Custom Aluminum Radiator

[RLDSL]

OK folks, tie on the bibs and tell your wives or otherwise financially far more responsible better halves, to hide the checkbooks.
I got my custom made aluminum radiator today in from Rodney Red and it's a beauty.
My old radiator was leaking so since I needed one anyway, I went ahead and had them make me up a 5 row equivilent ( has 2 really big aluminum tubes per row instead of 5 little copper jobs )

I'll be taking it for a hard towing test dragging the 5er over the Ozarks over the next week, so I'll report back on cooling performance, but so far it does run cooler by at least 17 deg f, sitting in the driveway holding 2000 rpms with the ac on.

He's got the pattern made for my 92, not sure which other years that one will fit, It took quite a while for it, but the next ones should go much quicker
since the engineering is already done. Not sure what the price will be yet. He hasn't figured it up . I know what I paid,but he quoted me a price before seeing how big that monster was, but he made good on it, but you can see by the guys website that his prices are very reasonable.

--------Robert

 

[RLDSL]

A couple more shots

-----Robert

 

[f-two-fiddy]

I, for one, will be waiting to hear of the performance report!

Looks like nice work, how do the welds look?

The filler neck looks a little taller than stock?

If the Guy can build Rad's to keep Pontiac 455's cool. It should do just fine.

My 72 Grad Prix 455 would get HOOOT. I ran with a Vette 60 miles up the interstate @ 90 MPH. When I got where I was going, I popped the hood to check some steam. The coolant controlled vacuum switch, blew right out of the intake!

 

[argve]

that thing should cool like a SOB - that was my next step with the E back when I had the custom 4 core made. With only 2 cores (huge ones) the tube to fin contact is extreme (this is the main thing for heat transfer/cooling).

 

[RLDSL]

I, for one, will be waiting to hear of the performance report!

Looks like nice work, how do the welds look?

The filler neck looks a little taller than stock?

If the Guy can build Rad's to keep Pontiac 455's cool. It should do just fine.

My 72 Grad Prix 455 would get HOOOT. I ran with a Vette 60 miles up the interstate @ 90 MPH. When I got where I was going, I popped the hood to check some steam. The coolant controlled vacuum switch, blew right out of the intake!

The filler neck is an optical illusion. I thought the same thing, it looked like it wouldn't fit, but the measurement between the support pins in the core support and the top of the filler neck is actually a hair shorter.

I know what you mean about old pontiacs. I had a hopped up '68 GTO at one time and it could get hot, of course above 150 the air flow helped out

-------Robert

 

[RLDSL]

that thing should cool like a SOB - that was my next step with the E back when I had the custom 4 core made. With only 2 cores (huge ones) the tube to fin contact is extreme (this is the main thing for heat transfer/cooling).

I haven't done the scientifical calculations on the tube capacity yet, but just eyeballing them, it's a no brainer. The tubes in this thing are massive I measured them out and will figure it up later for the fun of it

-------Robert

 

[Ironman03R]

Looks nice, good thing your down south, it will probibly never reach operating temp in the winter up here!
I've never really seen the need for more cooling on my truck. Since I put a real gauge on it, I've never seen it go over 220

 

[RLDSL]

Looks nice, good thing your down south, it will probibly never reach operating temp in the winter up here!
I've never really seen the need for more cooling on my truck. Since I put a real gauge on it, I've never seen it go over 220

We've definitely got the heat for it here, and some rather steep hills that will give a cooling system a workout. Nothing as long as out west, but very steep.

I took it around town a bit today to run a few last minute errands before our trip ( forgot to get the propane bottles filled etc, oops ) . It's about 90 deg out and the thing used to run between 185-195 ( when the fan would kick on )on a day like this, it is now running between 176-181 deg. Basically as soon as the thermostat starts to try to open, it's cooling it back off

-------Robert

 

[RLDSL]

Looks like nice work, how do the welds look?

The welds look beautiful on the thing, it's a work of art. Too bad... there's no way i could lie and try to say I made it, everyone around here knows how lousy my welds look

-----------Robert

 

[riotwarrior]

Nice Rad,

I didnt know Kawasaki made IDI diesel engines....looks to me like you got one of those old Kerker Kawi 900's in that engine compartment based on that lime green motor.

Either that or Kermit is yer resident painter.....

Again that rad looks awsome. Is that rad based on a stock sized radiator? If so what size? The intercooler from the Power Stroke I have is about 31" between the two 3" inlet/outlet ports. I need to be able to have those come around from the front of the rad to the back so I can hook into it.


I have just emailed Rodney Red regarding a rad for my project. That would do the trick for sure. What kinda price does he figure that will go for in comparison to what you paid?

My rad guy around here quoted me about 1800 for a custom built aluminum like that. I just sorta said um ya ok.....I'll get back to ya on that one.

Looking forward to hear more about how well it does.

 

[RLDSL]

It was based on a stock 4 row, dimensions are a direct bolt in. It's a little bit thinner front to rear. The body of the radiator looks to be a hair over 31" wide not counting the mounting brackets. I don't think it would be much of a stretch for him to make one up with a little relief on the side for clearance if you drew up what you needed for the mounting brackets. All he'd have to do is move the outer support in about a quarter inch each side and that would not get into the cooling tubes. The same top and bottom tanks would work. He had this one lazer cut , so any future ones will go pretty quick in comparison.

Yeah, the frogs ran rampant on that paint job Actually the young fella I bought the engine from had just had the thing rebuilt and he'd painted it. It turned my stomach at first but it grew on me after a while and instead of repainting it, I just touched it up.Now my 10 year old has me talked into painting the truck black and green.

I'm not sure what his final price will be, but I'd be certain that it will be a whole lot less than $1800 . If you look at the rest of his radiators and compare the prices with other places, that will give you a good idea.

---------Robert

 

[RLDSL]

Update
I finally have a few minutes break in the vacation mayhem here in the campground in Branson Mo, as offspring and better half have passed out from the last couple days adventures and I am quickly heading that way myself.
I must be loosing my touch , my 10 year old almost whupped me in some go carts this evening

The cooling on the new radiator was great. Over the hard pulls, the highest temp I saw was 198 deg f . On that same run the last time with the old stock radiator ( which had been rodded out right before that run ) the temps on those hills were running 220-230+ ( up about 240 in a couple of spots ) , and on that run I wasn't pushing it anywhere near as hard as I was this time ,which showed it's ugly head at the filling station I showed it no mercy this time and ate about 4-5 gallons more fuel this time ( at which I also answered a nagging question I've had, that is, the thing gets better fuel mileage and runs cooler and pulls better , if I drop a gear and let it wind out like I did on the first run, but I was purposefully trying to see if I could get the thing hot this time, and I just couldn't do it , I had to work at it to make it get up to 198, lugging hard at 1700 rpm , as soon as i dropped a gear to get it in a better pulling range, the temp imediatly dropped to 190) .

Most of the run saw the temps in the 180-190 range. Last time it stayed up the the 195-220 range most of the time, higher on the hard pulls.

Ambient temperature for both runs was about the same. I had installed an electric pusher fan on my AC condenser before this run, but I disconnected it before leaving the house, then reconnected it after we got up over all the pulls so I would have an even comparison.

All in all, I'm seriously jazzed I'm looking forward to a trip out west next year ( and turning the pump up a bit more

-----------Robert.....Playing tourist and loving it 'till the bills roll in

 

[reklund]

So what did it end up costing?

 

[IDIJunkie]

Just wondering how much the price was. I am very interested in buying one. I have been having a problem with running hot for a while now.

 

[Dieselmaster]

This is who we use for all our race trucks... I can't say enough good about him and his radiators. we have never had a water temp issue....

well acutally because we don't use a thermostat, if we forget to watch temps and leave a fan on to long it causes the truck to run cold and it loads up, nothing big just leave the fan off for a while.. but it's a testament to how well it cools.

http://www.rondavisradiators.com/Welcome.htm