My '59 was getting a little hot the other day. When I drained it last night I noticed that it had some crud in the tubes, so I decided to pull the radiator to take it to the shop. My question is, do I bother with spending money to have a 60 year old radiator cleaned out, or should I opt for a new aluminum one? The truck has a 383 SBC / TH 400 with a 16" electric fan (puller).
Personally I'm not a fan of aluminum radiators, but I admit the price is attractive. Still, depending on the condition & extent or service or repairs needed I'd rather put the money into the original radiator; or opt for a new brass/copper one.
I like and continue to use brass/copper radiators. I blame today's fuel for most of the heating problems today. If you do not have a good designed or the original shroud consider installing one. Speedway had them for most radiators demensions. We just installed one on a stock 40 Chevrolet with a hopped up 302 GMC and a 15" 4 blade fan and it runs and stays right on the thermostat temp.
I would give the OG one a try. If it checks out and holds pressure you should be good to go. I do not like using electric fans as a primary fan. Try a solid one with a shroud first.
First, see what the shop says. If it's the original core in that radiator, they probably will not want to try to fix it, because they've been difficult to work on for decades (they used the same type of core that was used in heater cores, made with two formed plates soldered together at the edges, which is mostly impossible to repair). If it's been recored with a tube and fin core at some time, then they might be able to rod it. Expect the bill to be about the same as if you bought a cheap new aluminum radiator. but the cheap new aluminum won't fit the same, and you may or may not like how it looks.
I agree with the guys that suggest keeping the copper/brass radiator, it will outlast a cheap aluminum radiator. HRP
I'm taking the 35 year old Walker radiator off my 29 Model A any taking it to have a leak repaired, bought a Brassworks for my flathead powered V8 A. I like the copper radiators and would have the stock radiator cleaned and checked, if it isn't repairable then worry about what to replace it with.
Update: I had the stock radiator rebuilt. Luckily, the core was still good. I installed a dual electric fan (90s Mustang, I think) and made mounting brackets out of a couple of old license plates. So far, so good. Seems to keep its cool in 90 degree weather.
I seriously doubt there's that much difference between copper and aluminum cooling coefficient. Every race radiator made is aluminum.
Yup, they all do. With plastic tanks. They are less expensive to make, and they cool just fine, if they're big enough. If you look at the radiator in a new pickup, compared to an old pickup, the new ones are about twice the size....they finally figured that out.
It is a lot more involved than just comparing the thermal conductivity of the materials used. Yes, it's true that copper, not brass, has about double the thermal conductivity of aluminum. Aluminum has about double that of brass. It has more to do with the design of the core rows and the number of fins per inch in actually being able to shed heat than the material used alone. With that, aluminum is about the same, if not marginally better, at cooling than a brass/copper radiator. Where the aluminum radiator wins is in price and savings of weight. https://www.hotrodhotline.com/content/aluminum-vs-copper-brass-article-us-radiator#.Xy2LTi2ZNp8
57 you'd be surprise how many people have no idea about fin count. I just replaced the radiator in my OT truck. The one the radiator shop got for me was 16 fins pi the one being replaced was 18 pi. I finally found a supplier that had 18 pi. The difference between the two was over 7,000 fins, that's quite a difference in cooling ability
Champion Radiators have a good reputation for fitting just like a stock radiator. https://www.championradiators.com/4-row-Chevy-Truck-rad-1955-1959
late 47-early 55 Chevy truck radiators fit real well in the Task Force Chevs,just need 2 simple plates bolted to the radiator and then to the 55-9 core support, (these radiators are just a tad narrower than 55-9's
Cheap aluminum radiators are just that....cheap. Some are thin and crack at stress points, some leak at seams fairly quickly, but all look bad to me. I always try to go with stock or stock tanks at least, a good re-core will last a very long time if cared for properly.
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