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They have a radiator by Champion Cooling they say will fit a 1962 98 but the listed dimension is an inch taller than stock. So it wont fit.
I've messaged for clarification but figured I see if anyone has experience with them
Ive read on this site that you cannot source a new radiator for my car so to find one claiming to fit has me curious.
Champion has an eBay site under the name Champion Racing Equipment and sells at the same prices as Discount Radiators. I would buy directly from Champion for easier support in case you have any quality control issues. I bought a 3-row Champion radiator in 2016; PN CC161. I had issues with multiple radiators being out of square such that the electric fan shroud would not fit properly to the core. Champion had to hand-pick one for me that was true, but they eventually made it right.
Thanks
I've messaged them. Their search wasn't working on my phone and after 24 pages of scrolling I didn't even scratch the surface of the 2000 products. Lol
They have a radiator by Champion Cooling they say will fit a 1962 98 but the listed dimension is an inch taller than stock. So it wont fit.
I've messaged for clarification but figured I see if anyone has experience with them
Ive read on this site that you cannot source a new radiator for my car so to find one claiming to fit has me curious.
Anyway, anyone else ever deal with them?
Thanks
Last summer I saw my radiator was leaking and was going to get it replaced but ended up having it recored which ended up being less money than a new one. I had this company do the job - https://www.centralautoradiator.com/ They completed the job in a couple of days. I asked if they would take on jobs if it was shipped to them and they said they'd be happy to do it. I paid $735.00 including tax. They are local to me so there was no shipping cost involved.
When I had my 54 Olds I wanted to put and aluminum radiator in it. Of course nobody I measured and studied until I finally decided one from a 68 Dodge Coronet would fit. One problem was getting the inlet and outlet in the right places. The radiator was not quite as tall as the one in my 54 so I put and air dam under it so all the air went through my radiator. I had to use a spacer on the lower hose since the hose on the Olds was slightly larger. It worked like a champ. Sorry I don't remember the brand but it was not Champion.
I should mention that the CC161 radiator I purchased was not a direct fit. I had to replace the lower saddles on the core support to fit the Champion radiator tanks. I could not find any saddles with the correct width so I wound up cutting a section out of saddles that were too long and rewelding them into the core support; I then had to open up the radiator top plate a little as well.
My application is a '72 442 convertible. I installed a dual 13" electric fan shroud from Derale which was designed to fit the radiator core very tightly. Unfortunately, this posed problems attaching the fan shroud to the out of square radiator. Champion eventually made it right for me but I had to speak with a warehouse manager who hand selected the replacement checking for the out-of-square condition before shipping to me. I have posted a pic of the out-of-square radiator and the modified lower saddles.
Rodney
You can see from this picture that the radiator was more than 1/2 inch out of square.
I had to modify the lower saddles to fit the Champion radiator tanks. I was unable to find any ready-made saddles that would fit properly so I cut down some longer ones.
I ended up ordering from Focus Cooling on Ebay. They say its guaranteed to fit but I know it won't. All measurements match except width. New one is 2.75 and old one is 2.25 so I'm gonna have to do the saddle mod crod did.
I'll see what they do when I confirm it.
Where did you source the saddles?
I may just cut mine and add a piece in the middle.
The only other option I found was US Radiator for a direct replacement and it was over $700. Which is ok I just want to make sure I get her running properly before dumping large chunks of cash where I can get by with something cheaper for now.
The mount modification seems to be necessary unless your car had a factory 4 core rad. I had to hammer out the bottom saddles to fit the four core rubber mounts and drill out and replace the top saddles and mounts. On my 70 Cutlass S that was a factory 2/3 core. The Autocity rad fit great otherwise.
I bought 4-row saddles from Fusick; they were 2-3/4" wide before I cut out the middle. If I had to do it again, I think I would spend the money for the more expensive aluminum radiator with the stock looking tanks so the saddle mods would not be needed.
Thanks
I will probably tell myself the same thing later down the road when I go to put the rebuilt stocker back in and have to source stock saddles.
"shoulda"
But for now she needs a few other things that money will be spent on.
Luckily I like tinkering. I guess most here do or they wouldn't own a classic.
I finally got a reply from Champion and their measurements include the filler neck and cap. Not sure why?
Oh well if the one I ordered is junk at least I know there is another option.
Well I widened the bottom saddles, still working on the top but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to cut it off and fab something, and it fits just fine. Had to get an adapter for the top hose to reduce to 1.5.
Now I need to find a male inverted flare fitting with a 3/8 hose barb on the other end.
So far all I've found is 5/16 to 3/8
Not too happy about choking down the line size or the top hose but I'm putting in gauges so I can monitor temps in trans and engine.
