Who makes custom "stock" radiators? Like a T-bird radiator but in 1 1/4" alum tube...

[nvrstuk]

Who makes custom "stock" radiators? Like a T-bird radiator but in 1 1/4" alum tube...

Been looking for days on line to see what stock OE radiator I can fit my custom opening to cool 600 + horses.

I currently use an OE old skool Granada brass radiator to keep her cooled. Works pretty good.

Who makes good quality custom radiators?

I've called 2 places:
Champion cores are all the same... made with 5/8" tube. More tubes to make up for smaller dia tubes for the same surface area means more restriction air flow at lower apeed - disadvantage Champion

Griffin has cores of 1", 1.25" & 1.5. Not much more $ than Champion

US Radiator- triple pass, high quality 1/2" copper, 3X the price and harder to justify


Feedback?

 

[SP73]

From my experience, Griffin is hard to beat for the $. I had a 500 hp CJ5 (flame on!) back in the day that had cooling problems. I tried all of the usual combo’s of fans, water pumps, thermostats, and EXPENSIVE radiators. I tried to resist a Griffin because I figured at that price point, how can it be any good? Well after running a tree branch through my custom built 4 core rad (and fan, and V belt), I ended up with a 2 core Griffin that cooled the thing better than anything I had previously tried. Last I knew it was still in there and going strong and I sold the thing 20 years ago.

 

[nvrstuk]

SP73... good feedback.

I ran a brand name alum and it cooled worse than my worn out 3 core that was oozing out the tanks. It had epoxy on every joint and the thing probably never would have leaked but the "epoxy insulation" on every joint made it a 400 sq in piece of shiny artwork behind my grill.

Less # of rows the better for low speed cooling. More square inch of surface area the better...

 

[lars]

I'm still running an OEM-spec Modine 3 row brass radiator that I bought locally almost 20 years ago. Modine is completely out of the brass replacement market for old vehicles. Scary. I can't get my puny 5.0 to overheat regardless of weather and travel speed. Fearing what I'll have to do if if (when) it fails. Meanwhile hoping it won't be overwhelmed by the new engine. Let alone the a/c going on.

Will be watching this thread with interest.

 

[Yeller]

Another griffin vote.

 

[pbwcr]

Probably aluminum is not a good choice for an early Bronco?
If you find one that does not come apart is a few miles be sure to post the brand and model number.
On the other hand brass/copper would be a much better choice and would avoid the trial and error to find a good aluminum one.
Your choice!!

 

[JKH67302]

I have the BC 3 core. I've had it for about 10 years now. At that time you sent your stock radiator to a place in California for an industrial core to be installed. I assume that is still the case. It's been great, might check out that option. I forget the specifications ok it, but I know the fins per inch were high and tubes were big. I think at that time they talked about using this radiator in the Baja, not sure if that meant on their race broncos or not.


Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[blubuckaroo]

These at Tom's have 1-1/4" tubes.
Also, shipping Tom's in the NW is quick. Usually next day for me.
https://www.tomsbroncoparts.com/pro...um-automatic-super-hd-66-77-early-ford-bronco

 

[snipes243]

So I'm running on of the older bronco Hut designed oversized radiators. Orginally they were produced by griffin great pieces very nice quality. Unfortunately my old stock fan got into it, So I had to order an additional one. The griffin had double in price over 1K so that wasn't gonna work. The old owners of bronco Hut found a new company Dewitts radiators out of Michigan. They mainly do corvette radiators. After get one from them I would say the quality is as good if not better than griffin. Just some food for thought
https://www.dewitts.com/

 

[nvrstuk]

Sometimes I think it would be easier to be like most other guys I know who just go to the WH or TBP site, click "Buy Now" and in 3 days start the "bolt in" install... lol

Not me! lol

So, I'm much closer to a decision. Custom built OE radiators, for an example a Mustang are 3 weeks out. Meaning if you put a stick thru the radiator you have a 3 week wait without driving your Bronco!!

SO if I have a custom 2 core 1 1/4" or dual pass or whatever BUT keep the original mounting brackets for that application then if you destroy your custom built, monster stroker motor cooler you can always go to your local NAPA and order an OE replacement to allow you to at least drive your Bronco around until the custom one comes in.

Thanks snipes243 I will call dewitts tomorrow. They make HP Mustang ones... look good.

Spent 30 min on the phone with Ron at Ron Davis again... each time I chat with him he is so helpful and never in a hurry. I've bought his products before. He is a believer in alum. If an alum radiator is mounted properly it can withstand some serious abuse over time. 2 core with 1" tube and 14 fin/inch count

Griffin 2 core with 1 1/4" tube. Interesting idea on mounting I got from Tom. I will include a poorly simulated pic with a description.

My cooling needs can be a little bit different than stock because of my use and power. Had a good discussion with Ron today about how when people shop for a radiator they think they need a fan and radiator to cool their 700HP engine... not realizing that they aren't using 600 HP unless they are topping out in the 1/4mile and then only for 9 seconds.

I explained my use of 600HP at 25mph at 6,000 rpm for a couple minutes at a time in deep, heavy, wet snow. I don't have 100mph air speed forcing itself thru the radiator and I have the pedal to the floor. He agreed that I am not the typical consumer. lol

 

[nvrstuk]

I will attach a pic to help explain what Tom at Griffin said is becoming a popular mount. Thought I'd put this mount out there.

Run a piece of heavy rubber like material (horse stall mat, mud flap, similar) cut to fit directly in contact with the core between the tanks. I'll circle the area in my pic I took of my radiator with a pc of wood in the area where the rubber would mount.


The area where the wood is sitting on mine would have the dense rubber floor mat on both the top and bottom of the radiator along with an appropriate sized piece of C channel to keep it from moving front to back. Essentially the radiator would just be sitting on the rubber strip and kept from moving with the C channel iron.

The top would be the same but I would put a simple pin and key thru it to keep it from being able to move out of place. In other words, the radiator would be sitting on rubber on it's core.

My question is this: Why wouldn't this work? It would easily support the 15 pounds and spread the load over a much wider area than the typical mounting methods where we mount the radiator over the tank to core weld.

There wouldn't be any twisting with a tube style mounting of the radiator.

 

[nvrstuk]

Stock Bronco core is 19-1/4 x 18-3/4 = 361 sq in

I'm hoping to squeeze in 26 x 19 = 494 sq in.

I need to build a cardboard box to this shape/size. Nearly 500 sq in, a 40% increase should do it.

I'll keep ya posted Lars. My buddy I was talking to you about this fall with the Dart 454 stroker we built runs as cool as a cucumber... I mean a 12" pusher and 12" puller and that's it. He comes snow bashing with me but drives a "little bit" more conservatively w/o any heat issues even in 95deg summer heat.

 

[snipes243]

Just food for thought in size. You could possibly go down as well.

 

[SP73]

I see no reason that mounting wouldn’t work perfectly.

 

[Yeller]

I will attach a pic to help explain what Tom at Griffin said is becoming a popular mount. Thought I'd put this mount out there.

Run a piece of heavy rubber like material (horse stall mat, mud flap, similar) cut to fit directly in contact with the core between the tanks. I'll circle the area in my pic I took of my radiator with a pc of wood in the area where the rubber would mount.


The area where the wood is sitting on mine would have the dense rubber floor mat on both the top and bottom of the radiator along with an appropriate sized piece of C channel to keep it from moving front to back. Essentially the radiator would just be sitting on the rubber strip and kept from moving with the C channel iron.

The top would be the same but I would put a simple pin and key thru it to keep it from being able to move out of place. In other words, the radiator would be sitting on rubber on it's core.

My question is this: Why wouldn't this work? It would easily support the 15 pounds and spread the load over a much wider area than the typical mounting methods where we mount the radiator over the tank to core weld.

There wouldn't be any twisting with a tube style mounting of the radiator.

There's a particular yellow Broncno that is mounted exactly that way

 

[blubuckaroo]

If you look at the core support on most old cars, they don't take advantage of the available space. Most can be cut out to gain surface area, and in some cases depth too. Lots bigger radiators can be installed.
The trick is to avoid cutting out strength from the core support.

 

[nvrstuk]

Very true David. Most cars you have a lot of potential that isn't being used.

In my rig, the core support is getting removed completely. A lot of it is gone already.

I run one of my trans coolers directly under the radiator between the front crossmember and the top of the front bumper with a skid plate. Since I do that I run my radiator on top of the frame rails crosswise. I suppose I could run a single monster sized trans cooler from parking light to parking light and a vertical 21"H x 20W core between the frame rails... only a 400sq in core... pretty sure it wouldn't do the job.

I run appr 446 sq in core now. I can't go any smaller.