Buying a new radiator WTF?

[apache]

I cannot believe how frustrating the simple thing can become..like trying to find a replacement radiator for my 85 suburban. Ive looked at every site,ordered one from Napa to find it dosent fit, and have come to the conclusion I`ll just have mine rodded out etc and hopefully its good to go otherwise Im screwed. Every HD 2 or 3 pass replacement from radiator barn,radiators .com,autozone,kragen etc etc etc,is plastic tank alum core and the header dimension is 3.25" wide and will not fit my mounts. If I go with a narrow one in alum/plastic that will fit its a single pass and smaller which is light duty. I will not use a plastic/alum radiator, Its fine for a car but not for off road use from my experiances the tank seals fail way to easily from twisting and bouncing around. Anyone know of a better source for metal radiators?

 

[Eric M.]

I had the same issue several years ago. I was dealing with a local radiator shop who found out the metal replacements were no longer being made. The plastic units had the wrong top hose mount, I would have thought they'd figured out that one by now, but I guess not. I had my old unit recored.

Eric M.

 

[randy88k5]

Hmmm, didn't know this. I'll be sure to hold on to my old ones and any others I come across

 

[k20]

Yeh when I was replacing mine I kept running into the plastic/alum bs, went to napa they brought out the plastic crap I toldthem to keep it unless they could find me a 4core all metal.....They were like holdon (this is the big napa distribution here in charlotte) bout 10mins later they are like ok we have one, out comes this box with about an inch of dust on it and it looks like it has been there for 15yrs, open it up perfect condition, heck yeh.

Soooo there may be a few more kicking around in napa's system, this was maybe 2 yrs ago....

 

[4xcrazy]

just bought mine locally from a place called Hawks Radiator, they do business through that 1-800 place too, but mine is the HD cooling 4 row and it's all metal...

and yes, all the HD radiators will be bigger than the factory unit and will require some tinkering to get in there.

even had to warranty it out last year, and they STILL replaced it with an all metal unit.

 

[Kota4bye]

This is why I kept the radiator out of the CUCV I pulled my axles from.

 

[apache]

Napa found me a NOS Modine before the were bought out, but its only a two row, Im keepin the old one for a spare and see how this 2 row works out with a 180 thermostat. Im not gonna do any towing to speak of and the AC dosent owrk so hopefully it suits my needs come Death Valley/desert days next spring.