Maj.Malfunction

Just poked a hole in my old three row radiator last night and fiquire i,ll replace it rather than try to repair.
Are the aluminum radiators worth the extra money? I do plan to add air conditioning in the future.

LMan

I guess you are speaking of the Griffins and BeCool radiators. They are kinda pricey, although I have heard only good things about them.

I have a AFCO alum radiator, it was $179 plus $5 shipping to my door. You can hardly get a stock replacement radiator for that price, so it was a no-brainer for me. So far no cooling issues at all. I understand that Summit sells essentially the same radiator.

I dont know how A/C would play into that, as it is not installed on my car.
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Jay

I made the conversion years ago using a standard universal model from Summit Racing. You can't beat them for the price now. The increase in cooling made up for some of the loss in airflow that I experienced when going from a solid fan with a shroud to an electric fan. My install technique (cannot link to pics now since site is down) required me to get the filler neck relocated, however it is not necessary if follow a plug and play approach with the old radiator.

A search via google should turn up a page where the guy did the swap on a 65/66 car. It required rotating the battery tray or placing the battery in the trunk.

Of course you could pony up for the BeCool etc. drop in radiators as well. They would give you the same performance.

mr-mstng

I'm not sure what the price are for older mustangs, but my Griffin unit cost me ~$500 for my Saleen. They aren't cheap, unless you plan on doing some racing, its probably not needed. Another 3 core should be fine.

jgsmuzzy

I had a custom Alu radiator made for my '72 when the fan decided to pitch a stone right through 2 cores of my old one! It worked better than the original and looked better in the engine bay. I had a seperate oil cooler built with it (i.e seperate core) so cooling was excellent.

My 2c worth

StangerX

Been a while since i've made a post. Let's see if I still can.

If your car isn't having any cooling problems, I wouldn't waste the cash. They can be pretty hefty. I've seen the Griffins run from 5-600 dollars. Don't waste the cash if your car is cooling fine.

As for me, I'm trying to figure out how to pony up that much cash. My 302 runs hot as a texas jabenero. I've done everything short of putting in the aluminum radiator and accessory fans. Time to hit it with a little aluminum pazaz.

Still, don't waste the money if you don't have to. $500 will go a long way in our cars. That's my take.

jpony645

For those concerned about money, why not go with one of the AFCO or Summit radiators for less than half of a Griffin and about the same cooling efficiency?

AFCO - $179.95


SUMMIT - $169.95

LMan

day-yum, wish I'd said that.
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Prilosec lawsuit settlements

Jay

Reading and posting are not taking place in the correct order... :stubborn: maybe we need to adopt a CC tone?

jpony645

I know you did, Eric. I was just reiterating for those that apparently didn't see that there was a cheaper alternative to the Griffin. :bang:

LMan

I know you did, Eric. I was just reiterating for those that apparently didn't see that there was a cheaper alternative to the Griffin. :bang:[/b][/quote]
Re-what-erate? Isn't that still illegal in about 22 U.S. states??
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Mberglo

Would that make Josh an donkeyclown?

Scothew

Thanks, gave me a new idea for a language filter

Jay

I caught what Josh was doing. The issue was the double concept of aluminum radiators costing so much, or more than 3 or 4 row standards when that had already been proven false.

Chinese word filter test: You are what? :shock:



edit by scothew: dont push it please.

StangerX

Ok, well I just got off the phone with Summit Racing, and those "Cheap" alternatives are not really so cheap. Problem is the offsets are not compatible with the architecture of the old mustangs. They only sell with a flip flop offsets. The old stangs run passenger side only in and outlets.

If you go the route of the cheap aluminum, you do not have the correct plumbing. I suppose I could sink some money into a new water pump that flips the inlet to the driver's side. Now I've upped the cost of this little purchase, and may meet the lower prices of some of the aluminum alternatives. Not to mention valuable time lost in making it mesh.

Also a problem for me - I have a high flow edelbrock waterpump as part of my cooling solution. If I want something that will mesh, I have to go top shelf. I'm looking at 3-600 dollars. Considering the investment I made in that waterpump, I'm not so sure it's worth the cost to do a swap where I loose that pump. I don't think i'm overstating too much, am I?

What does the conversion cost to change the architecture over to be compatible with these cheaper radiators? I'm not sure if it's worth it to ME, and some folks might want more of an out of the box working solution. Perhaps those of you that have done it can offer some insight and enlighten us.

jpony645

True that could be a problem but alot of people are running late model engines with driver side outlet on their pumps these days. Also, if you are running an electric fan then it should be fairly easy to run a crossover from the passenger side to the driver side.

Mberglo

They don't call em donkeyclowns on CC.com. Promise ya that. B)

Sorry for the supposed badword.

LMan

Gosh-darn it, sorry for all the negative waves. My "enlightenment" is that I got the "cheap" aluminum radiator with the lower pipe on the correct side for my waterpump, and then went to Autozone and got a upper hose that goes to the drivers side of the radiator. $10.00. Didnt take much valuable time, either.

So, yeah, they *are* that cheap. If ones not concerned about the upper hose going to the other side of the radiator.

Don't outthink yourself. Sometimes it *is* as simple as it looks.
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Jay

This gets more confusing. You have a high flow waterpump that is better supported by a stock style radiator than an aftermarket crossflow racing style unit? I'd consider an electric pump more top shelf ... but

As for inlet/outlet ... after 1969 that no longer matters. And for most people in the aluminum market they have already ditched that 260/289 for a 302/351 that has the inlets/outlets right where they are supposed to be

StangerX

ok, I'm getting some good points here, and I want to clerify things up. This is a HUGE thing for me right now. My car is BEGGING for this aluminum radiator.

LMan, let's start with you.

Which radiator did you get? I know you said AFCO, but can you link me to the model? All of the ones I've seen have the lower hose on the driver's side, and the upper hose on the passenger's side - Unless I have to shell out $600. I have no quams what soever with getting an upper hose that runs to the other side. Shoot up a link on here to the model you got, if you could. That would be HUGE. Again... My current radiator setup has the top AND bottom hoses on the passenger's side.

Jay, I'm a little confused. My car is a 66. I baught the pump and radiator for a 66. It's somewhat unfortunate because, as you said, they did away with that setup. However, that's what I baught. I wanted to make sure it all fit specifically to my car.

You obviously have the later model setup in yours, which is why it meshed so easilly, correct? I'm just fetching for ideas on how to keep my edelbrock pump (a tad better than stock) while going with a lower cost aluminum radiator.

Last thing... by top shelf, I ment radiator, not Water pump. I know my pump is not top shelf my any means, but it was a bit of an investment. To keep it, I'd have to go with a top shelf radiator (cost wise) like the griffin. That would make it match. However, I still may do cheaper to go with a different water pump and the new style setup.

This all sound strait? Thoughts? Suggestions?

My car needs this extra cooling capacity. I'd hate to waste my higer flow water pump, but keeping it cool is next to impossible. I'm open to ideas at this point. I just want to get a good working solution that isn't too expensive.