I know a few guys on here have gotten the aluminum radiators from the flea bay sellers and had good resutls. Did a search of threads and didnt see what I was looking for. Anyone who'se gotten one if you remember your seller name could you post it? Looking for a radiator for my 61 f100 and wondering who the good sellers are vs the bad.
most of the ones on there are Champion Rad.... I contacted Leadfoot racing directly and got one through them... still running it on my 56... and had to take the one on my model a out cause it wasn't enough for my big block.
Got one from Wizard for 33. This was listed for 65 Mustang. Local radiator shop relocated inlet and angled corners to fit. Got it quickly. Painted front flat black so it did not show up thru grille.
I just got a brice thomas radiator for my model a project. Original height '32 style, The top tank is stamped. Very nice radiator for the money.
I bought one for my 34 Chevy from Brice Thomas and had to send it back 2 times to get the brackets corrected. It cools ok, but wasn't worth all the hassle when they said they built street rod radiators.
I learned a long time ago that when it comes to brakes, steering and cooling to always buy the best. Chinese parts may be cheap but not worth it in the long run.
To answer your question, bought a Champion for my 64 F100 last year, though it's still in the box, haven't installed it. I can't vouch for the quality of the item itself, it "looks" OK, the welds are pretty good at least to my untrained eye. The eBay sellers were great, though - they sent it out right away and it was packed well. They are called something like "Champion_Cooling_Discount_Radiators" if feedback history is any guide. Hope this helps.
I got mine from "radiatorsforless". A Champion vendor but without the shipping costs. Mine even showed up polished which is normally a $30 add-on. Guy answered all my questions promptly. I really have not heard anything bad about Champion radiators.
Have one in my 52 GMC that I bought off ebay. Can't tell you who it is from, but it is one of the chinese cheap alum ones. It was supposedly made to fit the AD trucks, and for most part it is. I had to drill mounting holes and some minor trimming of the bracket, but no big deal. Cools fine so far, just have to get over the alum radiator instead of nice black painted copper one. Cost was approx $200 shipped.
OK I am going to chime in here. I recently ordered a radiator from Champion for my 46 Chevy pickup. When I ordered the radiator I spoke directly with a guy at Champion in California. I told him what year and make I had, he claimed their radiators are a direct fit and would bolt right in. I also requested that they turn the coolant overflow outlet so it would point towards the passenger side (instead of the stock drivers side). He said that was no problem but it would cost me an additonal $80. Apparently all their radiators are made in China to spec but any mods you may want can be done in their shop in CA. I figured it was money well spent, instead of trying to do it my self. Well the radiator showed up in 8 days just as promised but here are the problems I got. The radiator cap sits right were the bracket is that comes off the firewall for the core support. I have no way of taking the cap off or tightening down the bracket to the top of the radiator. Secondly, when they went to trun the overflow outlet it looks as if they just cut the neck of the radiator and turned it 180 degrees, which is fine but look what they left inside the neck. [/URL] [/URL] [/URL] Of course I was mad as hell after spending over $350 bucks for the radiator and the mods. But after taking few moments to catch my breath, I figured it wasn't worth sending it all the way back to CA from NJ just to have a bunch of goons at Champion try to rework it for me, plus worrying about the other goons at UPS tossing it around again. So I just sucked it up and did some mods on the radiator bracket so I could get to the cap. I just cut the center section out of the front of the support and pinched it together. This gave me enough room to get the cap off. I also tried to form the mod to make it look something that may have come stock. Moral of the sory is.....there radiators don't fit as they claim and they do shit work. [/URL] [/URL] [/URL]
Im not worried about making it fit. Cooling and leaking are my only concerns. The one I have in it now is showing age, tans cooler is plugged and the fins are plugging. Dont know what its out of, previous owner put it in, so anything is going to take some custom fab. 200ish for a new one id do it over having mine rebuilt, 600ish id have mine cleaned
Look at Superior Radiator in Michigan if you are wanting to go with aluminum. I think they are on fleabay as well. I put one in my AV8 and it does the job well.
Mine cost me $219 shipped. It would have been a lot more from Champion direct. I did ask about their '59 Ford radiator with an outlet on the passenger side (same as 223 6-banger, which they didn't make) and I was told that Champion would rework it. So I got one for a '65 Belair that was almost a bolt-in. I had to add 2 holes to the flanges and I'm using the stock Ford j-nut locations.
i put a champion in my 35 chevy truck and 36 suburban . i have had no problems with fit or cooling . here in fla.
I normally don't skimp when it comes to radiators, but on the rpu project I am going to try to get an off the rack aluminum radiator from someone on Ebay too. The mild sbc I am going to run will not be a cooling problem, so I don't want to spend a fortune on this one. Anything will be better than the $1000 I had to spend for the new one on my 27. Don
I have a Champion in my 65 dart it fit perfect , works fine and it cost165$ shipped to Hawaii It is now 3years old .
I have a Champion in my 55 ford.Bolted right in and works perfectly.I have had it in the car about 2 1\2 years now,about 8000 miles.
I got mine off Amazon, free shipping was the reason. I assume its a chinese unit . Didn't bolt up perfect but to be honest the whole front of the car was messed with anyway. Cools Fine
The worst thing with cheap Chinese radiators is the construction. Epoxied tubes make them "Throw Aways".
I ordered a champion. All welded, good warranty and most had good reviews on them. Worst case scenario ill keep my old one until I run this and see that it does the job. Thanks for the input guys