Aluminum Radiators that aren't junk?

I've been driving it... no obvious leaks.

The tool is a vacuum bleeder for cooling systems. The way it's supposed to work is you shove the rubber tip down the radiator neck, pull a vacuum on the system, and hold that for a while to see if there's a leak. If no leak, you insert the tube into a jug of coolant, and open the side valve to use the vacuum to pull in coolant. Idea being that the vacuum eliminates the need to do a traditional bleeding using a lisle funnel. I think if I had held the gun long enough to pull a better vacuum and had 3 gallons of coolant already in a jug (or at least had a container that wouldn't require a hose change and could be topped off as needed) it would have worked better. The mess was my fault for not understanding how the tool works.  

Ok, that makes sense.  But on the issue of changing the hose from one container to another, couldn't you close the side valve during the change?

And how do you "shove the rubber tip down the radiator neck" and then pull a vacuum?  Are there special caps that have a vacuum fitting?

The dual-cone rubber tip of the gun seals against the IDs of the radiator neck. A bit fiddly to start but once a vacuum is pulled it works. The new version from MAC has two rubber tips... my "original" only has one, but it fit OK.

The issue of the side valve and changing containers is air getting in the hose. But, maybe that's an overstated issue.

Bottom line: I'd never pay $200+ for one of these... but for the $30 I paid at the estate sale, sure.

Thanks for the explanation.  

Late to the party, but Cold-Case has radiators for our trucks they have 1980 - 1984 and 1985-86 options and they come with a life time warranty.

I havent bought mine yet, will be one of the last pieces I buy but it does use 1/4 npt fittings on the 1980-1984 model which I think is the same size of the OE adapters for the transmission cooler lines.  At least I hope so if not I will try to find some stainless steel ones close to OE.

The other places that make radiators are good quality as well, they just arent as bolt in as what the Cold-Case radiators are, one im looking at has all the OE mounts to accept the clips in the bottom and the threaded inserts in the top for the OE fan shroud.

Rusty_S85 wrote

Late to the party, but Cold-Case has radiators for our trucks they have 1980 - 1984 and 1985-86 options and they come with a life time warranty.

I havent bought mine yet, will be one of the last pieces I buy but it does use 1/4 npt fittings on the 1980-1984 model which I think is the same size of the OE adapters for the transmission cooler lines.  At least I hope so if not I will try to find some stainless steel ones close to OE.

The other places that make radiators are good quality as well, they just arent as bolt in as what the Cold-Case radiators are, one im looking at has all the OE mounts to accept the clips in the bottom and the threaded inserts in the top for the OE fan shroud.

I will disagree as I put the Champion in the 86 I used to have. And there’s one in my Bronco that fits nicely with all attached. Not saying Cold Case aren’t good or anything, but the Champions bolt right in.

grumpin wrote

Rusty_S85 wrote

Late to the party, but Cold-Case has radiators for our trucks they have 1980 - 1984 and 1985-86 options and they come with a life time warranty.

I havent bought mine yet, will be one of the last pieces I buy but it does use 1/4 npt fittings on the 1980-1984 model which I think is the same size of the OE adapters for the transmission cooler lines.  At least I hope so if not I will try to find some stainless steel ones close to OE.

The other places that make radiators are good quality as well, they just arent as bolt in as what the Cold-Case radiators are, one im looking at has all the OE mounts to accept the clips in the bottom and the threaded inserts in the top for the OE fan shroud.

I will disagree as I put the Champion in the 86 I used to have. And there’s one in my Bronco that fits nicely with all attached. Not saying Cold Case aren’t good or anything, but the Champions bolt right in.

Champion wasnt a straight forward bolt in for the OP, had to drill holes for the fan shroud.  Still others have various levels of bolt in, some bolt in more and some bolt in less.  I checked all of the other radiator companies out and they are good radiators, Ive used them at work with lots of success.  For me I opted for Cold-Case cause its made exactly like the OE one down to the stamped tanks to mimic the OE copper.  They pride themselves on their radiators being indistinguishable from the OE copper once you shoot some black paint on the radiator which I will be doing.

True, but it’s a 1990 fan shroud in a 1984 truck. Cold Case was on my radar, it’s good to hear your experience with them.

My Champion was also bolt-in.  But Big Blue has a manual tranny so I didn't use the tranny coolant fittings, which is one place that Larry ran into problems.

Might try Cold Case on Dad's truck to save the fittings issue.

And that too is interesting. My tranny cooling lines hooked right up.

The radiator is spec'd for 1985-1997. And my core support is in effect a 1985-86. The liland global unit that failed was bolt in, no drilling. I think champion unofficially designs around the expectation of one using one of their e-fan kits, not keeping the stock clutch fan like I did.

grumpin wrote

True, but it’s a 1990 fan shroud in a 1984 truck. Cold Case was on my radar, it’s good to hear your experience with them.

True that would pose a problem as well, I know Cold-Case sells a retrofit radiator for when you transplant a 5.0 coyote in the 80-84 and 85-86 trucks.

It is what we put in the '82 F150 that we put the 5.0 coyote in at work.  I personally havent used one but that is the reason why I am going with it on my truck as they are nicely built radiators and like with Champion and others you can get the electric fan kit made just for their radiators.

On the warranty we had the truck come back with a core leaking and we sent it back for warranty no questions asked.  Thats also why I want to go with Dakota Digitial cause they dont ask questions and honor their life time warranty no matter whatjust like Cold-Case did for us.

Gary Lewis wrote

My Champion was also bolt-in.  But Big Blue has a manual tranny so I didn't use the tranny coolant fittings, which is one place that Larry ran into problems.

Might try Cold Case on Dad's truck to save the fittings issue.

Why I was surprised that the Champion had 1/8" npt over 1/4" npt for the transmission cooler fittings.  As far as I know I have never seen anyone make a radiator with 1/8" npt over 1/4" npt for cooler fittings.  Even the fittings in the transmission itself are 1/4" npt as well.

The Cold-Case one even clearly states it has 1/4" npt cooler fittings for the 80-84 trucks.

ratdude747 wrote

The radiator is spec'd for 1985-1997. And my core support is in effect a 1985-86. The liland global unit that failed was bolt in, no drilling. I think champion unofficially designs around the expectation of one using one of their e-fan kits, not keeping the stock clutch fan like I did.

Lots of people do upgrade to electric fans when they go with the aluminum radiator upgrade.

I personally am doing the aluminum radiator upgrade for the more efficient cooling capability of the 1 1/4" dual core design while retaining the OE fan shroud.  Only thing I wont have OE is the fan, I am tossing my 5 bladed non AC flex fan in storage in favor of a 7 bladed flex-a-lite fan which is 1/4" smaller diameter than the OE 7 bladed flex fan Ford offered with trucks that had A/C.  The 7 bladed fan I got is the same diameter as my OE 5 bladed, Im hopeful this will move more air and help my AC blow colder than the 58* F it gets down to in the heat of the summer.

Oh I know... I did that on my 1995 Ranger; actually, did the E-fan first and the radiator second (when I noticed that the plastic by the trans cooler was cracked and warped), but I used the stock fan shroud with a trimmed down 2011 Dodge Journey fan JB-welded in the hole (single speed fan, driven with a Derale PWM controller). But, in that case, I only did that because I had done an alternator upgrade previously (which in that case, was 100% bolt-on), the stock clutch fan was UV damaged (cracked), and because I wanted to see if I could improve economy (which I did, 1-2MPG).

In the case of my F150, I would need an alternator upgrade as well (beyond the 60A 1G I currently have), but such would likely entail a 3G upgrade (and ammeter to voltmeter swap) and possibly a serpentine belt upgrade too (as I already struggle a bit with belt slippage when cold, and I run my belt way tighter than one probably should). Which would be a lot of work and expense that I can't currently justify.