Aluminum Radiator with Windstar E-fan Questions...

[arrg]

You need factory mounts from a 3500 to hold that in the vehicle. I believe lowers are all the same, but you'll need 2500/3500 uppers.

I put that radiator in my truck in place of the old 28" core. I took the upper and lower mounts and the shroud from a 1999 1500 Suburban (5.7L) at the boneyard and they fit the 7.4L radiator fine. The 7.4L core is thicker, but I think the end tanks (and mount saddles) are the same size on all the 34" radiators regardless of core thickness.

 

[Supercharged111]

That is really weird. My observations have been that the 1500 had a 28" and 34" width options. The 2500 gets a taller radiator, and the 3500 gets a thicker version of that. The difference between the mount and shroud height between 6 lug 1500 and 8 lug 2500/3500 is very apparent. From what I can see, the 3500 radiator is a drop in for a 2500 if you're speaking strictly gassers. I can't find my pic of the difference in upper radiator shrouds at the moment.

 

[454cid]

Mine's definitely taller than the radiator in my dad's old c1500 with a 350. Maybe the Suburban had a heavy duty cooling package?

 

[arrg]

Did a little measuring. Looks like I put in the CU624 model. Sorry for the confusion. https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=271975&cc=1352955&jsn=467

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[454cid]

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Thanks for the pictures. This one concerns me a little bit, in that it looks like that top fin may be touching the plate. You don't really wan the fins touching, as it can pull flux away from the joint during brazing... and I think it's especially important in the corners. I'd also like to see the fins a little more even, but it could be a lot worse. I'm often surprised by what I see in some of the radiator pictures used on Rockauto or Amazon.

 

[RichLo]

Do you mean the top fin touching the top plate or the end plate? What issues could this cause? Just wondering.

 

[454cid]

Do you mean the top fin touching the top plate or the end plate? What issues could this cause? Just wondering.

The core plate (end plate) which is where the tank attaches. The flux can get drawn away from the tube joints, and cause a leak. The cores, are assembled from the individual pieces of aluminum, and then they get sprayed with a powder flux, before they go into a brazing furnace. There needs to be flux at all the joints where each piece attaches to each other, for it to become one piece inside the furnace. I do not know the chemistry/physics of the actual brazing process, but I believe the flux just facilitates the melting of the aluminum pieces together. The furnace has a very low oxygen atmosphere inside. Nitrogen is used to displace the air.

The crusty white stuff you might see in spots is extra flux.

Edit: I'm sorry, if I've caused a mild panic...your radiator is probably fine, I was assume that it was leak tested when it was built, and passed. As I probably mentioned, I built these things in the past, and this is some of what I looked for, which was prior to a leak test.

 

[RichLo]

No, thanks! That's good info to know!

Here's some side by side pics. I was surprised to see the factory one was a brass 3-core. For some reason I thought everything was aluminum after the 70s

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[454cid]

No, thanks! That's good info to know!

Here's some side by side pics. I was surprised to see the factory one was a brass 3-core. For some reason I thought everything was aluminum after the 70s

Brass was still king in the 80's, from what I saw. I don't think aluminum took over until the 90's. Brass/copper was long gone when I built radiators, but the company I worked for had built them.

Don't just throw the old radiator away. If you have a radiator shop nearby, they may be able to clean and fix it. It's also worth some money to recycle, although, I admit, I've never recycled a radiator and don't know how much you'd get for just one.

 

[Supercharged111]

Brass was still king in the 80's, from what I saw. I don't think aluminum took over until the 90's. Brass/copper was long gone when I built radiators, but the company I worked for had built them.

Don't just throw the old radiator away. If you have a radiator shop nearby, they may be able to clean and fix it. It's also worth some money to recycle, although, I admit, I've never recycled a radiator and don't know how much you'd get for just one.

I got like 10 bucks or so for an AC condenser recently. My 88 C1500 came with that same radiator.