Champion Radiators for the IDI

Yea but....
You MUST answer the question
Why does plastic\tin rads fail?
Why is brass more malleable than tin?

Yea nitro runs hotter than gas, not really the same is it?
Now tin rads are the new norn.

Actually the thermal conductivity of aluminum is double that of brass, therefore aluminum offers better cooling potential. Remember the old ice cube trays from the 60's & 70's, they were constructed of aluminum for a reason. Aluminum is an excellent conductor! The issue I'm having with an aluminum radiator is (in my opinion) a manufacturing problem where the core is separating from the tank creating a leak.

Agreed, however, malleability (sp) not so much.
Think work hardening...
No worries, besides my oem 93 has less than 50 k on it and is clean i side so fingers crossed I never need one.

Final report of my experience with Champion Radiators. Short re-cap of my experience, after two failures of their 4 core rad, I returned to a FORD factory brass radiator and requested reimbursement instead of yet another replacement from Champion. Ebay supplier I originally purchased from refused to honor warranty, neglected response to emails, did not reply to phone messages, and effectively broke off all communications forcing me to contact the factory. Factory rep was very helpful and provided the requested refund in full. I'm not going to comment good or bad about their product however I will say the company does stand behind their product.

Didn't eBay help once you opened a case? Glad you got your refund anyway.

I may need a radiator eventually, can you please PM me that seller's ID if you don't want to say publicly?

PM sent

Thanks to all who have contributed their experiences with Champion radiators to this thread. My three row core Champion that I installed last winter has now started seeping a little coolant at the lower driver's side tank/core brazing. So, the three row nearly made it a year! No more Champions for me - I am done! I guess this time I will try a Mishimoto. I am not sure a Mishi will be any better, but I hate the idea of a plastic tank parts store radiator in my truck. Wish I could find a good used OEM copper/brass radiator and have it repaired like Catbird, but I would not take that chance on the ones I have seen. To be clear, the radiator core support mounts in my truck are in good shape, and the core support itself is not cracked, and the truck is not subjected to "extreme flex" situations. So it is obvious to me that these Champion radiators cannot stand the "flex" that these trucks experience normally.

They sell a ton of these rads for many applications. I assumed my experiences we're just my bad luck. Hopefully we're the only one's who experience this.

I've got a mishi in mine, had it for a couple years now, and hasn't leaked on me yet. Although I hardly ever drive that truck and not very far at that. More of a toy these days. Probably less than a thousand miles on it.

To all who may consider one for an idi though, a word of warning. The unit I received REQUIRED the use of a 19psi proprietary cap. On my unit, a regular style would not work properly. I know this has been a hotly debated topic, but when I installed mine, I completely redid the cooling system, and made several mods/changes for the better, and had good reason to believe there was no cavitation issue, so I felt that it wouldn't be just fine for my application. So far I've been right. If someone was not in the same boat, you may start finding the holes in your gaskets pretty quick.

Now the one in my 96 stroker has been abused pretty good, and I've only had to replace it once. And it's questionable weather or not that was actually a workmanship defect. It sprang a pinhole in a tube, in a spot that had not been touched, so it seemed the aluminum was just thin there. The ps trucks use a Degas bottle, so no change in pressures there.

Edit- I would also expect to pay about $500 for your lifetime warranty misimoto. But, it sure does look pretty under the hood

BR3 said:

To all who may consider one for an idi though, a word of warning. The unit I received REQUIRED the use of a 19psi proprietary cap. On my unit, a regular style would not work properly.

Click to expand...

Oh, that is good to know! Not going to run 19 psi in my coolant system. That is just asking for more trouble. I guess I will do a little more research on the Mishimoto radiators pertaining to that. Thanks for your heads up on that!

6 years on mine and so far so good (although it looks like link rot took my photos in my original posts on the first page). When i did the 2 hour drive pulling the loaded gooseneck (left the house and pretty much drove with the pyro at 1100 degrees for 2 hours) i did notice that over time it seemed like i would start creeping up to the L on normal (whatever that means). Either way so far i seem to be alright.

I managed to limp the leaking 3 row Champion through the winter and finally found an OEM copper/brass radiator that looked to be in decent shape in a scrap yard for $100. I then took the cooper/brass radiator to a radiator shop (yeah-radiator shops are getting hard to find!) and had the radiator hot tanked, flushed, pressure checked and painted. That was another $180. I ordered new rubber radiator mounts from LMC but the old ones didn't look bad. I guess we will see if this OEM radiator holds up. Champion did ship me a new 3 row radiator to replace yet another leaker under warranty, and I will hang on to that in case this junk yard radiator doesn't hold up.
New rubber mounts:

Junk yard OEM copper/brass radiator:

All done and hoping for the best!