[67cruiser]

Well maybe thinking about a aluminum radiador for my 67 GTO.My currant radiator is a 4 core,coper, approx. age is 4 yrs old.Desert core name i believe. Works great but in the staging lanes it does climb to 205.Car is 80% drag car. Still running a water pump.I know aluminum dissipates heat better. Running water with water wet installed.Whats your thoughts on this subject???Worth the effort or stay with what i have???I have factory shroud & fan installed.
What would be the value on a radiator like mine??? Think i paid like 300.00$ for it/

[78w72]

you'll get a lot of opinions on this subject, heres mine.

your 4 core "should" be cooling the engine just fine based on your specs i remember reading. check all other aspects like water pump, pump clearance, fan location in shroud, fan clutch, t-stat, etc etc. especially if you are running straight water with additive, sounds like something else is contributing/causing the temp issues...

but yes, an aluminum radiator will cool better than the factory copper rads. anything from super expensive big row 2 cores, or if you are on a budget the 3 & 4 core champion brandss are a great value & actually very good quality & lifetime warranty. yes they are made in china & some frown on that, but again, if you are on a budget & want better cooling they work great.

have read about many guys with 500+hp engines that use them & love them. i have the 3 core champion in my 500+hp mid 11sec firebird & it does not move above the t-stat rating no matter what condition the car is in, 90+ degree humid days in staging lanes, stop & go traffic, prolonged highway speeds etc etc.

cant comment on a gto or other make version, but on a 2nd gen bird the fit was perfect.

[67cruiser]

Great answer, Thank You, Im not running any restictors or a stat in the motor, may look into this.

[Rob B]

Originally Posted by 67cruiser

Great answer, Thank You, Im not running any restictors or a stat in the motor, may look into this.

There's your problem right there.

[Flyin79bird]

Try a T-stat. I drive my car to the lanes...down the track and back to the pits and it never gets above 170. This is with 15:1 compression, straight water and a gutted T-stat just to give it enough restriction. BTW...I have a 3 core copper radiator. Nothing fancy.

[goatless]

Originally Posted by Rob B

There's your problem right there.

You mean he should fine tune what he has (by installing a $6 thermostat) instead of continually throwing high dollar parts at it and never getting spending the time to get them to work right????!

Novel concept.

[67cruiser]

Original Hei for yrs. original intake for yrs. original top end for yrs. throwing money into combo makes no sense.Like driving a green car, makes no sense.

[t money]

Some times I have no idea what you are taking about Rich.

[Scott Stoneburg]

I agree with the tstat. Or at least a restrictor. I cut the center out of a t stat and run mine that way. Works great.

[goatless]

Originally Posted by 67cruiser

Original Hei for yrs. original intake for yrs. original top end for yrs. throwing money into combo makes no sense.Like driving a green car, makes no sense.

Really Rich?

The green car has an original style parts store radiator (and never goes over 170 degrees in the staging lanes!), has an untouched original factory intake, an original Q-jet, factory iron heads, factory iron LOG exhaust manifolds, factory fuel lines, factory un-modified fuel tank, all of it's factory steel bumpers and body panels.

Your white car has aluminum intake, aluminum heads, headers, sumped fuel tank, fiberglass bumpers and hood. It weighs a good 400-500 pounds less than the green car and still it runs 2-3 tenths slower. That is what makes no sense!

[mysticmissle]

You've bn served!

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by goatless

You mean he should fine tune what he has (by installing a $6 thermostat) instead of continually throwing high dollar parts at it and never getting spending the time to get them to work right????!

Novel concept.

X2. You can save a great deal of money and get a very strong running car by taking the times to research the known fixes out there for most of this stuff.

Water pump blade to divider plate mod has been out there for years.
Gutted Thermostat is well known.
On cars with working thermostats, drilling a couple of bleed holes in the stat to get rid of air pockets at the cross-over when the stat is closed is known..........................

So do some HOMEWORK FIRST then if you still can't figure it out bring it to the board.

Tom V.

[67cruiser]

Tom, with all do respect, been there done all that. Thank You

[Tom Vaught]

Did you check the timing to make sure you had enough Advance?
Did you check the carb to make sure the carb calibration was not too lean at idle.

Both can cause cooling issues (with the best radiator).

Tom V.

[60man]

Originally Posted by 67cruiser

Great answer, Thank You, Im not running any restictors or a stat in the motor, may look into this.

Ditto Rich....be sure there in no air trapped in cooling system..
If fan has a thermal clutch on it have you tried another fan??
They do go bad..

[Gary H]

Do you have non A/C pulleys or A/C ones? The pulleys on a A/C car for the water pump and balancer are sized (diameter) differently than the non A/C ones. Check to see what you have. I've seen 10-15 degree drops in temperature just by changing pulleys to get the water pump turning faster.

[GTO Dan]

Just buy Langer's car and drivetrain and be done with it.

[67cruiser]

Timing all checked out, perfect for me.
Super Duty repo pulleys
Running fully degreed balancer
Carb. runs like a bare extremely strong.
My clutch fan is new
Timing set 38 degree,s at 2800
My next thing i am looking at is loosing the front factory springs going to Moroso
You name it i probably checked it.
Springs is something i reaaly should of checked first, lol won,t help cooling!!! AkA
I believe someone not telling how much he has in his intake from SD Performance& heads!!

[goatless]

Alright, Rich... even though you'll ignore me, I'll try to help you yet again.

A 4 core desert cooler should have no problem cooling a mild 400. Changing to an aluminum radiator is not going to make much of a difference. If you are not running a thermostat or restrictor then the water is just cycling through your radiator too fast for it to transfer the heat out of it.

[t money]

WOW Rich y do you post here. Your car is perfectly tuned. When you tell Tom V I have done all my research I have to ask were did you find the information about running no t stat or restricter in your cooling system.