Anyone Know Radiators?

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symonjester

symonjester

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Hello Gang,

I have a 68 Cuda with a now very leaky 3 core brass radiator. I believe it was the original when the engine was a slant 6. Now that I'm running a 360 (and I live in Texas) I thought i worthwhile to upgrade to an Aluminum one.

Can anyone help me understand if this (see link) http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GRI-5-268HC-EAX/ should do the trick? It says it goes up to the Cuda 383 so I have to imagine it'll suffice for my needs.

Also I've never done radiator work before so this'll be an adventure. Any tips you wonderful gear heads might share with a newbie?

All the best - Ross
 
Upgrading to an Aluminum radiator isn't really an upgrade if you can have your 3 core brass radiator rebuilt. Fact is Brass runs cooler than aluminum although aluminum is lighter than brass..

On another note, upgrading to an aluminum cross flow radiator seems to be the hot ticket..
 
HotLines said:
Upgrading to an Aluminum radiator isn't really an upgrade if you can have your 3 core brass radiator rebuilt. Fact is Brass runs cooler than aluminum although aluminum is lighter than brass..

On another note, upgrading to an aluminum cross flow radiator seems to be the hot ticket..
Click to expand...

Okay, interesting. I was told (by a general mechanic) that (1) an aluminum is more efficient in cooling and a 2 core would be similar to a 4 core brass. (2) that I had vertical flow and should stick with that. I assume what he's talking about is the way the pipes of the radiator run, yes?

Thanks!
 
Really depends on what you want to wind up with in terms of performance and appearance. Also depends on if you want an off-the-shelf unit from China or a custom-built item from America. Here is how I chose to go (thread linked off this linked thread shows the source)
 
slantsixdan said:
Really depends on what you want to wind up with in terms of performance and appearance. Also depends on if you want an off-the-shelf unit from China or a custom-built item from America. Here is how I chose to go (thread linked off this linked thread shows the source)
Click to expand...

Spiffy radiator. My Cuda doesn't have any of the original under hood bits and, because I used a mechanic who seems not to know much about building engines, doesn't have a whole lot of power either. Not being much of a mechanic I actually wanted to try to replace this myself - to teach myself something new on cars. Especially since this is likely one of the easier projects I can undertake. So key to my decision (in order) is:

(1) will it provide enough cooling with the existing fan and when I slap AC in it later this summer.

(2) will it bolt directly into the stock/original brackets.

I have a call into Griffin - hopefully they'll get back to me quickly.
 
Where are you in texas? I have a guy in Houston that will rebuild a stock radiator to a three row high efficiency radiator for $150.00 . That what I run with a 360 and no problems.
 
HotLines said:
Upgrading to an Aluminum radiator isn't really an upgrade if you can have your 3 core brass radiator rebuilt. Fact is Brass runs cooler than aluminum although aluminum is lighter than brass..

On another note, upgrading to an aluminum cross flow radiator seems to be the hot ticket..
Click to expand...

Brass gets pimpsmacked by Aluminum every time, every alloy.

Heat transfer coefficient Brass?
137 Watts/Meter K
Aluminum?
174 Watts/Meter K (worst case, many alloys are much better)

Higher W/M K is better heat transfer, so aluminum is better/lighter/etc. Think: Brass is largely copper (70%) which is much more effective at heat transfer, but pure copper it isn't.

Brass was initially chosen due to the high cost of aluminum. Aluminum is now the king of the heap, just be sure to maintain your coolant to prevent electrolysis, and don't look back!
 
Also too, remember, there's NO comparing brass/copper with aluminum because of this as well......no one makes a brass/copper unit with 1" flues. Nobody. A 2 row aluminum radiator will cool as good or out cool a similar size brass/copper radiator because of that. As to which is more efficient, I'll leave that alone because I've heard both ways all my life. Since I'm not an engineer, yall can hash that out.
 
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