The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk anyone running a Champion radiator ?

guys, curious if any of you are using a Champion aluminum radiator ?
i ordered on for my 57, and got it yesterday. a 3 core all aluminum pro series.
http://www.championradiators.com/page/430247590

today i went to install it and was unhappily surprised that although it does bolt up directly to the factory locating holes on the side mounts, the mounts are welded to the sides in a fashion that pushes the entire radiator inbound 1" more than the factory radiator.
not too much of a problem at the top, but my flex fan now hits the bottom of the radiator, and its so close i cant install the fan when the radiator is in. if i take my 1" spacer off the water pump snout, then the fan hits the bottom crank pulley.
setting the radiator right next to the factory radiator the problem is very obvious.
im not too happy with the quality of this radiator. i absolutely hate shipping stuff back and all the run around involved with that. and would also like to have the truck back up and running either this weekend or during next week.
since im a welder by trade, im thinking about cutting the current side mounts off, repositioning them where needed, and rewelding them onto the sides..

i e-mailed the customer service and will wait to see what they say. the price was 240.00 shipped, which i thought seemed kind of cheap, and im now paying for it....
just wondering if any of you had the same problems, or which radiator you guys are running ?

thanks

leonard

I'm running my original Harrison rad, works for me.

Ratrod so what you are trying to tell me is you purchased a item non OEM and expected it to fit? Really? ...jk

If the 1" spacer is clears the radiator but is to close for comfort and no spacer is to close to the damper, then use a 1/2" spacer instead.
$250 is about half what I just paid for a copper/brass radiator for my '54 so as you say, you get what you pay for.

DG

I bought a Champion for my '65 (283 cuid) and it bolted right up. I ditched the water pump fan and went with 2 electric fans (2500 CFM) 'cause I know here in the Florida summer with the a/c running it needs all the air flow it can get to make the a/c work properly and keep the engine temp in the normal range.

http://s783.photobucket.com/albums/.../?action=view&current=engine623c.jpg

http://s783.photobucket.com/albums/.../?action=view&current=engine623b.jpg

I'm pretty sure you can't find an OEM radiator for '57 anything anymore. (I may be wrong, as I haven't actually inquired at a chevy dealer)

I used a Afco brand in my truck. They built them with side mounts so short I needed to add about a 2" wide piece on each side. I paid about what you did. I am still happy with it, even though I had to alter it, I sorta expected I would have had to anyway. If you can make it work, go for it, the next one probably won't fit any better unless you double the price.
As a side note, my truck now holds 1 gallon more coolant then the old radiator did. I had to add a longer lower hose, but most of it is in the radiator. I can drive without ever looking at the gauge and still know its never going to get hot!

Joe

thanks for the input guys... i appreciate it.
i e-mailed the owner of champion radiator. he was willing to stand behind his product and either give me my money back or modify the radiator to what i needed.
i told him since im a welder/fabricator and have a tig unit here at the house, i would fix it my self. i wrote him a description of what i did, along with pics, for his tech department.
again, i only think this problem arose because of my long water pump, but im sure im not the only 55-59 owner running a SBC with a long water pump. others will have the same problem i had.
in the third pic on this other manufacturers website, you can see the extreme angle of the side mount brackets that keep the bottom more outward toward the front of the truck.

(Editor note: This was not a mfr. website. It was an Ebay link, which is not allowed in GTT.)

that angle is whats needed to kick the bottom of the radiator out, away from the motor. on my champion radiator the side mount brackets were basically parallel with the core. no angle at all

the side mounts on Champions radiator were basically straight up and down.

thanks for the help guys, and i hope to have it all back together by mid week.

leonard