better replacement radiator

[Dave Ladely]

My radiator is starting to leak, and I would much rather get an all aluminum radiator of better quality as my stock one was marginal in Sacramento on hot days and I don't like the plastic tanks. I saw in the forum classifieds a group buy offer for a very high quality all-aluminum replacement for little more than a two row stock radiator, so I am going to join that group buy. I have seen copper radiators also, but they present an electrolysis potential and are heavier. I know that Griffin makes racing quality radiators, so this group buy will provide that quality for about half the usual price. I understand the Griffin is made to fit exactly like the stock radiator. Is anyone happy with the stock design?

 

[Mr Anonymous]

I'm someone who's happy with the standard radiator.

The factory original radiator lasted almost 80K miles, and the Modine replacement I bought for $109 (with a lifetime warranty) a little over a year and 20K ago has performed flawlessly -- from the bone-chilling N.E. cold to the upper 90's in Miami.

Every SHO I've had and have worked on has always been fine with the standard radiator (including one car that was regularly auto-x'd). In my opinion they have sufficient cooling capacity for most applications and environments, and any inability to keep the temps down can usually be traced to other cooling system problems. I agree that the plastic tanks aren't the best design, but you've also got to figure there are millions of Tauruses on the road that use the same design and radiator failure is far from one of the top maintenance complaints.

Just my $.02, but something for people thinking about shelling out $300+ for a new radiator (as terrific as it may be) to consider...

 

[Nook]

Teh 'stock replacement' dual row, plastic ended radiators ahve been doign jsut fine for our shos. We live in utah, hasnt been under 1oo degrees at 2 PM for bout 2-3 months now, no overheating even with the AC on full blast.

( with cars that HAVE ac that is, grrrr, don;t get me started)

NJ

 

[sdpatt]

The Go Dan Industries (GDI) single row stock replacement for a bit over $100 with a lifetime warranty has performed as designed to keep my SHO in the low end of the NORMAL temperature range even when towing a 3,000 pound boat, carrying 4 full sized guys, A/C on MAX, on a 100F+ degree Texas summer day. The SHO's cooling system, with all components functioning properly, is capable of controlling the engine temperature during even the most demanding conditions. There is really no functional need to increase the heat sink capacity for the added expense of the custom radiators. Unless you want to spend to money. Then no one can stop you.

P.S. Lifetime warranties have really been helping to keep my SHO rolling with minimal expenditures. The manufacturers just don't expect you to keep the cars as long as we do.

 

[Snellgrovia]

yeah, the past month here in Oklahoma has also been a "Under 100 degrees for 2 days in the last month" kind of month, but my stock one works flawlessly. I've seen it go above the middle of normal once and that's because it was 107 and sat in traffic for 8 minutes (when I should have just turned it off).

 

[Machspeed]

sdpatt:
The Go Dan Industries (GDI) single row stock replacement for a bit over $100 with a lifetime warranty has performed as designed to keep my SHO in the low end of the NORMAL temperature range even when towing a 3,000 pound boat, carrying 4 full sized guys, A/C on MAX, on a 100F+ degree Texas summer day. The SHO's cooling system, with all components functioning properly, is capable of controlling the engine temperature during even the most demanding conditions. There is really no functional need to increase the heat sink capacity for the added expense of the custom radiators. Unless you want to spend to money. Then no one can stop you.

P.S. Lifetime warranties have really been helping to keep my SHO rolling with minimal expenditures. The manufacturers just don't expect you to keep the cars as long as we do.

I have the same gdi radiator, got it for 140 at autozone. Why spend 300+ dollars on an that one in the group buy when you can just have this one that works fine and its free lifetime replacement. Ill think ill stick to my gdi thank you.

 

[shojuan]

If circumstances were different I would be interested in buying that nice radiator just for the "warm fuzzy" factor of having a really cool radiator. But since I bought a new GDI radiator with lifetime warranty last summer and since the stock radiator works just fine when it's not clogged or broken that means that circumstances aren't different. The tricky thing with getting a bunch of people to buy a tricked out radiator is the market is going to be people with radiators that are getting slowly clogged but still otherwise functional. Nobody who has a catestrophic failure of the radiator (like I did when a plastic tank cracked) is going to want to wait around with a non-Op car while they wait for the mother of all SHO radiators to get manufactured and shipped out. I would imagine people with a failed radiator would do what I did: hop on down to autozone and pick up an in-stock GDI radiator with a lifetime warranty. On the other side of the coin who with a perfectly functioning new stock-style radiator with a lifetime warranty is going to ditch it...losing their $150 investment and shelling out another $300 in one stroke? Believe me, if I were in a position under the money tree to do so I would. But like so many other SHO owners I'm a poor-boy and a cheap-ass.

Now of that small market who needs to get a replacement radiator but doesn't need to get one immediately I think they will be very happy with the $300+ Griffin if they can afford the extra $150 over a stock replacement.

My $.02. Once again I've managed to write a lot and not really say much at the same time. doh