Champion 3 Row Rad into a 64 Dart
1964 Dart, 225 Slant, 904 pushbutton all stock , 4 blade engine fan no clutch, PS
My stock origial rad just could not keep up with the heat here in Las Vegas. On hot days (100+) with a clean cooling system and a fresh water pump the car would bleed coolant from the numerous patches on the rad and from who knows where else. It would stay the correct temp just not be happy about it.
I talked to champion and they said that the CC63DT was a direct swap and would drop in without issues with my configuration. Unfortunately it was not the case.
Upon receiving the rad I saw that welds holding the core brackets to the upper and lower tanks has been over grinded and had cracked. The Rad still felt very solid and when i called champion they said they had seen it before. I could return it or I could keep it and they would note my file if it ever failed. I opted to keep it and it installed just fine, no leaks.
Biggest issue is the thickness of the core, its about 1/2 thicker then the stock brass rad. this puts it much closer to the engine and puts the auto trans coolant lines closer. I had to fiddle around with a bunch of fan spacers to get it to fit so that the blades were close enough to the core that they would be effective but not so far that they touched the bottom tank or the PS pump pulley center. The final spacer was just over 3/4 of an inch thick.
The auto trans cooler line were now so close to the motor that they both needed to be tweaked and on the passenger side a 45 degree offset fitting installed.
Just took way more messing around than I figured. Good news? It cools VERY well and the engine temp doesn't rise of the bottom operating temp hash mark even in dead stop traffic when it was 105 last week. No shroud needed
I used Gates 20465 for the lower hose and a cut down 20065 for the upper. I dont like the way the upper looks (twisted like the one I had on there and im going to find a better replacement.)
1964 Dart, 225 Slant, 904 pushbutton all stock , 4 blade engine fan no clutch, PS
My stock origial rad just could not keep up with the heat here in Las Vegas. On hot days (100+) with a clean cooling system and a fresh water pump the car would bleed coolant from the numerous patches on the rad and from who knows where else. It would stay the correct temp just not be happy about it.
I talked to champion and they said that the CC63DT was a direct swap and would drop in without issues with my configuration. Unfortunately it was not the case.
Upon receiving the rad I saw that welds holding the core brackets to the upper and lower tanks has been over grinded and had cracked. The Rad still felt very solid and when i called champion they said they had seen it before. I could return it or I could keep it and they would note my file if it ever failed. I opted to keep it and it installed just fine, no leaks.
Biggest issue is the thickness of the core, its about 1/2 thicker then the stock brass rad. this puts it much closer to the engine and puts the auto trans coolant lines closer. I had to fiddle around with a bunch of fan spacers to get it to fit so that the blades were close enough to the core that they would be effective but not so far that they touched the bottom tank or the PS pump pulley center. The final spacer was just over 3/4 of an inch thick.
The auto trans cooler line were now so close to the motor that they both needed to be tweaked and on the passenger side a 45 degree offset fitting installed.
Just took way more messing around than I figured. Good news? It cools VERY well and the engine temp doesn't rise of the bottom operating temp hash mark even in dead stop traffic when it was 105 last week. No shroud needed
I used Gates 20465 for the lower hose and a cut down 20065 for the upper. I dont like the way the upper looks (twisted like the one I had on there and im going to find a better replacement.)
