A Chinese replacement part that doesn't even come close to fitting?
Shocking!

I ran into a similar issue with my Champion using an OEM-style plastic reproduction shroud. I trimmed the shroud up pretty good and made some mounting tabs out of sheet metal & some pop rivets. It took quite a bit of "fabricating" to get everything to line up right. The hardware store window sealing foam tape is a really good idea.

I’m not spending his money either. Nor am I independently rich.
I see it all the time. Guy buys a Champion, then complains about fit, quality, and what has to be modified to make it all work.
Griffins drop in like stock, fit, and accept a stock shroud. They also mimick a stock appearance so if painted black it’ll look factory to the casual observer. Spend a little more up front to avoid disappointment later.

There is nothing wrong with Champion radiators. They cool just fine. However, they are an aftermarket item not OEM nor do they claim to be. So some slight modification may be needed for them to fit perfectly. Mine needed one hole elongated slightly which took all of two minutes with a file to fix.

The point is that most inexpensive aftermarket radiators are going to require some level of work for everything to fit the way it should. For what a Griffin or Walker replacement costs you can buy two Champion radiators and you can buy about 6 Champions for the price of a Glen Ray replacement. They're all excellent quality, drop in and OEM shrouds fit perfectly. However, for me and a lot of other people who don't have unlimited budgets, it very often makes sense to spend a little extra work to save a considerable amount of money in the end.

Champions cool fine if set up properly but anyone who purchases aftermarket parts needs to understand that some level of modification may be required. Many parts of this type are mass produced and designed to be "generic" so naturally they will require some fitting. Anyone who buys one is a little naive if they think its just going to drop in.... and that's true of a lot of aftermarket parts.

Lindy, by chance will the OEM shroud fit (slide down into/ EDIT: or up into) to the inside of the brackets, as opposed to the outside??? It looks a little thick, but I ain't there to measure...

FYI, i have a Champion radiator on my car and it has the shroud mounts like in the first post. Well that radiator is leaking just a bit (was on the car when i got it, core is 3 row looks like brass but sure that is right..).
anyway, i bought a 2 row (Alum core) 26" Champion about 8 years ago thinking i would need it for my truck, never used it. I just checked it to see if it is the same as what is in my car and the mounts for the shroud are flush with the core, so they must've changed their design years back...

Just looking at the pictures that shroud is way too far back and covering most of the fan, not a good way to cool and engine for sure. The shroud needs to be as flush to the radiator as possible, the fan needs to be 3/4" from the radiator, and sticking out of the shroud for maximum effect.

Too many cases of Champion radiators being bent, or leaking or fitment issues for me to say "There is nothing wrong with Champion radiators" and hiding behind "it's aftermarket, of course it will need fitment" is BS. Especially when it's not a universal fit but rather "3 core Champion 26" replacement radiator". Replacement implies it fits like stock, not fits like universal but you pay the replacement upcharge for it.

I have no love affair with Champion, but Griffins are 3 times the price. Not a little more. Glen Ray is 4 times as much. I don’t hear Champion owners complaining about the performance. Not even me. FINISH quality is not great, but BUILD quality is fine and when you build a car on a 33% budget you make your choices. I spent my money on other parts.

On a positive note, here’s what I’ve done with a piece of 1”x 1/16” aluminum bar stock. I’ll add a high-density foam rubber garage door seal lip underneath to seal the gap and rivet it on to some hand shaped L brackets. So goes hotrodding.

...and not bad for a guy with no access to a metal shop. 😊

Without


With

Mike, I thought long and hard about doing that. I’d have to cut the mating surface of the shroud completely off where the bolts go because they are offset. Also, the radiator has brass nut inserts that I’d have to extract. One of those cases where I wish I’d known I was going with the part (shroud) ahead of time so that I could have fabbed it on the bench. Thank you for the suggestion.

Excellent point. The fan is in there but it’s not bolted in. The blades protrude about 1/2” maybe a little less than half way out of the shroud when it’s sitting against its mounting surface. Not sure if that’s enough. Also, it is a 5 blade fan with clutch. Do you think that’s enough blade? Would it do better to remove the clutch to get the fan further back?

Picture of mine, 70 Charger with a 408 small block. I took the top half of the shroud off, to replace the fan belts. And left it off. Never overheats, and Florida gets hot....

The fan is quite close to the radiator.

I think I'm going to change my screen name to "Cricket"...
...because that's all I hear after I post.

Looks good! that's one of my weakest areas is metal fab

and the other is a new fangle cell phone? LOL

Yes! I have yet to figure out how to dial a # on it but I am streaming music into my mini shop so I am happy.

BB Bee

Your over your private topic limit and I tried to send you a PM. Where did you find the aluminum bar stock? I would like to duplicate what you've done.

Thanks

Ace Hardware sells sticks of aluminum like that in a number of different widths and thicknesses.