I need a new/high performance, radiator.

I'll be installing a high HP replacement motor soon and I want to upgrade. I'll need all the cooling I can get. I hear good things about the Be-cool radiator? (alum model that is made to for a midyear BB). Anyone have any advice/recommendations? I need it to look stock, I mean, I'll paint it black, stock hoses need to line up, bolt right in, just the standard fan arrangement....... no electric fans, or any of that BS.

I was also thinking of the L-88 radiator (SB size support opening)...... would that be a better choice? if you are after max cooling? (there must have been some reason GM went with it, rather than the std size BB radiator, for the L-88.... I wouldn't mind doing minor mods to get it to fit, IF I'd run cooler with it)

I know I need to seal things up well, so I don't get any air flow bypassing the radiator and run a 160 thermo... I have a new Weiand alum pump, and I plan on flushing the heater core out and switching to Dex-cool (all other components will be new, other than the heater core).


Thanks in advance :seeya

 

I'm using BeCool on my 79 and there's no way I would use anything but alu rads, sooo much better than stock BB rad I used to have. I like the idea of painting it black to keep the stock look. Go for it :yesnod:

 

...the reason for aluminum is to save weight, not to increase cooling efficiency....in fact, aluminum is less efficient at heat transfer than brass...many guys never maintain their cooling system, let the brass radiator plug up, then susbstitute an aluminum radiator - it's not the aluminum, it's that you finally have a functioning radiator

....if you are after a "correct" radiator, dewitts makes a good product....it seems that the becool brand is a bit less efficient than others but, if as you say, you are plugging the shroud (and you may want to consider a direct drive fan (btw, use a 180, not 160 tstat)), you'll be fine with a becool....if you can wait 'till the show season, you can probably find them at VERY competitive prices......

...btw, if your cooling system is totally overhauled, you'll be OK with a quality brass recore.....if your bb is really around 450hp, you're running acceptable compression


[Modified by Kid_Again, 9:09 AM 1/5/2003]

 

I don't need truly "correct"....... it just want it to fit, look fairly stock, and be the best cooling of the various radiators currently available

"acceptable compression"? :-) .... the replacement motor is a 468, still working on the combustion chambers, final CC'ing/milling not done yet, but it will be about 10.4 with CI Merlins, I'm guessing HP will be ~575, but the dyno will tell...... it's a high RPM motor

thanks for the info -- :seeya




[Modified by 66427-450, 12:48 PM 1/5/2003]

 

Tom DeWitt sells an exact replacement C-2 BB radiator.
He also sells Griffin aluminum rads for the same application.
:yesnod: :chevy :chevy :yesnod:

 

...10.4 CR is reasonable, and kind of mild for the street...high rpms doesn't matter as much as a good radiator (aluminum or brass) and a good water pump...avoid the racing pumps unless you do real racing....

 

Kid_again,
I thought everyone understood the advantages of aluminum but based on the above statement I see that we need to review it again. This is NOT a shot at you, I wanted to say you're right & wrong at the same time for the following reason and that others might understand this a little better.

Many people will never "buy into" the aluminum is better theory because copper is a better conductor of heat. It's also a better conductor of electricity as it is typical to jump up a wire size when going with aluminum cables. This is where many people get stuck and refuse to look any further and I agree copper is better at disapating heat but it not about material. The Key is design.

Design of a radiator means everything. Your typical 4 row copper core used on a 66-67 bb has four tube that measure about 3/8" wide. Multiply that out and it's 1.5" of "tube to fin contact" per row. A double row aluminum radiator will use either 1" or 1.25" wide tubes but for this example lets take the smaller one and say 2 x 1.0 =2.0" of tube to fin contact per row. That's 25% more cooling surface in the aluminum radiator. Then the height of the fin in the aluminum radiator is much shorter, (about 3/8" vs 1/2") which allows for more total rows of tubes. The stock copper radiator has 29 rows while the aluminum radiator has 39. Once again we have 25% more surface area. Finally, an aluminum radiator is 100% aluminum. The copper radiators use copper tubes and fins, brass end tanks, steel top & bottom channels, and a lot of lead which do not cool as good as aluminum. This in a nut shell is why aluminum radiators cool better. If someone made a 100% copper radiator the same way as the aluminum then it would beat the aluminum radiator but no does or ever will because of the cost and it would weigh about 70 pounds because of all the extra tubes and rows. This is how aluminum radiators were created, engineers pondered "how can we make wider tubes and more rows without adding so much weight"? The answer is aluminum.
www.dewitts.com

 

I run a stock C/B radiator in my pump gas 10.4:1 CR 540 w/o any cooling problems even in summer traffic. I run Stewart water pump, hi-flow 160F thermostat, stock clutch fan and the factory seals w/ the AC rubber dam.

SWCDuke has previously posted some excellent information on timing, vacuum advance and their effect on coolant temperature.

With a properly tuned engine, the factory cooling system is adequate. Having said that, when its time to replace my current radiator, I will purchase a Griffin aluminum radiator from DeWitts.

Take care,

Mark

 

That's right Mark, when everything is functioning properly, the copper rads should work pretty good. Most times the radiator isn't working 100% and typcially the cars have been modified in some way to produce a few more HP's. So Up the HP and Down the cooling is a formula for disaster. I feel like the undertaker, but I'll be waiting for you! :lol: