Bolt in radiator for 65 Cuda?

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Babyblue66

Babyblue66

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Anyone found a decent aluminum radiator that was a bolt in for an early a body V8. I have a 65 barracuda with a 273. I need a radiator that fits, 22 inch. Don't want to spend 500.00.
 
3 Core, Champion Radiator. on Fee-Bay for around $200

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Be careful buying chinese radiators like Champion. Some fit and work well, some don't. They are terrible about the radiators being mounted on the mounting flanges too far toward the engine. This removes precious space that's needed for fan room. I wouldn't put an aftermarket aluminum three row in anything. The modern two row radiators with 1.25" flues are much more efficient. You're boxing yourself in with statements like "I don't want to spend $500...". I would look at the Griffin exact fit radiators, or something from US Radiator. Good luck.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Be careful buying chinese radiators like Champion. Some fit and work well, some don't. They are terrible about the radiators being mounted on the mounting flanges too far toward the engine. This removes precious space that's needed for fan room. I wouldn't put an aftermarket aluminum three row in anything. The modern two row radiators with 1.25" flues are much more efficient. You're boxing yourself in with statements like "I don't want to spend $500...". I would look at the Griffin exact fit radiators, or something from US Radiator. Good luck.
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I just have a Six Pack Super Bee to spend real money on.
 
Babyblue66 said:
I just have a Six Pack Super Bee to spend real money on.
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Then get the cheapest POS radiator money can buy man. You're here askin opinions. I gave mine. As I said, good luck with it! My car runs great!
 
Thanks smart ***. I didn't say I wanted the cheapest pos radiator, did I?
No I asked if anyone used one that fits an early a body V8 car. Which you didn't answer.
 
Babyblue66 said:
Thanks smart ***. I didn't say I wanted the cheapest pos radiator, did I?
No I asked if anyone used one that fits an early a body V8 car. Which you didn't answer.
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I've answered it multiple times on this forum. Yes I have. I remove it for a factory style radiator because the aluminum one was an ill fitting pos. You can see it in my build thread. Search "runnin & drivin" and it should pop right up. You said you didn't want to spend $500. A "good" radiator is around that cost. You CAN spend over $1000 on one. Look at some US Radiator offers. A GOOD copper/brass radiator that's made in USA will have some cost. I consider $500 about middle of the road. My point was that while lots of people have had good luck with chinese radiators, lots of others have not, whether they don't fit well or they just flat out don't cool. So again, buy whatever radiator you want. You're already set on it, so WTF did you even ask for opinions? Congrats. You made the list. Goodbye.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I've answered it multiple times on this forum. Yes I have. I remove it for a factory style radiator because the aluminum one was an ill fitting pos. You can see it in my build thread. Search "runnin & drivin" and it should pop right up. You said you didn't want to spend $500. A "good" radiator is around that cost. You CAN spend over $1000 on one. Look at some US Radiator offers. A GOOD copper/brass radiator that's made in USA will have some cost. I consider $500 about middle of the road. My point was that while lots of people have had good luck with chinese radiators, lots of others have not, whether they don't fit well or they just flat out don't cool. So again, buy whatever radiator you want. You're already set on it, so WTF did you even ask for opinions? Congrats. You made the list. Goodbye.
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I said I don't want to spend 500.00. If I have to I will. I'm not some dumb cheap ***. If you have a part number of a radiator you've used in your early a body that fits I'll gladly look into it.
Maybe you have answered it multiple times. But I rarely come on this forum. I'm too busy building **** than to sift through hundreds of posts and waste my time.
 
My 2 cents.

Put an add her for a OEM copper brass stock rad.

I bet you will find one that is in good shape.

I have bought 2 rads from guys here, one was a recore the other was an OEM core. Both are perfect, both were under 250.00 shipped.

Both will cool just fine.
 
It's not going to take a high dollar radiator to cool a 273. Something from Champion should work just fine if every other part of the cooling system is functional.
 
Do you have the original to recore? It's what I did, no leaks, keeps it under 200* on a warm day. I think I paid under $200 in the SF Bay Area. This was a few years ago, I imagine MN would be less expensive.
 
Price to recore is probably 500 now. Prices went mental since 2020
clifftt said:
Do you have the original to recore? It's what I did, no leaks, keeps it under 200* on a warm day. I think I paid under $200 in the SF Bay Area. This was a few years ago, I imagine MN would be less expensive
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I tried to go a few different aluminum radiators in the 66’. No go. I had a factory 273 ac radiator and had it re- cored I believe to 3 rows. Never gives me any issues even with ac on and my heavy footed on the hottest days. lol it even looks better than a mound of aluminum sticking out of the engine bay in a car that never was intended to look like that. I sold those aluminum ones for Pennies on the dollar at swap meets. Re-core is expensive but I like the look of a clean factory radiator.
Syleng1
 
Syleng1 said:
I tried to go a few different aluminum radiators in the 66’. No go. I had a factory 273 ac radiator and had it re- cored I believe to 3 rows. Never gives me any issues even with ac on and my heavy footed on the hottest days. lol it even looks better than a mound of aluminum sticking out of the engine bay in a car that never was intended to look like that. I sold those aluminum ones for Pennies on the dollar at swap meets. Re-core is expensive but I like the look of a clean factory radiator.
Syleng1
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My dad had a radiator recored this summer. It took 2 months. I can't wait that long unfortunately. The shop around here that used to do it are gone.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Be careful buying chinese radiators like Champion. Some fit and work well, some don't. They are terrible about the radiators being mounted on the mounting flanges too far toward the engine. This removes precious space that's needed for fan room. I wouldn't put an aftermarket aluminum three row in anything. The modern two row radiators with 1.25" flues are much more efficient. You're boxing yourself in with statements like "I don't want to spend $500...". I would look at the Griffin exact fit radiators, or something from US Radiator. Good luck.
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Well Mr Ratrod, I hope you're happy. I just spent 736.00 on a radiator. Now go ahead and tell me "I told you so".
 
Dartsun said:
I’d try the ACC radiator. I have a champion in my 65 Dart 273 and it needed mods to fit. Not difficult, doesn’t cool at all at idle. Does great while driving. I wouldn’t buy again.
Vintage Car and Truck Radiators
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I bought an ACC from ebay. It didn't fit. The cap hit the hood. And the right side bracket was 1/2 inch away from the radiator support. I put one of these in my 66 coronet with a 440 and it works great.

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I've heard good things about Cold Case radiators, though I've never had one.

Paint it black if you don't want it to stand out. That argument against aluminum radiators is just dumb.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I just bit the bullet and ordered a copper brass reproduction radiator. It was definitely more than 500.00. But my car is nice and hopefully I won't have to worry about the radiator ever again.
 
Babyblue66 said:
I bought an ACC from ebay. It didn't fit. The cap hit the hood. And the right side bracket was 1/2 inch away from the radiator support. I put one of these in my 66 coronet with a 440 and it works great.

That stinks it didn’t fit, they do look nice. I do know they fit and work great for the B bodies.
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For what it's worth I put a champion v8 conversion rad in my 65 Valliant and it works just fine.had to oblong the holes in it to line up with the factory mounting holes but that was it.
 
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