Hi guys,

My stock radiator seems to be leaking. I'm not exactly sure from where, but combined with the fact that it certainly looks like it has been in the car for 40+ years (makes engine bay dress-up difficult), I'm considering grabbing a new one.

I'm going to stick with the 289, and probably won't do much other than heads / cam / carb / intake (at least for a while). If I decide to go with something radical like a 408 stroker or blower, I can always upgrade the radiator later. I'm using the stock C4 auto right now, but I'll be swapping in a 4-speed toploader soon. I'm looking to stay on the cheap side, but if there's something for only a little more cash that performs quite a bit better, I wouldn't mind grabbing it.

Mustangs Unlimited is only a 20-25 minute drive, so I do most of my shopping with them (saves me on shipping).

Any suggestions?

 

I would ask around and take it to a good radiator shop. They can make it like new for a whole lot less $$.

 

Eh, not really true anymore. Sure, you can rebuild a radiator, but it'll probably cost you $100-150. A new radiator will run $150-200.

There's also the width issue with 65-66 cars. Stock radiators are narrow and are borderline at cooling even the stock motor. Upgrading to a wider radiator would be ideal, like this.

 

Hmm, good to know. Any aftermarket radiators I should look into, or should I see if I can get a 3 or 4 row from a 67-69 at Mustang's Unlimited? I haven't had ANY luck finding classic donor cars in my area for other parts, so I'm not even going to bother calling junk yards.

 

Yeah my dad had his big block radiator rebuilt at this great radiator shop by my house and it ran about $300...

But to be fair the whole thing needed to be re-cored, and he upgraded from 3 to 4 cores. The only thing left now is the two tanks, but he's got a real nice radiator that will probably never leak haha

 

Really...!? I got mine out of a mustang on ebay. I had a 20"/2 core...tthis one was a 24"/4 core. I paid like $40 plus about $15 to ship it. I ttook it and had it recored for another $80. So, I got basically a brand new Ford radiator for $135.

 

I could be wrong on the price, it wasn't my radiator. But these guys are about as good as you're going to get and it went from a 3 core to a 4 core.

I guess I should have also mentioned the cost included the pressure testing of the radiator in their tanks and other things like that before my dad had them re-core it.

 

Don't understand why they charged that much. I was just saying that I got more than twice the radiator that I had (and an origonal Ford) for a lot less than new. Maybe it helps going in knowing that you need a new core.