I'm looking at purchasing an aluminum Champion radiator off of Ebay but I may need to move the fill neck to a new location. Is this gonna be a problem for a radiator shop? I was reading some older HAMB postings and it was mentioned that "you better hope it doesn't spring a leak". Will they not touch an aluminum radiator? What's the story?
Dillon Radiator in Rochester, MN moved the fill neck to the other side, they sold me the radiator and I've bought a few from them over the years, they're on eBay as well!! Oh, free shipping. http://dillonradiator.com/
Some shops only do brass others do brass and aluminum, ask first, but that should be no problem for a qualified shop.
Just a tip to avoid problems like broken mounts, leaks, etc. Use some form of rubber cushioning at all mounting points, if setting the botton tank in a trough type mount use some 1/4" rubber to line the trough, will greatly reduce vibration related cracking of the aluminum.
Champion will move inlets/outlets for a fee, so a fill-neck is a possibility. My eBay Champion seller (radiators4less) offered to move my outlet, but I decided on another radiator he had.
Depends on how the radiator is made, Most radiator shops just replace the alu units because they are cheap to replace. I do aluminum radiator mods like this quite often and involves a Heliarc/Tig welder to do it correctly. I'm an 45min drive from Ontario, and could prob do it while you wait 310-768-3163
Around my area the radiator shops only replace aluminum radiators, they don't work on or repair them. HRP
Ron Davis has quite a large offering of application specific aluminum radiators as well as custom units, I have one in my 66 Suburban. I'm sure they are more money than a Champion radiator but you don't want to choose one based only because they are the cheapest one on E-bay, etc. http://www.rondavisradiators.com