Time to buy a radiator for my 440 Dart
OK , lets beat this up some more . Are you running big or small block and whats the P/N on your radiator. I'm looking at the Champion/ Eagle AE2375 I have a Taurus fan. i'm running a BB about 550/600 HP. I've read so much I'm getting gun shy . I want to stay with 22"
You're catching on..... the reports of 'I used such and so' don't tell the story at all. The fans, spacing from the rad, shrouds, hood seal to rad core support, engine compartment size, head material type, headers or not, and compression ratio all play into something working or not.
Example: My son's 65 Cuda 340 with AL heads and headers and 10.1 SCR does NOT cool adequately with a 3 row, 22" wide Champion, even with a good shroud and a couple of different mechanical fans. It just gradually gets hotter and hotter at 75 MPH cruise on the interstate and pushes 20-25 degrees past the t'stat temp. It is fine cruising around at low speeds. That indicates an overall lack of airflow into/through the small early A engine compartment, even with a good hood to core seal, or the rad does just not transfer enough heat, or the A/C condensor blocks up the flow. So our next steps are to open up the engine compartment to more air flow: get a scrappy hood and open up the hood with some holes on the back edges and see if that gets enough air flow going through the compartment.
BTW, I am not all that impressed with Champions and the 3/4" tubes. 1" and larger tubes just plain transfer more heat.
And just don't get misled by the HP ratings on radiators. A '600 HP' rating is usually just for a 600 peak HP car running down the 1/4 mile on one pass with an undefined ending coolant temp and an undefined air temp with undefined fans, etc.. Those radiator manufacturer ratings are useless for steady running, except for relative sizing, and don't account for all the other parts and installation factors that effect cooling. It is not at all the same heat load as running 80 MPH on the interstate, putting out a steady 130-150 HP to push the car through the air.
