22” or 26” Champion ? Can’t decide

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Mopar92

Mopar92

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73 Duster with warm 360.... I’ve put in too weak of a radiator in years past and I don’t want to go through this especially on engine break in coming up. I’m not worried about mounting holes not lining up. But I don’t want to butcher my lower rad frame on the car. Drilling holes is one thing, bashing rad support and sheetmetal is another. Has anybody got one last word to say about this? Need to order fairly soon. Thanks.
 
Because they don’t recommend or list an A body small block 26”...looking on their site to try to find what I need. Thanks
 
Mopar92 said:
73 Duster with warm 360.... I’ve put in too weak of a radiator in years past and I don’t want to go through this especially on engine break in coming up. I’m not worried about mounting holes not lining up. But I don’t want to butcher my lower rad frame on the car. Drilling holes is one thing, bashing rad support and sheetmetal is another. Has anybody got one last word to say about this? Need to order fairly soon. Thanks.
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Hello Mopar 92...
I got this one for my 1972 Duster 360 Motor, everything went very well for the install, only had to re-drill 1 support hole on the Drivers side, other than that it went in perfect. And it runs a lot cooler on hot days and heavy traffic, I am so pleased with the choice here.

1970-1972 All Makes All Models Parts | MD2288S | 1970-72 Mopar B / E-Body Small Block V8 With Standard Trans 3 Row 26 Wide Replacement Radiator | Classic Industries

I know it is listed as a B Body Radiator but there is no A Body 26" model, But I will say it will fit... Here's proof...

IMAG1061.jpg
 
Measure your cap height from the top of the core support on your stock unit. Use Playdoh to find out how much clearance you have with that height.

I used a CC374 . I did massage the lower support a little, maybe a litte more than required. You may not have to.
 
I went 26 just to have more cooling then needed.
I had to massage the bottom support to fit the champion rad. But figured more cooling is better then not enough
 
I also went 26” in my Duster. I drilled 2 holes in my lower radiator support and put in some hood bump stops from an 02 Corolla for the radiator to sit on. I’m running a solid mount fan with no shroud (yet) and this summer, sitting in a drive through for 15 minutes, it didn’t go over 195*

A7D3E089-49A4-4F1E-A21D-A6FA8FF3A2C5.jpeg
90C2C85C-99FC-4F91-ADD1-0425C889ECDF.jpeg
 
Mopar92 said:
73 Duster with warm 360.... I’ve put in too weak of a radiator in years past and I don’t want to go through this especially on engine break in coming up. I’m not worried about mounting holes not lining up. But I don’t want to butcher my lower rad frame on the car. Drilling holes is one thing, bashing rad support and sheetmetal is another. Has anybody got one last word to say about this? Need to order fairly soon. Thanks.
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We have a 26" radiator that is literally identical to the one posted by RichardJ19 only in aluminum. Since we are a sponsor, would you consider ours? I was going to PM you with a special price but your inbox appears to be full.

Chris
 
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I have a Champion CC374 installed in my duster, it's a 26" 3 row. Works great, never had any issues with it all all. Cools very well with the dual electric Ford Contour fans set up I use. Mounting it just required drilling a couple extra holes in the radiator support. I did "massage" the lower radiator support a little, nothing extreme, mostly just had to straighten it out as it looked like it found a few parking blocks over the years. I just set the radiator on a paint stick and drilled the holes. It's tight, but it works great.

Champion has changed that radiator design though, I know that the later CC374B's were taller and some folks had to cut the lower radiator support for those. I think they've changed it again since, so, it would be worth checking the measurements of anything you order. Although I suppose that should go without saying.
 
72bluNblu said:
I have a Champion CC374 installed in my duster, it's a 26" 3 row. Works great, never had any issues with it all all. Cools very well with the dual electric Ford Contour fans set up I use. Mounting it just required drilling a couple extra holes in the radiator support. I did "massage" the lower radiator support a little, nothing extreme, mostly just had to straighten it out as it looked like it found a few parking blocks over the years. I just set the radiator on a paint stick and drilled the holes. It's tight, but it works great.

Champion has changed that radiator design though, I know that the later CC374B's were taller and some folks had to cut the lower radiator support for those. I think they've changed it again since, so, it would be worth checking the measurements of anything you order. Although I suppose that should go without saying.
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I’ve got the CC374B in my Duster. The bottom of the radiator is about 3/8-1/2” off the lower support and I still have 3/4-1” clearance between the cap and hood
 
72bluNblu, What year application are your fans?

"Cools very well with the dual electric Ford Contour fans"
 
Go to RockAuto and check out a 1995 Ford Countour V6, that's what I got. You'll have 5 or 6 brands to pick from.
 
If your concern is having to cut the front opening larger for a 26", I think people worry too much about that. Air isn't light rays and doesn't have to flow thru in a straight line. It will spread out to flow thru the whole radiator, perhaps not as evenly, but close enough. Particularly true at idle when the fan is pulling it thru, and which is where overheating most commonly occurs. Many B-body radiators are too tall for an A-body. Some people have cut and peeled down the lower radiator support so the hood would close, but such hacks are ...
 
BillGrissom said:
If your concern is having to cut the front opening larger for a 26", I think people worry too much about that. Air isn't light rays and doesn't have to flow thru in a straight line. It will spread out to flow thru the whole radiator, perhaps not as evenly, but close enough. Particularly true at idle when the fan is pulling it thru, and which is where overheating most commonly occurs. Many B-body radiators are too tall for an A-body. Some people have cut and peeled down the lower radiator support so the hood would close, but such hacks are ...
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I didn’t open up the core support on my car for the 26” radiator. It really doesn’t leave that much of the core covered. And as you pointed out, when the fan is running it pulls air through the whole thing. When the fan isn’t running you might lose a little efficiency, but I’ve never had an issue with my car getting too hot.

Don’t know about the B body radiator, but an E body radiator fit fine in my Duster. In fact the champion radiator in my car is listed for an E body. I know there’s a few of the champion radiators that are too tall, but that’s a different story. The CC374 fit without any cutting, I did a little rework on the lower support with a dead blow hammer, but that was more to straighten it than modify it.
 
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