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No more copper radiators?

J

joshkbomb

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I was just looking at radiator prices in case I have to replace mine and I noticed that nobody sells the regular all copper radiators anymore. There's copper with plastic tanks and aluminum with plastic tanks. I checked Napa, O'Reilly, and Autozone. I don't think I want a radiator with plastic, so I might have to try and find a local radiator shop when the time comes to keep mine going...

What's the deal? Are these other ones good too?
 
Yep, most replacements are aluminum core with plastic tanks these days. Performance Radiator still has a copper/brass core radiator available for our old trucks for around $400.

I got tired of having my original copper core radiator fixed every two years so I ate some crow and bought a new Napa plastic/aluminum radiator back in January expecting to be disappointed with such a plastic POS. I’ve already had it in frigid below freezing weather in the high country of Colorado and the hot southern Utah desert last month in 115 degree temps pulling 8,000lbs up steep grades at low speeds with little airflow and it performed just as well as the OEM radiator if not better. Time will tell if the plastic/aluminum dealeo will have long term durability but so far I am happy with it. To my surprise the plastic tanked radiator actually fit the stock radiator support and brackets better than the original copper/brass turd did. All that said, I wouldn’t be too upset over the loss of copper radiators.
 
I just hate plastic, even tho it works. After seeing so many tank problems on radiators I don't know how they survive in the mounting where a copper one way
 
I think a couple of the others either have the wrong pic or wrong materials in the description. alot of the murry's are clearly copper tanks in the pics:dunno: I dont know about the aluminum thing but the on in my crew cab runs 210* ALL THE TIME:doah: I havent checked the t stat yet but that just seems high.
 
my BB in Mutt runs 205 ALL day, any condition.. a 195 stat will do that...
 
alum plastic are so cheap and really work so good why would you worry about brass/copper? Yes the plastic cracks but usually after 10+ years and most of my brass radiators were leaking before then.
 
BeCool makes full aluminum replacement radiators with tig welded tanks. Great quality but expensive. Aluminum has better heat transfer properties than copper anyway.
 
From just a material standpoint, copper has higher thermal conductivity than aluminum. Check any materials handbook. However, the design and build of the rad make more of a difference in cooling than the base material. For example, soldered joints have more thermal resistance and will degrade more than welded or brazed. You have to look at the tube size, fin spacing, etc.
 
Looking at the regular parts stores, the aluminum radiators seem to all have 2 rows or don't say. My current copper one has 3 rows. Does the number of rows not matter with aluminum or is it not as good as the copper with 3 rows?
 
joshkbomb said:
Looking at the regular parts stores, the aluminum radiators seem to all have 2 rows or don't say. My current copper one has 3 rows. Does the number of rows not matter with aluminum or is it not as good as the copper with 3 rows?
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Because the alum is stronger you can make bigger cores with more fins that make for better cooling. My K10 radiator is only 2 cores and will cool my truck to thermostat temp in 100 degree heat pulling a 6k lb trailer. Heck a big speedway rad would cool our stock car to 180 on a 90deg night turning 7k 2 times a lap for 26 laps.
 
joshkbomb said:
Looking at the regular parts stores, the aluminum radiators seem to all have 2 rows or don't say. My current copper one has 3 rows. Does the number of rows not matter with aluminum or is it not as good as the copper with 3 rows?
Click to expand...

a 2 row alum will outcool any 3 row copper/brass...

summit's brand, northern, alum rads are pretty freakin nice, and like 1/2 the cost of a becool, griffin, etc...
 
ryoken said:
a 2 row alum will outcool any 3 row copper/brass...

summit's brand, northern, alum rads are pretty freakin nice, and like 1/2 the cost of a becool, griffin, etc...
Click to expand...

Add JEGs brand to that list. If you want to get creative with mounts universal aluminum radiators are the way to go, $150 for a universal fully welded aluminum radiator from JEGs in my K10 :deal:

Griffin has cheap universal radiators too, I put one in my S10 for a similar price to the JEGs unit. Just rifle through Summit and Jegs and see what fits for what price. :deal:
 
yup, i ran the universal northern for about 150.... good savings on universals....
 
You can still buy real radiators made with copper. Maybe plastic & aluminum radiators work,but you'll never convince me they're as good as the originals. I have replaced more radiators with broken plastic tanks than 20-30 year old copper. There are radiator shops to repair original radiators. They toss plastic & aluminum ones in the trash,just like you or I.
 
Have the parts stores double check. Napa told me they quit carrying copper radiators so I poked around on the internet and found a part# for what I was looking for. Called them back with it, they had it in stock, and it turned out to be copper and brass. Sometimes you have to lead those guys a little bit to get what you need. Think I gave around $175 for it.
 
You can get various aluminum radiators (champion is one brand) for a heck of a lot less than what you can get a non-plastic copper/brass for anymore.

Might need to do some work with the hoses (diameter difference potential) and the mounting flanges aren't as defined, but for the cost and efficiency, I think the tradeoff is worth it.

Not a fan of Chinese stuff, but I believe SOME Griffin radiators aren't actually that pricey if you look closely at their offerings. Someone else in the US makes aluminum radiators, and they aren't ridiculously expensive either.
 
Entropy aluminum radiators are supposed to be good. Made in the US and not too pricey. He sells complete kits for electric fan conversion or he'll sell you just the radiator as well.
 
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