1968 Barracuda Cooling System Upgrade Questions

Hi all,

I've recently moved my car with me from AK to Indiana (you may have seen the road trip thread around) and it's becoming clear that either something isn't right or something is too small in my cooling system. The car has never lived in weather this hot (80-90 deg. F) and I can't cruise it more than 20 or 30 minutes on the highway at 65 MPH without it overheating. The current setup is an extremely mild 360, 904 with the stock 22" brass radiator and a flex-a-lite mechanical fan with no fan shroud and the car is missing the hood-to-radiator seal. The water pump is relatively new, it has been on the car about 6 years with no problems. I have a 185 or 195 degree (can't quite remember) thermostat in the car currently. When I was driving it through Utah I pulled the thermostat out completely and it still boiled over three times.

I would really like to upgrade the car to a Champion 26" aluminum radiator (part #CC374) as I have heard good things about them and would also like to eventually put the Ford Contour fan setup on it. The car will eventually be making more horsepower and will have AC so while it may be overkill now, it'll eventually get used.

My questions are,
- Does the CC374 fit in an A-body? I've heard things about them changing the radiator cap height a couple times and would like to be sure.
- How much will the hood-to-radiator seal help? Is it a significant difference or no?
- Will a cooler thermostat really help all that much? I can't imagine it would make a significant difference.

I really am not looking forward to pulling the trigger on $4-500 worth of parts, but I would also like my car to stay cool all the time. Any advice/tips are appreciated!