Radiator Recommendations

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Mopar Virgin

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Looking for folk's thoughts on radiator recommendations/avoids for my Barracuda /6 Convertible project build with aftermarket A/C (brand TBD)
 
IMHO.

In order of my preferences.

  1. Good used OEM copper brass HD/AC cooling option
  2. Re-cored used OEM copper brass HD / AC cooling core
  3. Aftermarket copper brass HD /AC level of cooling


I would use as many OEM parts in your cooling system.
 
ECP radiators are excellent, I have one in my Duster and one in my D200. Aluminum, 2-row cores but the tubes are extra wide and have more surface area than a 3-row core.

Might have to agree with @Dana67Dart since you're only running a slant but ECP radiators are $300 which is an excellent price for the quality. Made in USA too.

Engineered Cooling Products
 
Mopar is notorious for having horrible fitment data for the 60s and 70s classic muscle Mopars. As such, the problem with most Mopar radiators is they will bolt into your car, however the fan shroud won’t fit. That problem is solved with our ECP 22″ model.

Starting from scratch to address common frustrations classic Mopar owners have, we designed the fan shroud mounting flange to accommodate ANY Mopar fan shroud. The flange comes pre-drilled to accommodate the most commonly use shroud, however the flange can be drilled to accommodate any fan shroud bolt pattern.​

Another ‘gotch-ya’ you’ll find with the 22″ Mopar radiators is almost all aftermarket Mopar radiators copy the poor OE design which use self tapping sheet metal screws or speed nuts to attach the shroud to the radiator. This causes several problems, the first being it’s easy to run the pointed screw tips into the core in the radiator and poke a hole in the radiator.

The second problem is it’s very easy to strip out the thin mounting flange which is near impossible to fix without welding. Our 22″ ECP model solves both of those problems with a fresh design that moves the flange mounting screws away from the radiator core face to save you tons of grief. This allows you to use a conventional bolt and nut to secure the fan instead of holly-hobby sheet metal screws.

This it our all new aluminum radiator for the 1967 – 1974 Mopar Small Block Cars that use the 26″ large radiator. Like all of our radiators, it’s made with proven 2-rows of 1.0″ tubes that is proven to out cool 3-row and 4-row aluminum radiators by a substantial amount.​
Click to expand...
22" Mopar SMALL BLOCK HD Aluminum Radiator

I use one of the previous versions. It works great and I still was able to Mount my original fan shroud. The new one makes it easier.
 
Early A- go original copper. They fit way better.
67-76 I still like copper but not everyone agrees. I’m more of a purest. But recore will cost you a leg or small home mortgage to get done lately.
Syleng1
 
Dana67Dart said:
IMHO.

In order of my preferences.

  1. Good used OEM copper brass HD/AC cooling option
  2. Re-cored used OEM copper brass HD / AC cooling core
  3. Aftermarket copper brass HD /AC level of cooling


I would use as many OEM parts in your cooling system.
Click to expand...
What year A body?
 
Mopar Virgin said:
1968 ... but, curious why Copper? Everything I read indicates Aluminum is a better cooling choice. I'm not married to OEM or tradition, as this is a RestoMod, just looking for best functional and visual solution
Click to expand...
Because early A bodies 63 and 64 use 19 inch and 65 and 66 use 22 inch 67 and up have even wider radiators. Not all A bodies are the same.
 
Ok looking at that "ECP" site brings up a question.
Maybe if what I took as a link there would actually open up instead of reloading the same page I found said link on, would answer my question
What is wrong with having a 3 core radiator?
My 83 D250 came factory stock with the HD cooling package, which included a copper 3 row radiator. Worked great.

I've seen [ugh] GMs come from the factory for years with 3 row.
I have a Champion 3 row in my 78 fury. No problem. I still have the original single row that 3 trips to different radiator shops couldn't solve why that car was running hot.
That one hangs on my garage wall for now
It doesn't even come close to "hot" with the champion 3 row.

I went that route because I refused to buy a Toyota -ish appearing plastic/aluminum POS like all parts stores sell for any year make and model no matter what style the original radiator may have been. So the lifetime warranty champion 3 row seemed like the best alternative to what I had . Count me amongst the people pissed off since I can't go down and buy a new modine, copper and brass radiator for anything anymore. Sometimes you get lucky on eBay, something someone has had laying around for years but I can't count on it at any given time I may need a radiator.
I have found a 100%aluminum welded replacement for my 12 ram I have in the back of my mind for "that day". Not copper/brass but better than plastic/aluminum like what's in it now.
 
volaredon said:
Ok looking at that "ECP" site brings up a question.
Maybe if what I took as a link there would actually open up instead of reloading the same page I found said link on, would answer my question
What is wrong with having a 3 core radiator?
My 83 D250 came factory stock with the HD cooling package, which included a copper 3 row radiator. Worked great.

I've seen [ugh] GMs come from the factory for years with 3 row.
I have a Champion 3 row in my 78 fury. No problem. I still have the original single row that 3 trips to different radiator shops couldn't solve why that car was running hot.
That one hangs on my garage wall for now
It doesn't even come close to "hot" with the champion 3 row.

I went that route because I refused to buy a Toyota -ish appearing plastic/aluminum POS like all parts stores sell for any year make and model no matter what style the original radiator may have been. So the lifetime warranty champion 3 row seemed like the best alternative to what I had . Count me amongst the people pissed off since I can't go down and buy a new modine, copper and brass radiator for anything anymore. Sometimes you get lucky on eBay, something someone has had laying around for years but I can't count on it at any given time I may need a radiator.
I have found a 100%aluminum welded replacement for my 12 ram I have in the back of my mind for "that day". Not copper/brass but better than plastic/aluminum like what's in it now.
Click to expand...

There's nothing "wrong" with a 3-row core it's just that traditional manufacturing methods, particularly for copper, didn't allow for the tubes to be over a certain width so if more cooling surface area was needed they had to add a 3rd row. ECP manufactures extra-wide aluminum tubes that have more surface area in 2 rows for the same length compared to 3 rows. Looking down through the radiator fill hole the core tubes are about an inch wide which is pretty massive.

Any newer aluminum radiator whether extra-wide 2-row or traditional 3-row will work fine, I just like to rep ECP because they're an American small business that has nice U.S.-made products for good prices and the radiators I've been impressed with the radiators I bought from them. Back in CO once I was towing my Duster on a U-haul trailer (~6,000 lbs) with my D200 on I-25, I was going up a pretty steep grade and just for kicks I floored the gas for about 30 seconds straight in 3rd gear (727) going 75 mph and the water temp gauge didn't move, stayed right at 200-205 degrees the whole time.
 
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