TA_Freak

Greetings,

This morning my radiator blew up on my way into work. Damn these engines are robust; it ran up to 260 before I noticed it.... the steam blowing out of the hood was a clue too.

I'm looking for recommendations for a radiator. I'm looking at duralast, AC Delco, Spectra, OSC and Mishimoto.

An help would be appreciated.

Majestic9C1

iTrader: (19)

I replaced mine a few years ago with the thicker core version I got at Advance Auto.... I believe it was a Spectra.. been fine ever since

YOKED

iTrader: (2)

DeWitt's hands down /thread

TA_Freak

I wound up just going with a Duralast. I have one in my `79 Firebird and have had no problems at all. I rarely buy duralast .... but what the heck it's only some aluminum and plastic, right?

Jennifur

Why I went with an ALL ALUMINUM radiator for my bird. Needed some customization to get it to drop in correctly with the A/C Condenser, the Fans and Radiator all clipped together dropped in as 1 unit was the best easiest way to do it and I put an external oil cooler in the A/C Condenser and re-plumbed the lines from the Power Steering cooler in the upper radiator hose to the external cooler zip tied to the A/C Condenser, All works wonderfully now. On 102 degree day with the AC on MAX, My car in traffic on the highway never went much above 180-185 so the core size being more than doubled, All aluminum tanks = No more cracks and potential problems down the road due to changing temps and such fatiguing the plastic over time, is a very smart move. However I did have to do some moderate "Surgery" to get it all to work together properly and plug up the port on the drivers side bottom there is a 3/4 inch hose barb sticking out that I had to plug up with a hose and huge bolt until I can get my TIG welder back and get an aluminum blank to weld over the hole and seal it up and get rid of the hose and bolt clamped to it, and the coolant level sensor does not fit in the allocated port by the battery because it does not have the correct end on it to take the Coolant level sensor, so my sensor is zip tied to a few wires down by the AC compressor and front frame rail part and I used the enclosed screw in cap with O Ring to seal up the port under the radiator cap where its supposed to go but it just has no way of fitting into a almost 3/4 inch screw in 45 degree up angle port. So again moderate "Surgery" to get the radiator to fit but 2ish hours of work maybe 3 to get it in and filled and burped did pay off. Just wish when companies say "DIRECT FIT" they actually MEAN DIRECT FIT not UNIVERSAL for about 93 models of various cars. Term i guess is open to interpretation i guess.
And for like $117.00 off of HTTPS://WWW.Amazon.Com I guess I really cant beat it for price........even with the surgery required to fit..........
Good LUck with your replacement...........

Jennifur

Left Side (Drivers side facing driver) ? is a 3/4" water inlet/outlet for ? reason, not used in an F body............ The ? on the right side upper, is a screw in O ring aluminum cap that is where the coolant level sensor is supposed to go but does NOT fit, not even remotely close to being able to fit. So the cap had to go in and get tightened down and no coolant level sensor in the system at the moment.

All Aluminum polished radiator for 3rd and 4th gen F bodies

All Aluminum polished radiator for 3rd and 4th gen F bodies

TA_Freak

Interesting. Looks like a nice piece. I wound up getting a Spectra. My stock piece lasted 348,000 miles so I can't complain. It did however die a violent death. The neck area blew itself to smithereens.

Jennifur

Mine cracked right after I installed a new Thermostat in the waterpump/block spot for the lower radiator hose connects to. About 24 hours later I smelled the anti freeze, and figured it was just because I had to drain and fill the whole thing or most of it from the thermostat replacement but then saw the drips in and out of the driveway and put my pressure tester on it and under the radiator cap there was like a 5 inch crack and im like WTF where in gods name did that come from, I tried the epoxy, JB Weld crap to hold it until I could get a new Radiator, and I KNEW I did NOT want to go back to plastic again, no way, so I saw this and it looked okay on Amazon but its more of a "Universal" fit for like a dozen specific GM cars and the provisions for all of those cars was built into this one particular radiator. So I had to do some moderate surgery to get it to fit but boy having a real radiator with multiple core thickness, all aluminum tanks, and I must say the welds are like art work, someone should be proud of their work, and it seems very solid, but just some connectors did not work with my particular car and the worst was having to reweld the mounting tabs for the AC Condenser because their tabs had it out about 3/4 of an inch and it would not fit, I rewelded the tabs the condenser slips down into on the front of it and brought it in to about 3/8ths of an inch and it slipped in all as one unit, Condenser, radiator and fans and went in like a charm and I put the oil cooler on the AC condenser too before dropping it all in as one connected part (very heavy but doable) and did not even bend a single fin or nick it up at all.
Not quite EXACT fit, but with some basic moderate skills in auto repair and fabrication you can get this to fit. So for the $117.00 I paid with shipping to my door I cant complain even with having to do some work to it. Now its like you have to whoop the car silly to get the temp needle on 102 plus degree days to even move upwards to 185.
Glad you worked out your issue and if I got 350K miles out of a plastic Radiator, I would not complain either. Thats actually impressive but just knowing an all aluminum one would have lasted about 1 million miles or 850K at least for 117 dollars I wont compliain either. Mine busted and cracked at 122 k miles. for what thats worth.
Have a great one!!!

Jennifur