Gooday all,
Just found these alloy radiators on feebay and wondered are they any good ???
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1973-1976...item19f6dd41d1

Got some cash coming my way and would like to purchase some goodies for the ol girl.
Cheers,
Gav

 

i have a champion radiator, it cools very well fit good. some people say they had issues on how they fit, i have heard that about Dewitts too. i don't have electric fans so i can't address that issue. if i were to do it again , i would do it again.
others will disagree, but then people disagree strongly about darn near everything.

 

I would never zip tie fans to the radiator, I know people do but I find it cheesy.

Whenever the radiator threads get posted the whole Dewitts vs imports pop up,
I am as cheap as they come and I went with dewitts for peace of mind and customer service none of those ebay venders come close to,
Imports will be hit or miss in lots of ways, they lack quailty control.

I have a 454 mild with auto tranny and ac live if fl and wanted it to be cool stuck in traffic, with dewitts I can rest assured I am covered.

 

F.Y.I Champion Radiators are 100% American made, so in this case the "off shore" label does not apply.I also live in " The Sunshine State " and have no cooling issues either.

 

I just ordered a champion with dual fans and shroud .. Lot of people have them and no issues. I Just could not justify 1k plus .

I had a healthy SBC 350 and it cooled perfectly with a stock replacement radiator no matter what the temps outside where . Thanks to this topic Ill list that for sale now LOL ..

 

What does "Only fits the 4-Row saddle mounts" on the Champion site mean?

 

You are 100% wrong.

 

i dont think I'm wrong. business that bad?

 

I have installed several Dewitt's been very happy. Their quality is second to none. My only issue was the rubber cushions did not match not he ends if the tanks.... He has designed his own cushions now. Also installed 1 champion in a 74 wasn't bad considering the price .

FRom the FAQ On the champion website

While our radiators are manufactured in China, hence the low price point, they are designed in the U.S. If an American made radiator is preferred instead, please call us for availability. There will be a price difference to accommodate the American labor being put into it. A standard 2-row is $169.98, and an American made 2-row with 1" tubes is $279.98

 

The one I got was American made, thanks for pointing that out. I know Dewitts makes a good product, but the o.p was asking for feed back from people that had purchased a specific product like you and me. Then I get a critique of what I said from a competing brand. Just leaves a bad impression in my mind. But everyone will tell me why I'm wrong.

 

I won't tell you youre wrong, I just didn't get it, You posted mis-information, he corrected you, he didn't go off the OP's topic, he didn't pimp his product,
Was it really necessary to get in the extra jab on the mans business?

 

my statement was correct for what i bought. technically i was wrong because some of champions products are made elsewhere.
i contributed my experience with a product which is what was asked.

 

I think Champion is pretty up front with their sourcing - as described, they do say it outright, and tell you why. I appreciate that they are transparent about it.

I'm looking at rad options now for a 427 stroker I'm building. I have the bigger copper 4-core factory style (newer replacement) with some pretty strong electric fans, but I felt it was a little iffy with my 406. I think the 427 will over power it. I want to go aluminum and am considering Champion as an option.

For the price, you have to at least look. They generally get good marks from my research. I have noticed fit is often not exact, but I don't mind a little extra fabrication if it saves cash, so they are on my short list.

 

I am curious how much HP an honest guess does your engine put out?

My 383 was "iffy" as in temp would slowly go up in some situations but the 454 stayed cooler longer but still wasn't what I wanted,
With the ton of research I did I went with somethong other than the imports.

 

My issue wasn't my 383 (in the car now), it was a 406. It never exceeded 220/230 range, but that was just higher than I like to see. I broke a rocker arm trunion and ended up pulling the 406 to tear it down, and put the 383 back in.

To answer your question, I never dyno'ed either engine. The 406 ran like a raped ape though - GOBS of torque. The 383 ain't no slouch, but it's not quite as powerful.

The 406 block had some issues anyway, so my next powerplant is going to be the 427 stroker I've wanted for some time now. That is why I'm looking at rad/fan combos now.

 

I am in the same boat sorta in a way,
I have a mild 454, but add to the mix auto trans and AC and living in central fl,
I didn't want to wonder about it and while I try to be one of the biggest bargain hunters on the forum I anted up and had a custom radiator built just for my needs, it coat a bit more than the imports but not that much more and now I have priceless piece of mind, as far as the radiator goes.
But that isn't the whole cooling system, cooling fans, hum, a set up like mine really would like over 3000 cfm of air closer to 3500 and I see threads posted on the focus fans but all the tech amounts to is "works fo me" no one seems to know the total cfm or each fans cfm which is different they have different blades, It just hurts to think I might have to go over 400 for the dual fans I want, built on a shroud not bubba tied through the radiator....

 

The fan issue is another piece I am digging into as well - I have a Taurus fan, has ben sittign in my garage for 3 years. I keep hearing anything from 2500 cfm to 4000.

I'll buy they might be 2500 cfm or so - not 4000.

I did find a flex-a-lite single fan (Flex-a-lite#400-188 at Jegs). The 188 is $290 w/out controller, the version with controller (180) is about $330, and apparently pulls 3300 cfm. Flex-a-Lite claims this fan only pulls 18 Amps vs the 30 nominal/70 spike that Taurus fans have been reported to pull. I have not heard any numbers for Focus fans.

The 188 fan would be easy enough to just wire it in using my current controller - Haven't made up my mind yet. Sounds like you want duel fans, and this is a single, so may not be of help to you.

If I do go this route, I wont be zip tying anything - PO of my car did that, and ended up with a leak where the zip was. I found out when I flushed the rad, and flushed the Bars Leak (or whatever) out. Coolant spraying right out of next to one of the top zip ties...

 

I would go 2500cfm on high but that would cap it for me, what people forget on the "budget" fan set ups is most are designed and used on 4 lungers,

I did a lot with the Taurus fan, I set it up so low would come on when I desired as did high, adjustable switches...
I had 70 amp relays and large gauge wiring, But my alternator was only like 100 amp, maybe less I don't recall for sure, it was from a 80's firebird.
I have heard all the voodoo about high draw and spikes but I have yet to toast a relay or tax the "stock" alternator in my tests, I doubt most people would use the larger gauge wiring I did.

I had idiot lights on a little dash panel so I knew what was on and when,
I wanted the set up to work at least as well as the Fiero fan did on my 66 but this was not the case.

The issue that flaws my testing for the Taurus fan was the radiator was an unknown condition small block unit. not this custom Dewitts I now have.
With the 383 even at night if I get stuck in traffic or sat idling too long it would creep up, high speed fan would cut on and it would slow it's creep but if the car didn't get moving it would have gotten too hot.

The 454 did the same but took a lot longer,

Neither engine would ever cool off enough that the high speed would cut to low unless driving at legal speeds on the highway, but low speed never went off,
in the 66 on the highway the fiero fan would turn off...

So my tests proved that on a normal Florida day in traffic the Taurus fan with a stock small block radiator would not cut it, and that is without AC.

The other huge deal breaker for me with the Taurus fan is the shroud is small, way too much of a c3 radiator is open, I saw a fellow who had a better shop than me make a sweet sheet metal shroud that fit the c3 radiator but if I did that I would have too much time in it to call it budget for a fan that likely still will not cut it anyway.

As I was saying before I can't find any real data on the Focus dual fans, so until I did it would be worth over a 100.00 gamble that it "might" work.

Lots of time radiator / fan threads pop up and people chime in how they have this or that and it cools fine, that is on their car in their world not your car or my car in our world,
Plus with so many c3's being "toys" how many people really do fair cooling system tests, a drive in the country once a month and saying their car cools fine paints a broad subject with too small a brush.

 

My 72 original radiator turned into a tea kettle the first time the car was started after ~10 years of not running. I put in a DeWitts base motor replacement because there is a 5" or so wide plate on the passenger side of the radiator support. I guess the smaller Hayes aluminum radiator was adequate for the 200 HP the original motor was rated for.

The LS1 I have in the car now is running ~400 HP at the wheels and I'm using the same radiator. The single 16" fan comes on just above the hash mark (~180 degrees) and the engine hasn't gone over that. In cold weather I have the opposite problem - getting the engine to warm up enough to provide heat.



Rick B.