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Champion Radiators

Posted By charliemccraney 3 Years Ago
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charliemccraney
Posted 3 Years Ago
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I know a lot of you have these in your vehicles.  I recently needed a radiator for my Firebird and the reviews for Champion radiators applicable to those were not too good, mostly springing leaks within a few years.

Who here has had one in a year round daily driver, and for how long?  It is very important that it is a daily, winter, summer, rain, snow, because that is how I use it and that's much more stress on it than a weekend or fair weather driver that gets limited mileage each year.

My 20 year old US made repro is finally leaking.  I'd like to replace it with something that will last.  Not concerned with it looking original.  A Champion (or other Chinese) that needs to be replaced every few years is more expensive than a US made radiator that lasts (hopefully) in the long run.   Hard to find reviews about US made because most people don't want to spend the money so I can't be sure if I would actually get something better.


Lawrenceville, GA
Florida_Phil
Posted 3 Years Ago
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I have a $200 Champion Radiator in my TBird.  Other than the non stock look, I have no complaints.http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/uploads/images/9c785f26-8104-499e-b38a-1d79.jpg


http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/uploads/images/82ad85c1-6def-4eb4-a085-3dd2.jpg

charliemccraney
Posted 3 Years Ago
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How long have you had it?  Driven daily, no matter the weather?


Lawrenceville, GA
Ted
Posted 3 Years Ago
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Charlie.
I installed a new Champion radiator in my ’55 Customline back in early 2016.  Preparing that car for the 2016 Big Bend Open Road Race prompted that purchase.  The original radiator had been worked on several times and with the top tank continuing to repeatedly start leaking at the top tank even with a 7 lb. cap, it was time for a new radiator.  I’ve had zero issues with the Champion radiator and the caveat is I can now run a 14-16 lb. pressure cap with a coolant recovery system versus the original radiator using a 7 lb. cap and no recovery system.  While that Champion radiator is now over five years old and going strong, it’s going to be tough to say if the quality of the radiators made today are the same as they were in the pre-Covid era.

Based on the performance of my current radiator, I would have no problem is purchasing another Champion radiator at this point in time assuming any complaints found only deal with fitment issues and do not have anything to do with the actual construction of the radiator.  No doubt that not all radiators fit the various models as they should as I recently had to send a ‘Cold Case’ brand of radiator back to the vendor simply due to not fitting the early Sixties Ford as it should have.  In that case, a much more expensive Griffin radiator had to be purchased.


Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)


Florida_Phil
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charliemccraney (9/10/2021)

How long have you had it?  Driven daily, no matter the weather?

I have had my Champion radiator for about 4 years.  It was one of the first upgrades I did to my car.  I ditched the belt driven fan because I didn't like the howl it made when going through the gears. It gets very hot here in Central Florida during the summer.   The aluminum radiator helped quite a bit.  I eventually added a Casco deep fin water pump.  I also run a 170 degree wide gap thermostat.  Now my car can sit in traffic without boiling over.  I never drive my car in the rain.


http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/uploads/images/82ad85c1-6def-4eb4-a085-3dd2.jpg

57RancheroJim
Posted 3 Years Ago
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I put the aluminum one in my 57 ranchero 4 years ago because I just couldn't see spending $800 for the brass/copper US replacement. My 57 is my daily driver and I only have about 8000 miles on the radiator so far with no problems. I think it's worth adding a sacrificial anode to help with longevity. Over the last 2 years I've put them in my 66 mustang and my 60 F100 but they don't see that much mileage.
2721955meteor
Posted 3 Years Ago
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57RancheroJim (9/10/2021)
I put the aluminum one in my 57 ranchero 4 years ago because I just couldn't see spending $800 for the brass/copper US replacement. My 57 is my daily driver and I only have about 8000 miles on the radiator so far with no problems. I think it's worth adding a sacrificial anode to help with longevity. Over the last 2 years I've put them in my 66 mustang and my 60 F100 but they don't see that much mileage.


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have 1in my 1949 mark  pickup3years olds use  antifreeze that is aluminum safe. before used 1 in 57 ranchero 4years every day as well  32ford with 289 and alumni safe anti freeze.we had a extreme year this summer and the 292 never over heated in traffic. by pass hose is like stock, has electric fan on a temp switch,hardley ever turns on 
charliemccraney
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I'm noticing that many of the manufacturers put the mounting bracket on the wrong side of the radiator, Champion, Cold Case, Griffin, Wizard, all put that bracket on the engine side, should be toward the grill side.  I'm sure Griffin and Wizard can put it wherever I want it because they build to order.  Cold Case cannot.  Not really inclined to use Champion.


Lawrenceville, GA
charliemccraney
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I went with Cold Case, a more expensive Chinese radiator mostly because they are the only ones, of the few I emailed who responded in a timely manner, almost immediately.  I did get a reply from Griffin about 4 weeks after ordering and receiving the Cold Case.  Time will tell if Cold Case was a good decision.  I do like that the tanks are stamped, instead of fabricated and if painted would look plausibly stock to someone who didn't know better.  I don't care about stock but I think it is a little more elegant looking.  Most complaints about them in general were fitment issues but as outlined previously in this thread, I knew that I may have to deal with that.

I think I figured out why the bracket is on the wrong side.  I googled pictures.  In every case, for stock looking radiators for 61-64: 6cyl has engine side brackets, 8cyl has grill side brackets.  Makes sense since the 6 cyl is longer.  I think they made the I6 radiator first and then moved the inlets and outlets as necessary for V8.  I know this happened with Champion because they only offered the I6 version at first and you could special order it with v8 inlet and outlets.  From there, it may have been a case of monkey see, monkey do or maybe chance that they all place the brackets on the engine side.

Griffin can't simply move the bracket.  If I had them make it, they want me to send my old radiator so they can copy it.  Kind of ridiculous, I think, particularly if they have actually installed their offering in one of these trucks.  When I asked if there is a reason for the bracket being placed where they have it, there was no answer, only a statement that that person had "been here 7 years and sold radiators for the 60 Ford Trucks several times. That is the first time I have seen the brackets like yours"  So I sent pictures of various '61-'64 trucks that have radiators with brackets positioned just like mine, as well as a link to the US radiators offering, which is an authentic looking brass/copper radiator with brackets on the grill side, as well as the MPC drawing showing a radiator with brackets on the grill side.  I also included 6cy pics with the engine side brackets.  To be clear, they weren't rude but still bs from a customer service rep where the radiator costs about $1000.

No others responded.  One of them is the manufacturer who I got the Firebird radiator from.  They replied very quickly when I asked about that so I wonder if I'm on their naughty list for pointing out that their part didn't fit, not even close.

For those who may wonder, the Cold Case unit is FOT577A.  I measured about 1 11/16" difference in placement of the bracket and made a spacer 1 1/2" thick since that is close and easiest for me to work with with the tools I have available.  The upper hose connection seemed to be about 1/2" to 1" too close to center but the hose can accommodate for that so it really isn't a problem.  The lower connection seems to be placed well.  The hoses do have enough length that I think the spacers are not needed but  that also means that the fan spacer would have to be about 1 5/8" longer and mine is already 2 1/2".  This also has higher end features, like dual row, 1 1/4" tubes, 16 fins per inch and 3/8" tube centers, which is probably a part of the reason that it is closer to mid range in price.
The bad stuff, All threads needed to be cleaned.  It's like they didn't clean them after machining.  This is very important since it is aluminum.  The coolant recovery nipple comes threaded into place and it was very "Crunchy" coming out, before cleaning.  I was thinking it might gall but it didn't and threaded smoothly after cleaning everything up.  The hose nipples and various flanges were sharp and required light sanding.


Lawrenceville, GA


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