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Topic: New Radiator (Read 961 times) previous topic - next topic

New Radiator

Well my 25 year old stock radiator finally decided that it could no longer keep up with cooling the engine in the T-bird on 95*+ days with the A/C on. It was fine around town but if I got on the highway and drove any length of time the gauge would go to the top of the scale. I pointed a infrared thermometer at the thermostat housing after a highway drive and it was 215*, with a 180* thermostat:wtf:. I ended up buying a Northern Radiator 2 core aluminum radiator (made in the USA :D) to replace mt stock one. Each core is 1&1/8" thick so the total thickness is 2.25". I did have to trim the rubber brackets a bit for the new radiator to fit. The thing cools great with the 9 blade HO fan and Police Interceptor fan clutch I have. After a highway drive the engine is at 185*, even on a 97* day. The car runs better with the A/C on than it has in the past few years. The A/C seems colder and the car isn't down on power like it used to be with the A/C on. I think the old radiator was going for a few years now. When I pulled the radiator it was pretty nasty inside, even though I flush the cooling system every two years. I guess 25 years is a good run for a radiator.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

New Radiator

Reply #2 –
Looks very nice.  How painful was the price?
Mike

New Radiator

Reply #3 –
Quote from: mcb82gt;395265
Looks very nice.  How painful was the price?

A little over $200. Not bad in my opinion.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

New Radiator

Reply #4 –
Nice (and resonably priced) upgrade.  So far my stock radiator is still going strong and that is despite me rarely flushing the system, lol.  This year I did upgrade to the police fan clutch assy and HO fan as well and did notice a big difference in cooling. 

BTW, you need to clean your engine bay I think I might see a speck of dust!  lol.
'88 'bird, 10.9:1 306 w/TFS top end, forged rods/pistons, T-5 swap & bunch of other stuff, 1-family owned, had it since ‘98, 5.0tbrd88 on Instagram and YouTube
 

New Radiator

Reply #5 –
Quote from: thunderjet302;395268
A little over $200. Not bad in my opinion.

 

Not bad... at all.
Mike