I'm planning ahead for my big block swap. Has anyone tried one of these? I like that it looks so original, and Auto City Glass has been a great place to deal, in my experience.
I am most interested in a rad that looks pretty original but does a good job too.
I can buy a repro copper rad but it's double the money of this one and I really like how original this one looks. Plus Auto City has been great to deal with.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I don't think you could go wrong with that one Carl. Aluminum is the way to go today. Twin big tube will cool a high compression BB no trouble, mine is proof. And you can paint it black for a more factory look.
If I could do it again, I'd like the stamped tanks.
And if it bothers you to buy offshore, then save up about 300 cdn more and buy a USA made one.
I'm not keen on an offshore rad but man, the price difference is too much. I just can't justify that much extra for US made.
Two things appeal about this rad, the price, and it really does look a lot like the original. (Especially when it gets a coat of black radiator paint....)
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I don't know if I ever followed up on this in another thread but I did end up buying this rad during an ebay sale. I haven't installed it yet but plan to with the engine swap.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
just paint the tanks and side brackets, but leave the fins aluminum if you are concerned. Should give enough coating to make it look mostly correct with the hood open. I put a similar one into a 66 GTO from these guys. It fit and worked great.
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63 Grand Prix -needs restoration, 65 Catalina Ventura 4 speed - resto almost completed, 66 Catalina Convertible - at body shop
I was thinking of doing it that way Brad but I suspect that aluminum would be just screaming in all it's brightness even hidden in behind the grille.
I may break down and buy some of that Eastwood radiator paint, because they are the only ones who sell it, so it seems. I'm just suspicious that it's normal flat or low gloss black paint in a different can...
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
A guy said he worked for a rad shop for years. They would stand the rad up, just the way it is mounted in the car, and then paint at an angle down from above so only the top and front/rear edge of each fin and tube had paint on it. The underside of the fin was still bare.(And of course, they painted the tanks as well.) That way the fins and tubes weren't totally coated and yet to look at it in the car, all you see is black.
I think I like that idea.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I figured I'd give an update on this. I pulled the original rad out of my 66 this morning, as well as the small block rad spacer. Installed the big block rad spacer and test fitted this aluminum rad. Other than the obvious cosmetic issue (it's not black yet) I'd say I'm very happy with how it fits and looks.
I've done some trimming of the area where a shroud would go to make it look more original. I'll post an updated pic of that later.
1967 2dr Biscayne. L36, M40, G80, K05, F41. #'s. 1967 Impala convert. 283, glide. Parked in the garage since 74 and hasn't moved. Soon to be BB 4speed.
Yes, I had some made but they are not perfect. They made them as similar as they could though.
do you have a picture of the decal? Thanks
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1967 2dr Biscayne. L36, M40, G80, K05, F41. #'s. 1967 Impala convert. 283, glide. Parked in the garage since 74 and hasn't moved. Soon to be BB 4speed.
you have been busy, looks good, ive got one in the jimmy in front of that 413 its a two core, and no problem with overheating , just remember to run proper coolant. Someone was asking about the weight, I have one original 09 rad for the ac car, compared to repro its a lot heavier, the ali one is again a eight lighter than the repro copper rad.