Radiator Conundrum

Pulled the radiator while doing the water pump replacement. Found it is coming apart. My options are, solder it, buy a new one. Anyone have experience with after market radiators.?

 

Do you have the V8? I have had good luck with the aluminum 3 row radiators off ebay surprisingly, I cracked one a few years ago but that was my fault it was filled with straight water and I did not add antifreeze for the winter, water froze and cracked the core.

They are only about $100 so I figure I can buy 3 of those before meeting the cost of one name brand radiator.

 

If it is falling apart, probably past the point of repair. Cores most likely clogged too. But definitely can be resoldered but might be same cost as new. If you are worried about "OEM" look... Summit has a direct fit for a CJ, 3-core full copper, that I have used in the past on a 401. And just ordered for my 74 resto w/ 304. While the 401 is extremely hard to keep cool on a trail ride, the radiator was great and helped. In hindsight I should have gone aluminum with that 401. But the copper fit like OEM. Looked like OEM, performed like OEM.

Now if not worried about the factory look, I'd go with a Aluminum 2-core. The 2-cores are wider than a 3-core. So I think you get more flow in a 2 vrs a 3. And I think Flow is more important then volume for a radiator. And Aluminum is a great heat sink so really does well. I had the Griffin 2-core aluminum in my crawler YJ/1-tons/5.3/42s. It was a great radiator. I used dual electric fans with a modified "flat-ish" shroud cut to those fans. Not once did it over heat on the trails. Don't overlook the Summit brand either. I use to work at Summit. Love them and their brand is almost the same as higher dollar brands, with good quality. Either Griffin or Summit won't be direct fits. I had to create a small "Adapter" to make it all work, but not a big issue.

 

Been looking. I don't have to have original look. looking at Summit too. And JEGGS. My OEM is a 3 row it seems. Original.. Yeah prolly not flowing the best. I am installing a new water pump, a FlowKooler. I'll have a look.

 

Test fit the FlowKooler... I had one and the 'Button' of the shaft hit the casting of the timing cover/pump and wouldn't seal. Got another and same. Ended up with a different water pump (forgot which one). This was on the YJ-401. I chalked it up to the timing cover/pump casting wasn't indented enough. Probably could have doubled up the seals or grind a bit and been fine. But went other route with different pump. Also, double check the casting to the Harmonic Balancer. My 74 w/ 304 restoration hit a wall on that FlowKooler part. Balancer couldn't turn fully w/o hitting pump casting. Couldn't grind it down safely without getting into the pump's seal surface and future seal issues, so went to a different pump.

 

I would also recommend the ebay aluminium radiator option.

Have used them in all vehicles I have rebuilt and not had a problem yet.

 

FlowKooler fits just fine. I have a new Radiator on the way. New belts and hoses too.

 

Do you guys have a particular recommended eBay seller for these aluminum radiators, or are they all about the same?

I poked around and those prices look pretty good compared to the "OE" style units.

 

Northern radiators did have a direct replacement for you but I don't remember off hand on the price . But it seemed very reasonable. Can't hurt to check it out at Northern Radiators.com and no I Do not work there .hehehehe

 

I get all my radiators from Rick's Radiator in Azusa, CA, I probably pay a little more, but I have yet to get a *bad* radiator from them. Super easy to work with, and the one time where I have had an issue with it, they made it right, without me having to jump through a bunch of hoops. They can pretty much custom build anything you want, and have the schematics for everything I've ever asked them to build. Need a stock dimension radiator for a CJ-5, but setup with the inlet/outlet moved for the engine swap you did, and maybe want a trans cooler added into it? They can do it.

 

I put a 3 core champion aluminum radiator in my '75 4 years ago, easy replacement and no problems. Price was reasonable compared to others at the time.

 

Another vote for champion. I installed mine about ten years ago and works fine. It's a 2 core cooling a stock 258 with an electric front mounted fan only. It'll warm up on very hot days combined with long steep roads, but that's only happened a few times and never got very hot, like 210.

 

I put a new radiator in my CJ-6 soon after I got it. At that time, you could still buy the copper/brass radiators for that application.

The J10 too has a replacement radiator, but it was recored because it's an oddball app and no equivalent commodity radiator was available.

Maybe two years ago, I needed a new radiator for my J20. No copper/brass replacement available. I bought an aluminum radiator from a recommended online source, and ... it did not fit. It simply would not have fit with the brackets the company put on it. Back it went - at my expense (not cheap!). I then bought the commodity radiator for this app from RockAuto (a Spectra IIRC). The dreaded aluminum core with plastic tanks. Fits perfect, works great.

 

Tim, the next time you're trying to source a Brass/Copper replacement, if that's your fancy, you might give Ricks a shout. The commercial replacements for my 75 F250 were all of the Aluminium/Plastic varieties. Ricks got a Brass put together for me, and shipped for about $450 all in.

 

A to Z in the USA. Has to be good! Thanks for the tip.

 

Hi Guys—-this post is a few years old, but it looked like a great discussion on radiators, so I wanted to bump it and see if there are any other additional options I should look at.

‘72 with 5.0. I have a new (and correct length) water pump, rad hoses, and thermostat I was installing tonight, and as I was doing it it dawned on me it would be pretty dumb not to address the radiator.

Mine is original and working, but dented, corroded, and looks to have been redone in the past, so I wonder if it’s getting thin. Don’t care about originality, so I’m looking at aluminum.

after reading this thread I like the Champion option. They have the 2 core on sale for $204. 3 core was $244 but out of stock. Leaning towards the 2 core seems perfectly suitable and decent upgrade for a stock 304.

anyone ran across any other options recently that should be considered?

 

I run a 4 core,

 

I don't know much about the intermediates, but in my opinion I would get as much cooling capacity as you can fit/afford. Your thermostat will keep your engine at the right temp for normal driving. An engine needs all the cooling it can get when four wheeling at high rpm's, lots of work load on hot summer days.

 

I got an aluminum 3 core from local NAPA a couple years ago. Fits fine, works great.

 

I put a ebay special 3 core aluminum radiator in my 1973 cj5. It was marketed for a cj7 with amc v8. I had to redrill the mounting flanges that came on the radiator. I used speed nuts aon the grill and moved the bottom 2 holes up a little bit but not so far up that it makes a difference. It bolted in just fine after that. I had a short fan clutch on hand and that gave it really good clearance. Later on I did the contour electric dual fan upgrade. I made some brackets to mount the fans and the shroud onto the inside of the grill. Worked out well and the few mounting issues weren't really a big deal.