Well it doesn’t look like our record breaking heat is going anywhere soon. Spokane in June was the hottest month on record since 1922, and July hasn’t backed off at all. It’s forecast at 100 today, and near or above 90 for the next two weeks already. This weekend is the annual swap meet, and the Good-Guys car show is a couple weeks away.
With the electrical system squared away, and the dual Spal electric fans performing flawlessly, it seemed a good time to address the radiator again. I bought an aluminum Be Cool radiator years ago from Summit. Although it cooled exceptionally, it also leaked and didn’t fit well as it was a crossflow design that placed the lower hose connection above the passenger side frame rail. Long story short it never went back in, and I’ve relied on my original 1958 Impala V8 radiator ever since.
The problem with it is simply cooling capacity. With ambient temps in the 80’s it won’t hold a temperature cooler than 190. When the ambient climbs to over 90 degrees, the engine runs at 200+. And with temps at 100+, the truck sits in the garage for fear of cooking the engine. And with my new A/C, fans, and alternator, I want to drive it all the time especially in the summer.
So last night I broke down and ordered a Champion 3 row radiator for $200 rather than another Be Cool for $750 or a Griffin for even more.
There are a number of posts on this forum about quality and reliability of the Champion radiators, and for the price and amount of driving my truck sees, I was willing to take a chance on a product I could actually afford.
Today we picked up some fresh antifreeze and a new Napa molded upper radiator hose to work with the new radiator which has the upper outlet centered on the tank:
The radiator is due to arrive next Wednesday, so by the weekend we should be cruising in reliable comfort for the first time in several decades.