Yes I do still have the original radiator in the car. I just always thought aluminum was better. The 3rd owner who had the car for 30 years before I bought it mentioned the car has always ran a bit hot. It seems to always run down the highway at about 190-195 degrees and in traffic at about 210 or so. I've got a 180 thermostat in it. Recoring the radiator and new water pump haven't helped the issue. Just trying to get the running temps down.
I was an Engineering Manager at a heat exchanger manufacturer for two years.
The only advantage of aluminum is cost and weight.
Copper / brass has better thermals, corrosion resistance and durability.
I would never put an aluminum radiator in anything that originally had a brass unit.
Morty, what about the myth (or truth?) that aluminum dissipates heat so much quicker and better than brass?
I also thought an aluminum rad was better, maybe not??
That's a myth. Per density the copper / brass unit will cool better however the margin is very small.
The only advantage of aluminum is cost and weight.
The big disadvantage is strength and durability. Aluminum has no real fatigue strength. As such it should never be used in a severe or industrial application. Also pure water will corrode it in no time.
The aluminum radiators in modern cars have isolation and expansion notches to quick fatigue to a minimum but eventually the tubes will crack and leak.
Good facts about heat exchangers but unfortunately wrong conclusions when it comes to auto radiators. If copper/brass radiators and aluminum radiators where the same design then what is Said above would be more relevant but they are not even close.
C/B radiators have 3/8" or 1/2" tubes because of strength limitations while modern aluminum radiators have 1", 1 1/4" or even 1 1/2" tubes. These larger tubes have much more surface area to dissipate heat. It takes 5 C/B tubes to equal two 1" tubes. My Griffin has two 1 1/4" tubes which would be equivalent to 6 C/B tubes. However any more than 4 tubes starts to restrict airflow causing diminishing returns for additional tubes.
C/B radiators use solder to hold everything together and to attach the fins to the tubes. This solder has no where near the heat conductivity of copper or brass and reduces the efficiency to less than aluminum.
Aluminum radiators have the tubes closer together than oem type C/B radiators and thus have more tubes per row. They also have a lot more fins per inch.
If you have an all stock collector car then by all means get your original radiator recored with the most efficient C/B core available. For every thing else buy a good aluminum radiator that is less expensive and more efficient. Why use 100 year old tech if you don't have to.
