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.
