thread and document my experience with my Champion 26" Aluminum Radiator with 12" Dual Electric Fans.

This radiator was WORTH the money I spent on it....$229 shipped.

I installed it in my Dart Sport and wired both fans to a single 30A relay and the battery.

I almost never have to turn the fans on......it stays 170* unless sitting in standstill traffic for 5-10 minutes....and the 12" fans cool it down no problem when it starts shooting for 200.

No leaks, excellent heat transfer, fit with only the drilling of (2) holes.....excellent radiator for the $$$$$.
:prayer:

Anyone else want to chime in?

:cheers:
 
I haven't had any experience with them but had a few questions.

Is your radiator opening on your dart 26" or 22"? Also were the fans included in that $229 price?

Thinking of going this route in my '70 swinger.
 
Prine said:
I just wanted to start this thread and document my experience with my Champion 26" Aluminum Radiator with 12" Dual Electric Fans.

This radiator was WORTH the money I spent on it....$229 shipped.

I installed it in my Dart Sport and wired both fans to a single 30A relay and the battery.

I almost never have to turn the fans on......it stays 170* unless sitting in standstill traffic for 5-10 minutes....and the 12" fans cool it down no problem when it starts shooting for 200.

No leaks, excellent heat transfer, fit with only the drilling of (2) holes.....excellent radiator for the $$$$$.
:prayer:

Anyone else want to chime in?



:cheers:
Click to expand...

Had several and they are the best value for the money...especially the crossflow style, cools even better than verticle type...both are excellent
 
This is on my list to buy new for my 66 Valiant Prine, 360 in Victoria..
Heading over to there web site now if I can find it, so cross flow is best you all believe ?
 
memike said:
Looking at this should I go with the 26'' core or 22 3 row ? 9.15 to 1 comp 360 no lead foot here Prine ?
http://www.championradiators.com/plymouth-barracuda-22-inch-small-block-radiator-1966-1969
Click to expand...

You might want to do some measuring before you buy. My 67 Dart came with a 22" but I managed to squeeze in the 26" B body radiator and had to cut out a section under the radiator to get it to sit low enough to close the hood. I know some of the earlier cars have even less space.
 
I think mine is a 26. 340 .40 over 10.1 runs 180-190 all the time. Before the upgrade was 210 plus when it got hot out. Fit very well. I Think I had to drill one hole a bit different to line up with my core support.

 
racerkilla said:
I think mine is a 26. 340 .40 over 10.1 runs 180-190 all the time. Before the upgrade was 210 plus when it got hot out. Fit very well. I Think I had to drill one hole a bit different to line up with my core support.

That looks like a 22"
Click to expand...
 
Mine is the 22 inch 3 core for my 68 barracuda. It fit perfectly and was well worth the $268 shipped to my door price!
 

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I put a 26 in in my Dart last year and it is the best thing I have done! Before I changed the rad I had ALL kinds of problems with overheating, and one I put in the new rad it has been no problem at all.
 

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1968dartman said:
I put a 26 in in my Dart last year and it is the best thing I have done! Before I changed the rad I had ALL kinds of problems with overheating, and one I put in the new rad it has been no problem at all.
Click to expand...

Will a 26" fit the dart or did you have to cut the opening?
 
I have the 26" in a 68 Dart/440. It was a close fit width wise but I had to trim off the bottom/front side of the core support to get down far enough for the hood to close.

The electric fan shroud combo did not work for my setup. Not enough room between March serpentine setup and fans mounted on the shroud. The fans mounted directly to the radiator were not sufficient to keep my engine at 180 to 190. The website rates the fans at 1000 cfm each so I went to Summit and bought two 12" fans rated at 2300 cfm each. The fans from Champion rated at 1000 were as powerful as the ones I got from Summit rated at 2300. So back to square one. Out of desperation I installed a 7 blade flex fan and no shroud...............problem solved. Now I can keep it under 195 if sitting in traffic and its 99 degrees outside. )

I also have a Champion 22" in my other 68 Dart/340. Both radiators have been working great and look fantastic!! Installed with no mods to car or radiator.

Definitely a happy customer. BTW, I have the shroud and fans for the 26" if anyone is interested PM me.
 
What if you need to have transmission cooler lines 22' in my 65 barracuda.
I am looking to replace my radiator and having trouble finding one!

65cudalover
 
The opening on the rad support had been opened up before I got the car for the 26 in rad that was in it when I bought it.
 
65cudalover said:
What if you need to have transmission cooler lines 22' in my 65 barracuda.
I am looking to replace my radiator and having trouble finding one!

65cudalover
Click to expand...

I believe I will have to use a 22", look in the post I added a link :color: it states it does come with Trans cooler .
 
I have a 26" 3 row Champion in my '74 Duster with a pretty hot 340 behind it. I installed the ford contour dual fan set up with it, fits like it was made for it.

My car originally had a 22" radiator in it, so I had to drill the holes to mount the 26" radiator, but it was a piece of cake. I even welded the nuts onto the radiator support like stock to make my life easier. I installed a Dakota Digital fan controller and run the fans off of a couple relays. Works great!

IMG_0828.jpg


IMG_1558_zps3b79216a.jpg


IMG_1563_zpsdd343921.jpg
 
Is this the Champion #2375? Is everybody using 3 rows for their BB and if so how far to the water pump as mine is electric? I am close to needing a rad for my Demon.
 
challengergary said:
72bluNblu - did you need to do anything else to fit the 26" rad into your car? I get asked this all the time...
Click to expand...

Keith Mopar said:
X2
I would like to know this as well, thinking of getting a new rad for the Demon.
Click to expand...

Not really, just drilled the mounting holes. I did a little work on the lower radiator support with a dead blow hammer, but only because my lower radiator support was dented. The Champion radiator is a little taller, so I made sure it was as low as it could be on the shroud, but mine clears with no issues. The tightest clearance that I ran into is at the lower driver's side corner of the radiator. The Champion radiator has a square corner, which is the part that ends up closest to the support. I used a paint stick to set the radiator on at that corner to get it as low as I could. The stock radiators have round corners, which give more clearance because the lower radiator support is curved where the corner of the wider 26" radiator sits. If you really got into a pinch, you could probably notch the lower radiator support to get the radiator to sit a little lower, but mine didn't need that. I only mention it because we all know that there are some body tolerance issues between some of these cars, and since I really only have about an 1/8" of clearance on that corner I could see how there might be some cars out there that could have an issue.

I also left the radiator support opening at 22", the radiator works just fine like that. Obviously you would probably get a little additional cooling while you're driving if you opened up the radiator shroud to 26", but it's definitely not a requirement.

Here's a picture showing how it sits with regard to the radiator support. And that's the junkyard 318 I ran before I swapped in my 340, if you're curious about the ugliness...

IMG_0829.jpg


airwoofer said:
Is this the Champion #2375? Is everybody using 3 rows for their BB and if so how far to the water pump as mine is electric? I am close to needing a rad for my Demon.
Click to expand...

I believe that's the part #. Challengergary would be the one to ask, I ordered it from him and I just asked for a 26" 3 core for a small block A-body. :D

As far as the clearance, I run the stock mechanical water pump on my 340. I had a mechanical flex fan mounted initially and had no clearance problems with that, but the car ran so cold I was having a hard time getting it warmed up to temperature with the fan spinning all the time. I switched to the electric fans so that the car would actually warm up. You can see the clearance I have to the electric fans, it's a little tight, but the fans themselves are about 3" thick in front of the pump. I don't think I would have had enough room to run a fan clutch on the mechanical fan, but with an electric pump that obviously isn't what you're planning.

For a BB you'd have to ask someone else for an actual measurement, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.
 
airwoofer - the part number he ordered was CC374, 26" 3-row designed for B&E Body cars. The BB version of that one is CC375. Same dimensions just different water pump inlet/outlet configuration
 
I love not having to worry about the tempature gauge shooting East anymore.......even in dead stop traffic I dont have to turn the fans on...(hardly ever).


I recently drove 2000 miles over the course of 2 days, Texas to Oregon, with a section in Utah and Idaho were the speedo never dropped below 85 mph, without so much as a hiccup.

:cheers:

Excellent Radiator for the money.
 
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