I finally ordered one for myself. I found another guy on eBay selling them for $189. He has one left now according to the add. It is the same radiator built by Champion. Looks like I have my spring time project planned.
My radiator came this morning. It looks great and I can't wait to install it. The eBay seller still has some left according to his add but he has raised the price to $199. Still a good buy. Shipping is not bad and it ships quick.
We installed one of these radiators in a Fiero today.
First of all, when we got it we compared the size, the cores & the fit to the big radiator that I've been having made for several years.
We have not yet tested it extensively BUT I HAVE HIGH CONFIDENCE that it is at least equal to the radiators I've been having made for years.
This high confidence & the fact that this radiator is much cheaper than the ones I've been having made, means that this will become my recommended radiator for future swaps.
OK, here's what notes I have on the installation.
As I said, size, thickness & cores are very comparable to the rads I've been using for years.
We mounted the rad into the stock Fiero upper & lower mounts.
Here are the modifications we had to make.
In this pic. the rad is upside down to show that the rubber bumpers in the bottom & top Fiero brackets have to be modified just slightly.
The stock rubber is on the left, the corners need to be cut a little as in the rubber on the right.
Then you can put them right back into the stock locations....
Because the new radiator has a more squared off shape than the stock radiator, the top Fiero mounting bracket had to be opened up a little bit around that radiator cap area.....
Over on the drivers side the Fiero top mount is a bit tight on that corner but we did get it to m,ount without doing any cutting.
Also, please note that on the bottom Fiero rad mount, the corners are a bit tight but we didn't have to modify them.
Also, watch the bolts that hold on the condenser coil, they were a bit too long on our installation & we shortened them a little.
Also watch the bolts that hold the rad fan on to make sure they don't damage the core.
Thanks, Archie. Excellent write up. I will be using it as a guide when I install mine. I am excited to know it is close to the one you have been using all these years too. I think it means I have found a quality product and if I decide to upgrade to another engine I don't have to worry about this aspect. Great pictures too.
This high confidence & the fact that this radiator is much cheaper than the ones I've been having made, means that this will become my recommended radiator for future swaps.
O.K. About the car above that Archie installed the radiator into. I have put some hard miles on it in 85 degree Georgia weather and can report it happily keeps my V8 below 200 degrees. Regarless of spirited driving or sitting at redlights all the way through town it stays pretty cool. It does fluctuate between 160 and 190 with a 160 thermostat and fan switch, but only gets to the higher temps under stoplight to stoplight sprints followed by sitting for a few moments. It never exceded 200 degrees during testing. I am probably going to swap to a 180 degree thermostat and fan switch to try and stabilize the temp around 185, which is where the engine and carb seem happiest. I will report with new info if it comes up.
------------------ 87 GT Tilt Clip-Widebody-RamAir-Fastback-GlassHatch Powered by SBC 383 6-speed w/ NOS Build Thread "Roads?...Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Emmett "Doc" Brown
Hey, thanks for letting us know about it Clay. I still haven't put mine in yet...to many honey-do projects around here. Maybe in the next few weeks. I have dropped a couple of hints that I need some gaarage time. It is probably partly my fault too because I have added enough other little "oh by the way" things to this project that the car will be down for a few days while I get it all done.
[This message has been edited by 1MohrFiero (edited 06-16-2009).]
$115 4 cyl radiator from Modine was enought to keep my 383 v8 165* in summer bumper to bumper traffic. Just sayin.
Are you saying it because you're pissed that you paid $115 for a stock style aftermarket radiator? I would be too, those are usually free if you have friends parting out Fieros. To think, for another $100 you could have upgraded to this bitchin' aftermarket unit!!!
I put one of those champion radiators in my 86 SE Fino conversion and it went straight in despite bein just slightly wider. I didnt get the unit weighed but It felt just slightly heavier than the stock one. Of course this rad has a transmission oil cooler built in so you can loose the stock one which resuts is a slight net weight saving.
not at all. I got a brand new radiator that fit in the car perfectly. Saw no need to replace what worked fine. I saved $85. If I sprayed some paint stripper on it to take off the black and painted it with aluminum paint it would look just like yours...but then its there to cool the engine, not be a dress up item. BTW, its the same size radiator as the ones in my C4 Corvettes and they work just fine with 350 V8s. I replaced the leaking one in my 86 vette when I put the V8 in the Fiero and compared them laying on the floor.
Get them while they last. There are 3 open box radiators available on Ebay for $170 each SHIPPED! I posted about the availability of these radiators back in 2008 and received a commitment for a good deal when I was ready to purchase but the seller's user name was no longer active when that time came and this seems to be about the best you can expect with shipping included so I'm in.
i lucked out with mine.. I found a $160 Champion out the door, no tax, plus free shipping. It was an open box too.. I checked it for leaks (but not under pressure) and straightened a little bit of the fans but in all, very nice.. I too can't wait to put it in!
Wife says home project are first but we'll see.....
just got mine for my 3800SC swap i will be installing it and running it on my 2.8 for a while untill my motor is done i will post pics on my build thread looks like a slick peice and from what i hear it will do some good with my engine swap
Originally posted by Jon350: The installed picture in this ebay ad look identical as the one in Archie write up.
That is because if you click the picture like it tells you to, it brings you to this thread... LOL.
Edit: Edited after realizing that you edited to say what I said, but then had to edit because of your edit... I think... I shouldn't hold the page open in Post so long. LOL. ------------------ -Brian
Way too cool to pass up. Death Valley would not be a problem with that under the hood. I just bought one. Now there are only three left at that ebay auction.
I installed mine today and had to do a lot of what Archie talked about and more. I had to do a lot of cutting on the top bracket and also had to reshape it in several areas to get it to fit and it is still really tight. I kind of wished I had left it alone. I don't know what the long term effects will be of having it fit so tightly.
It is cool but it cost me a day of my life to install it. Btw, my car's temperature doesn't do anything different than it did before.
I installed mine today and had to do a lot of what Archie talked about and more. I had to do a lot of cutting on the top bracket and also had to reshape it in several areas to get it to fit and it is still really tight. I kind of wished I had left it alone. I don't know what the long term effects will be of having it fit so tightly.
It is cool but it cost me a day of my life to install it. Btw, my car's temperature doesn't do anything different than it did before.
My guess would be that, if you're having heat issues, then it's not related to the radiator - look somewhere else for the problem. I had a very good 3 core in my car and switched to the Champion because I needed more cooling for my SBC, the Champion reduced operating temp by at least 25 degrees with no other changes to the system. Also noted quicker cool down when fan kicked in, this was on a system with a "restriction flange" - no thermostat. If you're running a thermostat, you probably wouldn't see much change anyway as it is controlling the temp of the coolant.
Aluminum cools better than OEM ones. I second the Champion radiator. I put one in my Coronet. They recommended only a 2 row. It works great with my 400 hp 413 cu in big block. Great people to deal with. They promised the 2 row would work fine, or they would take it back and send me a 3 row for free.
I have one of these radiators installed with a 3800 SC Series III engine and it works well. I acquired it from Archie, used his mods, and am very satisfied with the final result.
My guess would be that, if you're having heat issues, then it's not related to the radiator - look somewhere else for the problem. I had a very good 3 core in my car and switched to the Champion because I needed more cooling for my SBC, the Champion reduced operating temp by at least 25 degrees with no other changes to the system. Also noted quicker cool down when fan kicked in, this was on a system with a "restriction flange" - no thermostat. If you're running a thermostat, you probably wouldn't see much change anyway as it is controlling the temp of the coolant.
My car had the normal fluctuations but nothing out of the normal range. I just wanted the extra capacity just in case. I plan on eventually doing hard mountain driving and installing a larger engine.
I may go out later this week and make a little more clearance like Archie did around the filler neck. I think that would be good in the long term.
I spent a little time this evening on the upper radiator bracket to make it fit better. If you install one of these radiators don't be afraid to open up the space around the filler neck. If you don't, it may fit too tight and installing the bracket might not even be possible. I pounded the inner stamped edge of the hole flat with a hammer then cut the hole a little wider. Now it fits nice.
Rick and Cid from Champion were kind enough to send me a 3 core alu radiator over. Depsite the postal services best attempts to annihilate it, the rad (and the remnants of the box) made it without probs.
Thanks for the installation info Archie and Race.
I cut the lower rubber mounts as Archie described and also the uppers. Flattened the stamped neck on the upper rad mount by the filler neck as Race described. The upper left also needed some reshaping on mine and I installed some thin foam strips where it ran close.
The upper port is not welded on particularly straight and one of the notches cut for the various lower/upper rad support bracket attaching bolts does not line up but that is of no great consequence and beats pushing the Fiero around this summer plus the radiator is beautiful. I woke up at 4am this morning excited about fitting it!!
Delighted.
Cheers PK
EDIT: Are those that have fitted this rad using the Champion rad cap that came with it?
[This message has been edited by PK (edited 05-21-2011).]
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BTW, its the same size radiator as the ones in my C4 Corvettes and they work just fine with 350 V8s. I replaced the leaking one in my 86 vette when I put the V8 in the Fiero and compared them laying on the floor.
