Radiator upgrade experiences?

-
canyncarvr

canyncarvr

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2011
Messages
242
Reaction score
85
Location
State of Jefferson
Looking for input on changing from a three-core to a four-core radiator. I am familiar with all the other 'stuff'...fixed flex-blades/viscous drives/shrouds/fan depth etc. NOT asking for anything about that.

Has anyone experience with a three to four-core change and how it affected their cooling issue?

Maybe even input on horizontal vs: vertical flow radiators if someone had a good result with such a change.

I do run a tad hot in traffic and at highway speeds on hot days. It's not awful, but I could do without it just fine.

Thanks!
 
There’s no reason why you should need a 4 core vs a 3 core, all other things being equal.

If you really want legitimate advice, we need to know some basic info about your build, your current cooling system, and under what conditions the car is running hot. Not to mention, how hot it’s actually running.
 
IMHO.

the number of cores is important but the fins per inch is more important as that is where all of the heat transfer takes place.

Contact US radiator, they can get you setup if you decide to switch.

Keep in mind the 383 darts used a 2 core 22 inch radiator with no issues. It was the heavy duty cooling with larger onlets and outlets.

I think today people are so cobcerned that their engine run at 180 or 190 deg ALL THE TIME under ALL CONDITIONS. The engineers who made these cars put many hours of work and the test engineers put in many hours of testing to determin the needed cooling and the temp range the engine should opperate at.

As for personal experiance. I gad a 63 econoline van that i put a 289 in. Stock sized rad for A 170 I6 but 3 core. No overheating issues.
 
Last edited:
Don't get wrapped up in 3 core or 4 core. You want to concentrate on tube size.

A 3 or 4 core rad might have 1.5" or 1.75" tubes. You can get a 2 core rad with 2"-2.25” tubes. This equals more surface area for cooling.

And like 72bluNblu says "how hot is it actually running"? 200-210 degrees is not too hot for a big block.

Just for reference, I ran a 2 core rad with 2.25” tubes in my 1970 Firebird with a built 455 and it hovered between 190-200 all day long.
 
jonn6464 said:
Don't get wrapped up in 3 core or 4 core. You want to concentrate on tube size.

A 3 or 4 core rad might have 1.5" or 1.75" tubes. You can get a 2 core rad with 2"-2.25” tubes. This equals more surface area for cooling.

And like 72bluNblu says "how hot is it actually running"? 200-210 degrees is not too hot for a big block.

Just for reference, I ran a 2 core rad with 2.25” tubes in my 1970 Firebird with a built 455 and it hovered between 190-200 all day long.
Click to expand...
I 2nd this, and am a firm believer in a dual row, 2.250 aluminum radiator will out cool 3 or 4 thinner rows. I run a griffin dual 2.25 core, and would buy another in a heartbeat. Car makes 600+ hp, and I drove it tonight without even turning the fan on.
 
I've run two of the 1,000hp Be cool radiators and never had an issue with engine temp and they fit flawlessly.
 
Concentrating exclusively on the tube size or the number of cores is a mistake. Just adding larger tubes or more cores doesn’t make a radiator better in and of itself. All of those things play a part, tube size, number of cores, number of fins, overall size of the core, etc. At some point a giant tube loses efficiency because all the water in the tube isn’t in contact with the wall of the tube itself (think water in the middle of the tube). Just like more cores eventually becomes less efficient because of air restriction. Plus the overall thickness of the core limits fan size and options, which is just as important as the radiator construction.

Honestly most of the cooking problems people seem to have here are from pulley diameter mismatches and using the wrong water pump with the pulley diameter they’ve got. Remember there are two vane counts for the pumps depending on what the pulley configuration was. It’s a cooling system, a good radiator is only one part.
 
roccodart440 said:
I've run two of the 1,000hp Be cool radiators and never had an issue with engine temp and they fit flawlessly.
Click to expand...

I’m running the big Becool A body rad. Most of the time my 400HP 340 is running too cool (about 160) when both the fans are on even on 90+ days..
 
72bluNblu said:
Honestly most of the cooking problems people seem to have here are from pulley diameter mismatches and using the wrong water pump with the pulley diameter they’ve got. Remember there are two vane counts for the pumps depending on what the pulley configuration was. It’s a cooling system, a good radiator is only one part.
Click to expand...

I'm curious now, what diameter pulleys I should run OR what the ratio between them should be?
 
Scody21 said:
I’m running the big Becool A body rad. Most of the time my 400HP 340 is running too cool (about 160) when both the fans are on even on 90+ days..
Click to expand...

I've never had an issue with the 3 core, 26" Champion radiator in my Duster. Also a 400hp (ish) 340, .060" over with iron heads. When I ran a straight flex fan I would have issues with running cold in cooler weather, with my Ford Contour electric fan set up I've had it out in 110° F weather without issue.

roccodart440 said:
I'm curious now, what diameter pulleys I should run OR what the ratio between them should be?
Click to expand...

These are the factory pulley ratio's. I'm not saying you have to run them, but, if you're underdriving your fan/water pump compared to factory it can definitely add to a cooling issue.

water-pump-info-all-mopars-jpg-jpg-jpg-jpg.jpg


The other thing to note is the water pump configuration. Air conditioning cars got overdriven fans and water pumps, but they also got water pumps with fewer vanes. The high volume water pumps were used on the non-AC cars with a .95:1 pulley ratio, the 6 blade pumps were used with the 1.3: or 1.4:1 pulley ratio found on cars with air conditioning. So for the air conditioning cars, which needed more cooling, they set the fan up to be overdriven significantly from the non-AC cars, but decreased the water pump output so it wouldn't increase as much as the pulley ratio did. I don't know for sure how the 6 blade impeller at 1.3:1 compares to the 8 blade impeller at .95:1. My suspicion would be that the water pump output remained relatively similar between both versions, the increase in air volume from the fan was what they were after.

Again, it's a system, the whole thing has to work together. Guys like fancy radiators because they're visible and expensive, but boring stuff like pulley diameter is just as, if not more, important.
 
canyncarvr said:
Has anyone experience with a three to four-core change and how it affected their cooling issue?
Click to expand...

Evidently, from the off base answers you've gotten so far, the answer is "NO".
 
RustyRatRod said:
Evidently, from the off base answers you've gotten so far, the answer is "NO".
Click to expand...

;)

I was looking for a specific answer to the specific question. That I'm using a Milidon hi-flow pump, have ceramic coated my headers to DEcrease engine bay heat and some other facts I intentionally left out was because I didn't want to muck up the question. I understand that many parts can make up a whole one doesn't expect.

I get the idea the more cores (similar radiator builds), other things remaining the same, do NOT cool better. Seems an odd thing to (not) happen...but that's why I asked.
 
I ran a 318 AC radiator and shroud in my 440 cuda with 160 degree thermostat. Car rarely ran over 180 in any kind of weather.
 
The most common overheating problem....radiator in poor (clogged) condition. Before you spend your $$$ open the cap and take a look see inside at the fins. If they have built up crud, drain and flush there are many methods.
 
No. Have not

I also have 400/430 hp by the ET, And run a decrepit old stock rad from a 1973 Swinger 318 that had A/C; so it's a 26incher..... but it's in a 22" core-hole. It's so decrepit, it has patches on it's patches.
Nickel-plated naked headers and Painted Edelbrocks.

I run it at 205 to 207*F, on purpose.
 
canyncarvr said:
I get the idea the more cores (similar radiator builds), other things remaining the same, do NOT cool better. Seems an odd thing to (not) happen...but that's why I asked.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that it's apples and oranges... or at least two different types of apples :D

A radiator with three rows of 1/2" tubes definitely cools better than the same area with two rows of 1/2" tubes. I found that out in '83 while building my first big-block A-body... the recore was $140 which was a fair amount of cash back then.

These newfangled "two-row" radiators have very wide tubes of 1, 1-1/4 or even 1-1/2 inches. They DO cool a lot better than a stock three-row!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top