How did you decide what radiator to buy for your car?

Have a 71 charger with a 440 engine in it. Need a new radiator since the old one is junk. After a brief search there seems to be about a million radiators out there. Was curious of the process people used to select the right one for their car. I am not really looking for anything fancy.

Last new radiator I bought was for my 87 Diplomat. I dug around in the online catalogs and found out that I could put the radiator out of an 87 Ram with HD cooling into it, if I ran the 87 Ram lower hose as well. More capacity than the stock Diplomat radiator, fit right and was $10 cheaper.

It depends on what you use the car for. Is this a modified car or is it a stockish restoration? Is the radiator that you have the original one? If the stock look is important to you, you can always have the original radiator re-cored. They will reuse your upper and lower tanks as well as the original side brackets. You'll basically have a brand new radiator with a stock look. I think you can also have a thicker core installed as well.

Stock radiator with a 4 core recore, I have done it for 35 years now and as long as the rest of the cooling system is in order I have never had an issue even in traffic in the Florida summers. Maintains stock appearance and the shrouds have always fit properly.

this right here. 25 years and counting..

I needed a good cooler to go with a street driven and road raced E with 496 and AC. First consideration was ample cooling capacity. Second consideration was style or type. For simplicity and servility I wanted a mechanical clutch fan and stock replacement molded hoses. That meant top tank style. My existing core was 22" with a fill panel for a 26" opening so re-core was not an option. Of course cost matters also but I wanted to make sure I got one that worked and held up. Weight matters also, especially in front.

I wound up going with the 26" Mancini Muscle Car AL radiator and matching shroud. It fit well, cools well - eg rush hour in Las Vegas with AC blasting - and held up well for 10 years until it ate the full tread of a super single truck tire. At which point I ordered another of the same. It is also quite light.

It looks different vs stock but painted black does not look bad to me.

I just asked the Mopar guy that owns the radiator what I need and he sold me a high efficiency 3 core aluminum radiator.
The tubes are almost twice as wide as the stock brass radiator.
Gus

Never thought about getting the radiator redone. I pulled the old one down out of the attic and I believe this is the original one after looking at the numbers. I figured this was junk since the bracket is half broken off the side and if I remember right it leaked when it had fluid in it. Does this look like something that would be worth rebuilding?

The tanks and brackets come off anyway when replacing the core. If a stock look is important to you, then have the original one re-cored.

If those tanks are not ripped apart that looks very reusable.

FWIW I chose to have the original radiator in my 79 B-van re-cored, its the 2nd re-core after the first lasted not quite 20 years before leaking in the middle of one tube. The original Chrysler core lasted 10 years until the first owner (my dad) dropped the alternator into it during its first change out. Nothing fits like OEM, I do not care how good someone claims their part is (with a few exceptions for some like Glen-Ray) their all somewhat universal in fitment. There is a reason Chrysler used sometimes a dozen different radiators on the same vehicle depending upon options and engine size, one size does not 'fit all'.

I think I like I am going to give the record a try. Did you guys use somebody local to do the work or mail it of? I see some mopar guys on the web saying Glen Ray is one of the best.

I re-cored my original with great results. It's a 26" and was a factory 2-core. I tried to go to 4-core, but the rad shop said 3-core is all that would fit. The 3-core has worked great for me for years now.

Also take into consideration if the car is A/C or not too. For my car, my engine (not original) made 585 on the dyno but it also has A/c. With that, I'm looking at all options to make sure the engine stays cool as a cucumber. Will the original radiator keep it cool?

I'm leaning towards not using the radiator that was in the car. My dad had it checked and rebuilt a long time ago, still in the box from the shop. In fact, just might be selling it

If stock appearance matters to you send your original to Glen ray and Bob will send you back a show piece that will outperform that radiator when new!

Had him do my Original and put a new Tony's Mopar's clutch onto my original fan and the car runs at 170-185.
Ron

Even if you have a big engine Glen Ray can give you an exceptional radiator that looks bone stock. And they are a joy to work with.

That's good to know

How much are you guys paying to have your radiators re-cored these days? I was quoted $400-$500 earlier this year for a 22" 4-row core. That seems insane to me. Maybe not???

I paid just under $400 three years ago. The actual core was somewhat expensive (how many companies actually make copper rad cores anymore?) plus freight to the place doing the work and them working their magic on it.

Make no mistake in thinking otherwise. Radiator re-coring is a dirty, nasty process with lots of chemicals and don't forget the solder is mostly lead anyways. That probably adds a small but decent amount to the overall price.

$189 to my door eBay 2 row champion in a 318 65 DD dart. had to redrill one mounting hole on the dr side flange. Not the best plan for everyone just my exp. I hear the tube sizes are smaller then on some rads (I never woulda thought of that) but was a non issue for my DD. I would check it for flatness and weld quality but the guy on here who sells em has an unconditional guarantee

The last re-core I had done local to me cost me 450.00 for a 22" radiator. With that said they did not straighten the tanks or do any type restoration work. Just recore it and put It together.
I had Bob and the gang at Glen Ray do an 048 radiator for me and yes it's expensive but it looks absolutely beautiful when you get it back. I had that one built with his max cool core.
If I was doing any factory radiator I would give Bob a call as I was really pleased with their work.
Matt