dancutlass

Now, that my 66 is driveable, some problems occur while driving.
About the car:
66 cutlass convertible
stock engine
3 core radiator
7-bladed clutch-fan (bad clutch)
160 degree t'stat
10 degree initial timing
later model Quadrajet ('72 Olds Cutlass 350 and 455)
First it had blown head gaskets. I replaced them and now there are no fumes in the coolant anymore and it won't develop too much pressure.
I thought that my overheating problems would be fixed with the new head gaskets, but it still runs too hot. (too hot meaning 230-240 on a 95 degree day)
First I thought my new sunpro gauges were not reading accurately, so I boiled water with the sender in it and it showed about 210...not too bad for that price.
After that I found that the fan clutch was bad we fixed it in place to look if that's the only problem. It still ran too hot in idle and while driving, so I suspect a bad radiator behind that problem. I touched it to feel if it is evenly heated and the lower third is alot cooler than the rest of the radiator.
So to cut a long story short, I need a new radiator.
Which one would you recommend?
I found this Champion radiator on ebay and the price and more important the shipping costs are very reasonable, but is it any good?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200791692096...WAX:IT&vxp=mtr

Sorry for the long post and the many questions!

Thanks!

Ablast

I purchased a Champion radiator a few years ago for my 66 Chevelle mildly built SBC. I really liked it and had no issues with it. I also used their dual electric fans and schroud

dancutlass

Good to know thanks you very much! Seems to be a great deal for that price!

XTREMEGSXR

Has any one used the 2 core radiators? I heard they cool better.

ah64pilot

You're talking about an oversize 2 core...they are supposed to be better than a normal 3 core. The champion radiators mentioned above are oversize 3 core radiators and perform really well.

dancutlass

I think it depends on the size of the tubes, whether a 2 core cools better than a three or four core...
If you take for example a three core radiator from champion with a tube size of 3/4 inch it would cool worse than a two core with 1 1/4 inch, because the 2 core still has a larger surface.
At least that's how I understood it...

captjim

I have had fabulous luck with one core aluminum/plastic tank radiators. My G-body had the Modine 951 (F-body) and my 71 Skylark (Olds engine) has a P-30 van radiator. Obviously, minor fabrication is needed, but if you do a little research you might find one that fits, cools better, is lighter, and best of all are quite inexpensive.

dancutlass

Thanks Jim haven't thought about that yet
Modine does no longer exist, so I looked for the P30 rad and other ones and think that the radiator of a 1984 Chevy Monte Carlo with 350 cid diesel engine would fit pretty good...
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PLI-433570/
There is also a 1 row aluminium radiator on rockauto advertised for a '66 442
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=2782936

Assumed, that both the Monte Carlo radiator and the rockauto radiator would cost me about 200$ and the Champion 3-row would cost me 300$ which one would you take?

oldcutlass

I have a plastic tank 2 row aluminum core, in mine and running BB, with 100+ ambient OAT it seems to run fine, no shroud, and 19" flex fan. Mine is very similar to the one at Summit.

dancutlass

Which part brand/number is it? I didn't find any 2 core that will fit...

For now I have narrowed the possible radiator list to the 4 radiators listet below:
http://www.summitracing.com/search/?...d=433161&dds=1

http://www.rockauto.com/dbphp/x,cata...ce_433360.html

http://www.rockauto.com/dbphp/x,cata...o_8010322.html

and the Champion 3 core...
The first three are 1 core aluminum radiators and I assume that each of them will fit without any modifications, due to the core size.

I hope I'm not going to make the wrong decision

oldcutlass

I hit my 2, it was supposed to be a 1 CORE, SORRY! I believe any of those in your are would work fine! Like I said, mine is the I believe the middle one. Now if you plan on upgrading engines in the future, I probably would go with a beefier radiator. An Olds BB is a lot harder to cool, IMHO.

455man

I just bought a champion 2 core. Replaced my stock 2 core that was running up to 215 degrees on the highway. The champion 2 core has 3/4 cores instead of the stock 1/2 in cores. I have a stock 350 with a 160 degree thermostat. When it's 105 outside my temp was still getting to 200 on the highway. I flushed the engine before installing the radiator. I just recently put a new aluminum water pump and performer intake on with dual electric fans. Only one of my fans came on with my short test drive but the engine reached 190. No highway driving yet. Fans were set to come on at 170. I'd recommend getting a 4 core, just to be safe. You probably wont get as hot outside in the summer as it does here though.

oldcutlass

The aluminum plastic tank radiators are very efficient. I had my doubts just as you when my radiator shop suggested it. But my car does fine with it. Mine is your #2 choice.

dancutlass

Yes I really have a hard time believing that it should cool better than the factory radiator, but you have made good experiences even with a BB and Jim recommends them as well, so I think it's worth the try to put in the Vista Pro 433360.
I'll keep you informed how it performs, when it arrives together with the new fan clutch, the fan spacer and maybe a selfmade shroud.
Thanks

dancutlass

Thanks for your advice, too! I just read that sometimes a bigger number of cores is not implicitly cooling the engine better, due to the air flow, so that the air is getting hotter through the core and it won't have that much cooling effect. (hope that stands to reason!)

oldcutlass

I use a flex fan with no clutch or shroud on mine! I believe you can adapt a stock shroud for yours.

I would try your stock setup with it first, the only thing you may have to do is get the fan a bit closer to the radiator.

captjim

One other fly in the ointment. Most aftermarket replacement radiators may have 4 rows, but they have less fins/sq inch. So, less heat transfew. I think there is science behind the one wide row being more efficient. I know I live in Fl (pretty hot) and have never had a cooling issue.

dancutlass

I have ordered the Vista Pro 433360 today together with a fan spacer kit to get it closer to the radiator...Can't wait to put it in.
There is no reason why it shouldn't work for me when it keeps your engines cool even in Texas and Florida heat!
Thanks guys!

455man

Let us know how it works.

dancutlass

The radiator arrived today and I installed it immediately.
It fits perfectly, it was just a little twisted because of the transport, and doesn't look too bad with the plastic tanks!
I attached a picture of it installed.
The test drive will be tomorrow, as it's late here and the neighbours would hate me for letting it run
Unfortunately rockauto listed the wrong fan clutch for the fan I have (just found out it's a 7-bladed 1969 Chevy Z28 fan...) and I'll have to wait untill they appreciate, that it was their fault not mine...
Will post how it works after the test run tomorrow!

oldcutlass

Looks good Dan!

My442

Alumitech is the only way to go.

USA made.

Superior quality.

Great customer service.

2X better than the more expensive BeCool unit it replaced.

Stay away from chineseum crap.

olds 307 and 403

I had one of those one core replacements worked quite well. It only got hot towing my boat, 80's F body rad. The 3 core Champion cools the same, should have got the 4 core.

dancutlass

Those Alumitech radiators look awesome, but 495+shipping is just too much for me!

dancutlass

Okay guys, I drove the first miles with the new radiator today and I'm really more than happy with it so far
We had about 90 Fahrenheit outside temperature today, and while driving the temperature never got higher than 180! In stop and go traffic it climbed to 205-210 one time, but that's okay. I will try to install a shroud and a new heavy duty fan clutch to get it to 200 in stop and go traffic, though.
Thanks again Eric and Jim for pointing me to those one core radiators! I'm very happy and safed a lot of money on top of that