Champion 26" Radiator Review
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...
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.
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...
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.
