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radiator blew and old repair

Kain

Kain

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Well the rad cap went bad and blew and old repair out. i think its time to buy new.
i have the diesel rad in it now and i can get one from autozone for 325.
should i pput aluminum in it?
should i stick with copper?
should i stick with the bigger rad or go with the smaler in aluminum?
am looking and ebay has em for about 200 bucks but wanted the brotherhood opinion before i bought it.
 
How is it that no one has an opinion yet?
Well I didn't have any problems with the factory radiator until it was leaking a bunch. I went with a 4 row, stock width for a gas engine. It took some work to make it almost correct.
So what I would say, is that I would keep the extra cooling capacity of the diesel radiator, if you already have it set up. Copper and brass is more repairable in my experience. Aluminum radiator leaks at the tubes requires epoxy. But you could have quality issues with anything anymore.
I didn't look at the ones that you linked.
 
there is only two repair shops in town one is crawford radiator and they have repaired it 3 times twice within 2 months
the other i would not let work on my lawn mower. if i get the aluminum for a truck the last one i posted i would be able to get rid of the janky house situation and would be able to use my fans they would fit it. two this is the original rad from 1982 that rolled of the line think its time to replace no matter what i go with it should be better then the one i have.
 
I have some NOS CUCV 6.2 diesel radiators if you want to go back original. All of the new parts store radiators are a hard to repair POS in my opinion. I hate them. That is why I bought a lot of new CUCV radiators. I have a lot of square body GMs but probably will never use all of the radiators that I had to buy.
 
6872xtc thanks

rksjd8420 if i dont like what they have to say ill pm you cant afford for two weeks anyway
 
Most (all?) of the radiators you linked look like ones that will require bracket/rubber mount modification to fit. For some reason the manufacturers can't seem to get the mounting portion of the radiators right. I've heard of pinhole leaks on the "cheap" aluminum radiators, which probably all come from the same factory, they just seem to be a crapshoot. The one in my Dad's truck (Champion brand) AFAIK is still working ok (sold the truck), but he did have to modify the radiator brackets to make it fit.

i assume the same problems wouldn't exist with parts store ones, but most of those have gone to plastic tanks with aluminum cores. They are perfectly serviceable in modern chassis, but I suspect they are not going to hold up as well in our trucks because the frames move and are very likely to put pressure on the radiator. I'm not sold one way or the other on that, but any problems associated with the plastic tank units seem to normally revolve around the tank to core seals, which would be exacerbated if the frame flexes.

Are you running a diesel, or just the diesel radiator? Probably going to be issues with mounting brackets and fan shroud (both difference AFAIK) if going from diesel radiator to gas, if that concerns you. Not sure if transmission cooling line placement changed.

OEM radiators are definitely the way to go, if you can find and afford them.
 
just radiator was in the truck when i got it, dont want the plastic tanks had bad experience with my old camaro
I am running electric fans. and have external cooler for tranny was hoping to run through the rad like its designed to do then run through the cooler. also wanted to get rid of the mix match top rad hose it is part rubber part metal.

If i dont like what they have to say ill stick with diesel one just get new this was original to truck from 1982 from the looks of it. and getting a closer look it has been repaired over 2 dozen times some repairs look good others is over old repairs witch is no good
 
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