My New All Alluminum Champion Radiator

['94IDITurbo7.3]

Finally got a hold of champion. i explained the damage to them and they decided that it is beyond repair. so they said that they will give me a full refund of my money and let me keep the rad. I don't know what i am going to do with it since i have a good one in my truck.

Still waiting on your's Goofy?

 

[subway]

you could ship it to me, i dont need the transmission cooler lines

my engine runs a little hot and i havent trouble shot it but i suspect my rad is getting old, let me know

 

[typ4]

Me either, maybe we should float itr around as a test rad. I would love to try one before buying one.

 

[wmoguy]

Me either, maybe we should float itr around as a test rad. I would love to try one before buying one.

Get one Russ. I've got one on my 94 and it's doing very well. I gotta get a tru water temp gauge on this thing, but just by the stupid gauge it's running MUCH cooler than the stock Radiator did prior. Besides, that aluminum just looks purty under the hood.
Just don't be stupid like me and accidentally rub your bare arm across the top like I did last night. Ouch!

 

[icanfixall]

My aluminum radiator cools so well that if I open the hood most any morning it will have condensation forming on the top tank. I really don'tknow why this ishappening other than its working even when the engine isshut down. My radiator is differant from the Champion radiators. My material is thicker and it only have two rows of tubes. They are either 1 ir 1 1/4 inch wide. I think it has 15 or 16 fins per inch... Someday I plan to replace my head gaskets and use the 6.9 gaskets. They have the lower coolant passages in them that the 7.3 doesn't. I will need to remove the freeze plugs that seal up these passages in the 7.3 block and heads.I have compared and measured in every way the differances between the 6.9 and 7.3 head gaskets. These coolant ports are the only differances. I'm guessing but I feel someone at the epa level wanted the 7.3 engines torun hotter so they put out less pollution. I realize the hotter a diesel runs the better it burns the fuel... But we 7.3 engines seem to be running hotter than the 6.9 engines. There is not differance in cooling parts between these engines. Same radiators... Same water pumps... Same fans and clutches... Same amount of coolant... Only the coolant passages are plugged off in the 7.3 engines....

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

i would not have any problem selling it to somebody on here but i am not going to do the paypal thing or any of the like, so that pretty much means it is not going anywhere. Sorry.

right now it is upstairs in my garage as a spare. if anything happens to the new rad that is in the truck i have a spare to at least get me by.

Who knows though. it might find its way into my truck and take a trip to next years rally with me.

 

[Goofyexponent]

Well, I just unboxed my radiator.....as as I feared it is damaged. Minor, but still, I am not happy. The radiator seems to be twisted out of square. A picture will do no good to show you, but if I lay the rad on the floor, and push one corner down....the opposite corner lifts off the floor 3/4 of an inch.

It will do it one way, but not the other....two opposite corners will lay flat on the floor, and the other two opposite corners are dangling up in the air about 1/2 an inch each......dammit!!!!!

Will this hurt anything? Can I still use this or will fan to shroud clearance become an issue? I guess I will be the first to know tomorrow.

This rad was packed EXACTLY the same way as yours was.....for $330 I am not a very happy buyer.....it should have been packed WAY better than it was!!!.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

I sit hear reading this laughing to myself.

I am sorry to hear Goofy. i am not laughing at your misfortune, but at the fact that your's was damaged as well along with the lack of packaging.

Contact them emidiatley. don't wait. Don't even cut the straps off the rad that hold the cardboard on it, unless you have allready. take pics of it and send them the pics. send an ebay message to the seller. they will probly respond within the next day or so. then you respond back. they will probly sit on it for abut a week. don't wait that long to get ebay involved. i would say wait 2-3 days then get ebay into it. once ebay gets in the seller will contact you within 3 days. then you will get all of your money back and you might be lucky like me and get to keep the rad since it is beyond repair.

The good rad i got in my truck now is a Sila radiator. you could look them up and see if any shops around you have them.


Sorry to hear but i am not surprised at all.

Good luck in your refund.

 

[Goofyexponent]

I cut the straps and completely unpacked teh rad....I don't know if that will matter or not. I am thinking it might be ok to use. I don't see ANYTHING that would indicate a leaker. Just the slight twist in it.....it's not as bad as I thought either.....apparently the floor isn't level....I put it in the table and got 1/4" out of square as laid on the table.

The radiator itself looks like a REALLY nice piece of gear.....nice welds, nice construction and it's nice and shiny!!!

 

[paulb3]

So how is the construction on the Sila are the tanks glued on or welded etc. I tried looking them up seems quite a few online parts stores carry them and most for the diesels say they are 4 core. Anyway I'd like to know how the Sila radiator worked out for you.

Mahalo
pb

I sit hear reading this laughing to myself.

The good rad i got in my truck now is a Sila radiator. you could look them up and see if any shops around you have them.

Sorry to hear but i am not surprised at all.

Good luck in your refund.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

the sila rad is all 100% welded like the champions. they are honestly identical in construction. the welds look awsome. although when it comes to welding the nicest looking welds might not even be able to anything do to lack of penetration, but to be a tig welder you need to know you stuff so i am not worried.

I am happy with the Silla.

well i have been driving the truck for a few days now i am happy to report that my new cooling system is doing awsome. the temps stay right near 190*F. the all alluminum radiator stays pretty cool as well. with the factory rad i would have to wait a few hours before i would even consider touching the top tank with my hand. with this alluminum rad you can touch it after only a little while.

I have some awsome heat out of the system now as well. no more cold mornings for me.



I have not had a problem with my engine temp light at all.
My new water temp gauge works awsome. highly recomended for those of you that do not have one.

 

[MidnightBlade]

you could ship it to me, i dont need the transmission cooler lines

my engine runs a little hot and i havent trouble shot it but i suspect my rad is getting old, let me know

Ship it to me, I'm closer

 

[BigRigTech]

My champion rad wasn't dead flat either but it bolted in the Mercury just fine using the original holes...Runs much cooler than before.

 

[Diesel_brad]

Finally got a hold of champion. i explained the damage to them and they decided that it is beyond repair. so they said that they will give me a full refund of my money and let me keep the rad. I don't know what i am going to do with it since i have a good one in my truck.

Still waiting on your's Goofy?

How about fix it and sell it for some extra $$

 

[BigRigTech]

How about fix it and sell it for some extra $$

My thoughts exactly....I bought a new Allstar Performance rad for my F350 last winter, it's really nice, all aluminum....Two 1" rows - most of the local stock car racers use them around here and have good luck with them. It was around $260....The only bad part is that it doesn't have any mounting tabs so I will need some tabs TIG welded to it before it could be installed. It has the same size/location water connections as a 460 rad....I'm still running a 460 rad in my truck, worked great all summer.....No shroud either. I'm trying to find a slightly smaller fan blade to fit the IDI clutch so I can run the 460 shroud...I was working on a GM 6.5 the other day at work and I noticed it's a 6 bolt fan blade too so I need to find one at my buddy's junkard and see if it will fit an IDI clutch...It looked a little smaller than the IDI blade...Maybe I will get lucky and it will work....Worth a look.