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Seems cooling and radiators are a popular and very much posted subject on the Corvetteforum, and with that many questions are repeated and I am hoping in a general way to shine a little light on the subject of radiator selection, I do not claim to be the guru on the subject.

Many times people with a cooling problem are thinking of replacing the radiator when it might not be necessary.

Things to check first when considering a new radiator include, is what you consider "overheating" really too hot?
Personally for me in Florida I like it to always be well under 210 an no creeping at any time.
Is the gauge reading correctly? the ignition timing, the factory front spoiler/air damn, the seals around the radiator to be sure the air is going where it should.
The water pump could be going out.
The thermostat could be malfunction or completely stuck, check the radiator hoses if they feel spongy or the lower hose doesn't have the spring it could be collapsing.

So when you determine you do need or desire a new radiator you have to decide what is correct for you.
In many cases on a stock or mild engine all you need is brass replacement and for many years that was cheaper than Aluminum but that has changed a little,
a base model Aluminum radiator is now the same or cheaper than a brass radiator making the Aluminum aftermarket radiator look pretty good to all except the purist who needs exactly what came in the car.

There is a lot of debate which cools better copper or aluminum and that debate will likely never be 100% agreed on by all so I will just touch down on a few basics,
Science proves copper actually transfers heat better, however, many copper radiators are still made in a way that is soldering different metals together and where joints come together with solder some cooling ability is lost, these joints were also a source of bloom in some of the copper radiators depending on how they were made.

Aluminum radiators are welded or brazed at the joints and are all aluminum and do not loose cooling at the joints.
Aluminum is lighter than copper which is a perk for many people.
Aluminum radiators tend to use wider tubes for more surface area than copper so a two row aluminum in general cools the same as a 4 row copper.
Both Copper and aluminum radiators need to have proper "coolant" for corrosion and antifreeze protection where needed and recommended by radiator manufactures most people and techs agree a good 50/50 pre mix does the job.

And now the dreaded question, "Which aluminum radiator should I buy"
On this forum it would seem we have two favorites always surface so in this corner the Dewitts and in the other corner the import or "Champion".

Lets start with the Dewitts,
A long running contender with a well known and trusted name with Corvette owners, Dewitts is considered a top end brand like Griffin or BeCool.
They are made in a special brazing oven built for this purpose and are nothing short of a work of art for your car.
Dewitts pride themselves on fit, to my understanding more so than Griffin or BeCool,
many times even stock parts can be tricky to fit but the Dewitts radiator has a lot of time spent in design behind it to make sure it is as plug and play as you can get with a radiator, and if you do have an issue Tom Dewitt is a phone call or forum post away.

As far as cooling goes the Dewitts will cool what you have and look super doing it no questions there
If the Dewitts has any cons some people feel the price is high, but this is a part proudly and very well made in America and is competitive priced with the other top names out there.

Now the import unit or Champion.
This aluminum radiator that has been gaining attention and being used by many 68-82 corvette owners for the main reasons, the low entry price and it does the job.

I noticed what I would call quality control issues with some, one fellow would say his welds looked like bird dropping or bubble gum and the next would say they looked beautiful like a roll of coins laid out.
I have heard several people report back that they had to bend this or tweak that to fit the Champion in their car.

All the users do report they are happy with it and it does what a radiator is suppose to do and they saved a little money for other things on their build.

What we have with the champion is short term feedback, how will these units do over time, will they hold up like their top name competitors or will longevity be reflected in their lower pricing, we will have to wait ands see with that question.

I also learned that while the "Champion" is the "budget" name on this forum Ebay has an influx of even lower priced aluminum imported radiators, this got me to thinking at some point how does even import companies sell and make a profit at such low prices, and I am betting the metal gets thinner and thinner as price goes down, that would just make sense.
Feedback reflects poor fit and damage in shipping.

I am not picking sides or debating which is better, both are, neither are, each persons build is going to be different so they will have to pick the one that is "better" for them.

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