Radiator questions for swapped daily drivers
 

To keep this as short as possible here, I am wondering who here has a swap that daily drives it, and how long your cooling system has been in it without issue? Please elaborate on what type of radiator you have specifically.

I daily drive a s10 that has been swapped for about 9 years now. In this time the truck has had 3 radiators in it. The first was a stock radiator. I pulled that for a better clearance/configuration. The second 2 have been all aluminum radiators specifically for a s10. The first leaked after about 4.5 years, the second is now leaking after about 3.

I took it to a local shop, and his evaluation is this is the wrong radiator for a daily driven car/truck. Both of these have cracked at the tank to the core about 1.5-2" below where the return coolant comes in. The guy said over time the aluminum work hardens from all of the temp changes and it will always fail there. I am currently going to change to a factory style aluminum radiator with plastic tanks that is much larger than the stock factory radiator. I'd love to know if any of you other true daily driven swap guys have had this type of issue?

I swapped a stock 5.3 into my 68 c10 that sill has its original copper/brass radiator in. Truck has been swapped for 4 years. It is a DD and not any issue in cooling or leaking.
I use green coolant and change every two years. I run a mechanical fan and shroud.

My local radiator guy said that would be the best option but they are expensive to have built. He said all aluminum would be the very last thing he would use, as it has less flex and hardens faster than any other option.
I appreciate your response!

Just my.02
My 98 Wrangler LS6 swap has been bullet proof for over 12 years. The radiator is rubber insolated from Novak. On my 68 C10 and other LS swaps I use the 68 C10 lower rubber mounts and upper mounts modded as needed. The rubber insulators give the radiators a bit room to move as they get hot and cool down. I don't care for the solid radiator tank to radiator support brackets. The radiator expands as it warmer and the radiator support flexes due to road conditions. Just my .02

@rpturbo Not sure if you're on S10forums, or not, but a user of there (Harley) built an LS swapped 2nd gen Blazer. He runs a stock 2003-2005 (last gen) Cavalier radiator and fan/shround setup. I can't remember if he dailies it or not (he recently moved to Portland) but I think so. He also autocrosses it and road races it. Might be worth checking out. He did have to modify the water pump so the hose pointed in the right direction, but from the looks of it a later Camaro water pump would do the same thing. If you're on there, hit him up. He'd probably have some good info. I always try to overbuild my cooling system. I want to be able to hop in it and drive it anywhere in any conditions. There was a shop in Mt. Clemens, MI that made a specific LS swap S10 radiator that I was considering using.

Jay

I've built a couple cars that were basically daily drivers, in the summer anyway. My Nova I've put about 120k miles on, been swapped for going on 20 years now. factory copper/brass radiator that I had cleaned out and a steam fitting added when I did the swap. Only issue I had was the Dexcool mucked it up so I switched to regular green antifreeze and haven't had that problem since. Had one water pump go out so coolant got changed then, that was around the 80k mile mark.

My '33 has 113k miles on it, has a copper/brass Portel radiator, but has had problems with leaks, but I attribute them to the way the front end all mounts to the radiator and the radiator being mounted to the frame, just a poor 1930's design, there's probably a reason they stopped making cars like that in the late 30's. I was told not to put an aluminum radiator in it by the older street rod guys, because of radiator shops not being able to, or just not wanting to repair them.

My rusty green '71 short bed has an original 4 core copper/brass radiator too, and sitting at about 47k on the odometer, has never had any problems either.

I would think if you could get a factory radiator in the truck, you would probably be good to go. The factory has to make sure vehicles will go 100k miles, where as the aftermarket doesn't have as much incentive to do so.

@JayinMI
Hey yeah I was a active member on the forum for years but pretty much gave it up. I am looking at doing something similar to what Harley did. I am hoping the BMW radiator I have will recess. It's a bit bigger that any I have seen anyone use. I am going to have to notch the front frame rail that holds the bumper on. I've picked up a couple of surge tanks, and may use the same one he has. I'll just see how it goes.

It seems like a stock older brass/copper radiator is the way to go based on what you guys have said and from what my local guy said as well. As I want to do this on a budget now, I am pressing forward with what I have. I am hoping others will chime in, and that this will hopefully save others some future headaches. I know I wouldn't have spent all the $ on these fancy aluminum ones if I had all the knowledge at the time.

I am curious if anyone can recommend a radiator shop that builds radiators? Every local shop I call advertise they do custom builds, but when I actually call, they subcontract it out, and or buy something already built and mark it up.
The last shop said a aluminum radiator wouldn't last like the other shop, but low and behold after they got a quote together, it was all aluminum. Then they said it would be sturdier than what I had (how would they even know that) and said it shouldn't crack. No kidding?

I've looked high and low, can't find a decent 15 x30 radiator anywhere that's worth a shit.

Well I've spent countless hours both reading, researching and digging through catalogs. After talking to no less than 5 major shops, I've come to the decision to change directions. I found that a radiator for a 2011 Toyota RAV4 is about the size that will HOPEFULLY be able to be forward mounted.
Now before you make a judgement, look at a factory radiator in a Corvette, Camaro or Mustang. They all use a 1" core now. The core on this, is 1.25". I've done the cheap and dirty online calculator and this should easily support 450hp. There is a lot that goes into cooling, but for $73, It's worth a gamble in my opinion. I'll post up more once this happens.

I daily drove my el camino for years after I swapped it. It had the 1980`s copper/brass radiator in it for a few years until it sprung a leak. Then I swapped it over to an autozone aluminum with plastic tanks radiator. I believe it has a lifetime warranty? At any rate the aluminum with plastic tank radiators seem to all eventually leak at the o-ring between the plastic tank and aluminum, from what I have seen it seems like its at the 8-10 year mark. The copper brass seem to be a little more durable but I would run either of them. I have no experience with the all aluminum radiators.

I always like to use on my cars as many OEM parts as possible, for reliability and ease of maintenance. My '70 Impala with an LQ9 has the stock factory (recored because of old age!) in place and it works fine.
Maybe a walk through your Pick'n pull yard would allow you to see what could work for you, might be easier than going through catalogs?...

I'm in for pictures of how well the Rav-4 radiator fits in the core support.

My ‘35 sedan/LS1 has the same brass radiator for 20 years, a Walker I think. Mounted properly with no stress or vibration it has gone 40,000 miles with no problem.

I have a 6.0 in a square body S10. Got this universal radiator that fits between the factory core supports.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gri-1-25241-x

With a taurus fan it will maintain thermostat temp up to 95 degree outside temp at highway speeds. After several years and over 10k street miles no leaks or problems with radiator.

I seem to get better life from factory replacement style radiators no matter the construction type than I do generic aftermarket radiators. I think part of this is mounting styles and part is quality control.