Don't paint it. Leave it aluminum. I also would take the top section, put white rouse on a buffer, and shine her up a bit! :-)

 

Any truth to this new rad design? I need an aluminum one for my drag car but don't want to jump the gun if something nicer is coming.

 

Kind of a funny story...and a bit long so bear with me.

We paint all our Restoration line of radiators a special two part epxoy paint. It is also an option we call "Black Ice" coat for C3 radiator so they look like the original copper units.

When we did car shows like Bloomington or Carlisle we would date code the older radiators on-site and this required some touch up paint with a high gloss and a quick drying time. At the time, the Eastwood radiator paint fit the bill. It was a laquer base paint and dried real fast.

Then about 5-6 years ago they changed the formula to an enamel paint and we noticed it right away. It was real high gloss and took forever to dry, which we could not have at car shows.

So I called Eastwood directly to see if I could get some of the older formula or the name of the previous supplier. The purchasing agent in charge told me that they bought the paint in bulk and filled the spray cans in house. They switched from laquer to enamel because it was getting harder to get. When I told him how much I liked the older paint I was told it was just regular laquer paint and so was the new enamel. No special additives for hot surfaces or secret heat removing properties, it was just paint.

We ended up using Krylon 1601 gloss for touching up and it works great. Don't try to use the Krylon to paint your bare aluminum radiator as it will not stick to the raw aluminum finish.

 

I think what he was referring to was the option of using 1 1/4" tubes instead of the industry standard 1.0" tubes. Since we make our own cores in house we have the capability to make them with wider tubes for those real problem motors. I posted this option a while back but very few people expressed an interest

 

Interesting, and thanks for replying. What was GM's equivalent of "Black Ice" in the 1970s?

 

Baked enamel

 

Thanks. Pretty crude by the standards of today. But it worked. And I am sure your technology of today works much better. I look forward to what your New Year sale offers!

 

I just received my radiator from Dewitts for my 69 and I got the black ice it looks great. I can hardly wait to see if it does cool down my 427. I also received a radiator for my 72 for a later restoration project.
Thanks Tom for your great radiators

 

You are referring to the diameter of the tubes in the core, correct? Do you happen to have any numbers about how much cooler that will keep the temps? Lastly, how much more is this option? I'm going for a very high horsepower build so this may actually be something I would jump the gun on. Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get them all sorted out asap so I can go ahead and order the alum rad/dual fan combo.

 

Just wanted to take a minute and thank the folks at Dewitts for a fine product. I Just started my new 383 stoker bored .040 and the new radiator and electric fans seem to be working extremely well. The fans cycle on and off and the car has no over heating problem. Even during the break in things stayed cool. Next will be in the spring to get some driving in. I bought my radiator last year during a January sale and added the fans to the purchased a few months later. The wiring of the fans was simple and fit was good. Thanks again for a great product!
Rodney

 

Looks like for once I have great timing! Just bought a project car with no radiator. Ill be waiting patiently for the sale!

 

Not diameter but tube width, the tubes are flat. Most of the aftermarket aluminum radiators are two rows of 1" wide tubes, often incorrectly called "cores".

First I should say the copper radiators used during the C3 era are huge in size compared to other groups and in most cases a good functioning copper unit will work fine.

When you upgrade to an aluminum radiator it is like adding length to the radiator without changing its size. 30% for the 1" tubes and 35% for the 1.25" tubes. That's a lot when you think of it this way...if your copper core was 30" the aluminum 1" version would cool like 39", while the 1.25" would be like a 41". So, the large tubes do add more but not a lot in comparison to the jump from copper to aluminum. Hope that makes sense?

The cost for the larger tubes is $75 and when the January sale starts that is about the same as the discount. So you could get the fatter tubes for the same regular price.

The sale will start January 16th and run the restof the month. 15% discount and free shipping, which amounts to about $125 savings.

 

Thanks Tom... I would expect the phones to ring A LOT on 16 January... I'll be making a call...

Rogman

 

Is free shipping for the USA only?

 

Hi Tom,

I will be ordering a new radiator from you when the sale starts, but cannot make my mind up weather to take the discount, or upgrade to 1.25”tubes.

My rad. will be going in to 1980 manual with 383ci and I do not have Electric fans, so would like to have the best cooling capability in the modern stop and go traffic.

I would prefer to order the 1.25” upgrade but am worried that the engine may run too cold once on the open road.

What 'Lb' pressure cap do I need?
What size diameter is the upper tube for the upper house? Is it 1.1/4”

Again 1980, Manual car 383ci

Any advice?

 

[QUOTE=C3Paul;

I would prefer to order the 1.25” upgrade but am worried that the engine may run too cool once on the open road.

Any advice?[/QUOTE]

C3Paul,
The engine will not run cooler than the temperature at which the thermostat is designed to open.

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn

 

I have a question about the trans cooling portion of your auto radiator. I've successfully run with external cooler only in the past. I recently upgraded to a 9", 2500 stall converter, and I'm seeing escalated temps. How does your tranny cooling portion compare with stock. Also, I'm not sure how the tras cooler portion of radiators work. Can the tranny fluid raise the coolant temp?
Bee Jay

 

Tom - Probably going to pull the trigger with that sale

 

free for 48 states only, but we could give Alaska and Hawaii memeber some kind of shipping discount as well as our friends in Canada.
The rules require all order go through our website. We'll post up all the requirements like every year.

 

Our standard trans cooler is the same as the stock one, no better or no worse. The oil cooler is submerged into the coolant inside the radiator end tank and all the heat removed from the trans fluid goes directly into the coolant, so the radiator will have an increase in heat load but the aluminum radiator has plenty of extra to handle that.

One idea you could do is run both the air type (external) and the water (internal) cooler in series. On the 700R4 transmission they actually require this method because the air type cools the fluid down first, then the water type might actually warm it back up a little. Some refer to the radiator cooler as a heater where in cold climates the air cooler is just too good. The trans fluid can become too thick and hard shifts destroy the transmission.

This would be the opposite in a hot climate where the air cooler didn't cool so good, then the water cooler will remove some more heat because of the oil/water differential.