What size of radiator is big enough to cool a v8? im running a two row and it seems like its running kinda hot ive got a 2100 cfm fan . What is a good temp thermostat to use in our cars? I was thinking of getting one of those universal aluminum radiators that summit has on sale for $143 and a flex-lite fan.
i have one of the summit radiators. i had to trim the crossmember where the strut rods goto a little bit. also had to build custom mounts. i had some alum angle welded on to the tanks then bolted to the core support. this was before the members on here got some really good direct fit one made. the price difference would be worth geting one of the direct fit ones. i have not seen a after market fan that pulls the cfm of the factory ones from ford. get a taurus or escort fan. they fit the mav size radiator pefectly. there shroud covers the whole radiator. you can find them in slavage yards for cheap.
Look up the champion cooling radiators on ebay. They go for about $180-$200. Three core, and very high quality from what I can tell (I havn't installed mine yet). I've also got a thunderbird fan mounted to mine, I'll post up pictures and details once its all connected and I know it works well.
i followed the advice and also bought an aluminum from champion..its a little more expensive but if you lpan adding to the hp later you will have a radiator that can keep up...get the aluminum worth the money
I got the Champion from ebay. Its great. Barely fits perfect. The lower radiator hose is a little hard to get in after the radiator is bolted on so put the lower radiator hose on before you bolt on the radiator. It comes with a metric drain plug. I like a petcock valve which I cant find in a metic. I think is a 12m x 1.25 thread.
That radiator originally came with a petcock but it hit the crossmember, at least in my car. JIMMY2GATES put me in touch with Cid Martin (cidmartin@cox.net) at Champion. To solve that problem, Champion replaced the petcock with a plug. (Didn't know it was a metric thread.) If you want a petcock, suggest you contact Cid and see if he can help you get one with the metric thread. You'll probably have to put a dimple in the crossmember to get clearance for the petcock to turn.
I'm using a summit aluminum w/ custom mounting and a Black Magic 2100 cfm adjustable fan. Using a 165* thermo it's running about 185* all the time. This is w/ headers and a non-stock engine.
That's the one I have. I just wish the filler neck was positioned so the cap was straight accross. That's the only thing I saw that bothered me. Cept maybe the welds, kinda bulky. Everything else was good.
Guess we've high jacked the thread. Hope the info is useful. Anyway, here are two of the pictures I sent Cid. Maybe my crossmember is farther forward than yours?
When did you get yours? On Feb 6 Cid said they were going to shorten the core on that rad by 1". Maybe you got the newer one? Think they replaced the petcock with the plug on all the old stock but would go back to petcocks for the shortened CC339 cores.
I would have to look up the exact date but I think it was just before or around Christmas. I looked and I bought it on the 19th of Dec. from here... http://stores.ebay.com/Reliable-Radiator
