radiator suggestions

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06-03-2009, 05:05 PM

#11

chris66dad

2nd Gear Member

Join Date: Dec 2008

Location: Benicia, Ca

Posts: 386

Quote:

Originally Posted by knuckless

mustang steve is sold out of the radiator for my 68. ive looked at his before (about 2 months ago) and he was sold out back then. so thats why i narrowed it down to these two

the ebay one isnt a direct fit but the seller has dozens of different sizes and 1 of them was a direct fit.

ill just be going with the adavanced auto. if it doesnt do the trick i can upgrade when i have my new engine built

Steve expects them back in stock some time this month (June). I would drop him a line for more information. As you can see from the picture, it is made well. The welds are perfect.
Just my 2 cents again

06-04-2009, 12:37 AM

#12

tx65coupe

5th Gear Member

Join Date: Dec 2008

Location: Texas

Posts: 4,462

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starfury

Not really cost effective. The tanks are made differently, and aluminum is more brittle than brass, so they can't look exactly the same without costing a lot more.

Plus, you probably don't want to paint an aluminum radiator. Aluminum doesn't cool as well as copper, so it's good to have the tanks unpainted to be able to use them as heat transfer surfaces as well. Aluminum radiators are all about surface area, which is why they cool better than copper/brass radiators.

I agree about not painting an aluminum radiator. However, I don't understand your statement about aluminum not cooling as well as copper. I would think it is the other way around or they would make the high performance radiators out of copper. Is surface area really the only reason they cool better?

I have a replacement alumium OE style radiator in my 95 F150 that works much better than the copper/brass replacement that it had before. With that radiator it actually ran excessively warm witht he AC on. Neither one of these radiators is different in size from the other, so I don't see a surface area difference.

Last edited by tx65coupe; 06-04-2009 at 12:39 AM.

06-04-2009, 09:28 AM

#13

jcthorne

1st Gear Member

Join Date: Apr 2008

Location: Texas

Posts: 111

Copper conducts heat better than aluminum. It is far easier to achieve more fin surface area with aluminum than with copper due to differences in in the material. More and thinner fins with more ripples etc on aluminum units. If you formed a copper radiator to the same fin configuation as the aluminum unit, it would be heavier but conduct more heat. It would also be cost prohibitive.

But I don't want an 'aluminum racing radiator' in my 65 antique auto. Its got to look the part. For now I'll stick with my 4 core copper unit I guess. It works.