Anyone have experience with a aluminum radiator in your 60?
Do you find that it runs cooler?
Pro's & Con's.
Do you find that it runs cooler?
Pro's & Con's.
Last edited:
Aluminum Radiator
- Thread starter Jeffroehrick
- Start date
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Hojack
♠️Project Snowball❄️
Put a 3 row champion in my 60 for my 4BT diesel swap.
3 row Champion here too. It does run cooler...mainly because it doesn't leak out all the coolant like my original one did. I had a shop to attempt to repair my original but the repair did not last. Champion has been just fine for me for a couple of years now.
rrv333
SILVER Star
X3 on a Champion
Another with a 3 row champion, about a year so far with no problems.
Just put an aluminum Mishimoto in my 62....any idea how the champion compares to the Mishi?
db3
SILVER Star
@orangefj45, Georg at Valley Hybrids recommended and installed a 3 row Champion a year ago.
I noted about a 10 degree drop in running temperatures. Fit and finish very good, and price is reasonable.
I noted about a 10 degree drop in running temperatures. Fit and finish very good, and price is reasonable.
Does running cooler make any noteworthy affect on fuel economy? I have my OEM rad out now and there is one pinhole in a weld on the top. I could fix it myself, but if the champion is worth it I may toss one in there and keep the OEM for an emergency.
This has been posted about many times in other threads. There are many posts with people having leaking and bad Champions. I can’t recommend it. Mine went bad with very little miles on it, and yes I used distilled water with Prestone green concentrate mixed 50:50. But look, there’s people saying their csf radiator is bad. And newer OEM go bad quickly. I just installed the csf, hoping I got a better one than the person in this thread.
Fix your original @cps432
Here’s my champion after well less than 10k miles:
Fix your original @cps432
Here’s my champion after well less than 10k miles:
I'm running a Champion in mine as well. Eleven thousand miles or so; still going strong. Fit was okay, but not perfect.
The road salt may be to blame for your corroding aluminum radiator. I think salt corrodes almuminum but is invisible until it's too far gone. Perhaps painting the champion in salty climates would help?
It was barely driven if at all in salty road conditions but it’s an interesting point. I’m going to see if they’ll warranty it
NCFJ
Supporting Vendor
I currently use Ron Davis radiators in my swaps. RD radiators, along with other aluminum radiator manufacturers, recommends running a ground strap to the radiator. The science behind this is that if the grounds in the overall system provide resistance some bleed off is somewhat common to the liquid in the cooling system, basically electrolysis. This leads to corrosion of the aluminum in the radiator. The radiator is rubber mounted providing no ground path.
Hope this helps
Hope this helps
...also. never drain an aluminum radiator and leave it empty for a long period. Flush it thoroughly with distilled before storing.
Otherwise you radiator becomes a lawn sprinkler. They are sensitive to PH. Letting the coolant dry up in the radiator can
cause pinholes...all over
Otherwise you radiator becomes a lawn sprinkler. They are sensitive to PH. Letting the coolant dry up in the radiator can
cause pinholes...all over
Had a mishimoto in my 62. It was a perfect fit and you can’t beat the lifetime warranty.
2nd that. Went through 3+ Alum radiators before realizing I didn't have adequate grounding on it. Since then I've had no issues. They do provide significantly extra cooling. Especially when on freeway running 3k rpm for a couple hrs or stuck in Denver traffic. Though in winter, since my heating system is weak, sometimes it's too cool and I don't get enough warmth in the cab in the winter.... but I can fix that elsewhere. lol
oh also I have a champion rad.
