Aluminum Champion radiators

lol

Jim - What year special do you have again? Can you post a photo of your stock radiator? If it is the same as what I have I can tell you it is the same height, even though it looks like it is wayyyy bigger. I put them one in front of the other, both without mounts on. Exact same height, including the radiator cover. Is your radiator still in the box? Champion will re-do the outlet side of the 1649 if you pay to send it back to them, or at least that is what they offered to do for me.

I have a 62 special deluxe convertible. I would post some photos but its above my pay grade level uploading them. I think the radiator is the same one I got. I looked at your link. With the radiator cap on it sits 1/4 to 3/8" higher. Thanks for the encouragement- I need it as Murphy has made some uninvited visits lately. (I mixed the wrong hardner with my basecoat. I sprayed two quarts of color on the body - Had to sand off every square inch)

Well I will say this - I bitched a lot about the radiator and the outlet size. As mentioned before, I had to make a stupid thing that pulls the hose away form the generator, which looks ugly. But.... But.... my car runs very well now and the temp is finally at a place I feel comfortable with. I took it out the other day for a quick cruise. It never got over 200 degrees and mostly stayed between 180 and 190. My car used to run 210 to 217 degrees. And I was running straight water.

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Guys, thanks for your input on the Champion Radiator replacement. I have started to make my bottom and side brackets. I hope I am able to get those cut,bent and mounted along with the radiator with the next week. I see that that connecting the outlets will also be a challenge mostly because of the close angels involved. I hope to use a 45 or 90 degree connector then cut my own chrome flex hose. Sounds easier than I am sure will actually turn out to be.
Jim O. (62 special- Conv)

woody1640 wrote:Are you going to be using Zerex G05 anti freeze or equivalent?  

I'm with Keith, make sure you use Zerex or an additive like "water wetter" to insure you don't have problems with the aluminum corroding -- truthfully the rad shouldn't be the reason though that you use this type of coolant / additive -- you should be doing it anyways since our motors are aluminum too...

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Jim O wrote:I think that is the same model I got off of ebay two months ago.  My special deluxe  was / still is, in parts right now.  I concur with what I am reading about fitting the radiator.   Just finished paint.  I hope to have the fenders, hood, front section on in two weeks and will attempt to mount and close hood then.   I will let you guys know if the hood clears the radiator cap.  Going to be tight for sure.  Preliminary  measurement mock up put it 3/8 to 1/2" higher than original.  You can pick up a little room  by mounting directly (on 1/8" rubber) frame. Other than that.  There isn't much you can do.  If thats the case.  I also will have a unused NEW aluminum radiator for sale.

Lets hope that it works for both of us. I will have my tig welder do whatever he can to make it work though. I don't want to sell this one and have to pay $500.00 for a NOS one from OPG.

Yes, was planing on using AMSOIL 50/50 antifreeze with distilled water only. AMSOIL has superior protection against electrolysis.
Jim O

Ok guys.

Update on Champion CC-1649 Radiator fitting into a 62 Skylark.

Mocked it up and bolted hood on. The radiator cap comes in contact with the hood... barely. I am not sure why Champion did not put the cap in the middle of the rad. If they did, the cap would sit in the center raised hood provision and clear no problem.

My buddy and I took champion cap off the rad and put a Stant cap on it that has a smaller profile. It helped but still comes in contact with hood ever so slightly.

So... with that said, our possible solutions are as follows:

1. Mount the rad at a slight angle; tilting the rad top about a half inch towards the motor. Doing this action clears the radiator cap from hood. No modification to the radiator and problem solved.

2. Cut filler neck off and move it over approximately 3" to the center of the radiator. Radiator cap will then sit in the factory raised hood provision. Modification to the radiator but problem solved.

3. Modify lower rad support to accommodate the additional height of the Champion radiator. Major modification to rad support but no modification to radiator. Problem solved.

4. Sell the aluminum radiator and buy a stock one for $500.00 off of OPGI. Not an option! Problem solved.

Basically, My buddy and I decided to tilt the top of the radiator ever so slightly to get our clearance. we mocked it up and it actually doesn't look bad.

turbo piping is coming along nicely. We are currently working on waste gate placement and downpipe construction.

Chris

Chris-

That's somewhat good news I guess....better than the other project that's for sure. Hope you get it all sorted out with as little pain as possible.

Post some pics after you have it in it's final resting spot please -- I'd like to see it in the car.

Tx!
Josh

regal81455 wrote:Chris-

That's somewhat good news I guess....better than the other project that's for sure.  Hope you get it all sorted out with as little pain as possible.

Post some pics after you have it in it's final resting spot please -- I'd like to see it in the car.

Tx!
Josh

Thanks Josh,

Yeah, haven't got a chance to do a lot on the 62 this week due to my buddy fighting a nasty sinus infection.  

I have made some progress on the 72, but its not good news. Drained oil and cut oil filter open... found metal in the oil filter.  




Leaning towards what I thought of a wiped out cam lobe. The good news is the oil was clean so the filter did its job.

I am going to pull the intake and verify that that is truly the issue. I'm sure I am going to find a lifter or lobe completely destroyed.

Chris

Ill keep my fingers x'd for ya homey! Keep us posted.

Thanks Josh. How is yours coming along?

Crawling but hope to be 100% complete this weekend.  Haven't messed with the carpet since the day I took the pic of it in the car.  Decided to add some additional lighting and so it couldn't be put down permanently yet.  I've now got a pair of 12" LED strips up front, a 12" pair that will be shining on the back seat floor boards, and a single 24" LED strip in the trunk.  Pretty neat setup as it allows for the lights to be controlled via BT on your phone.  49 different colors, different types of modes ( music, pulse, prism, etc... ), and each "zone" can be controlled individually or they all can be controlled as one.  Wanted to get install done first before I share some pics of it but I think you'll like it.

regal81455 wrote:Crawling but hope to be 100% complete this weekend.  Haven't messed with the carpet since the day I took the pic of it in the car.  Decided to add some additional lighting and so it couldn't be put down permanently yet.  I've now got a pair of 12" LED strips up front, a 12" pair that will be shining on the back seat floor boards, and a single 24" LED strip in the trunk.  Pretty neat setup as it allows for the lights to be controlled via BT on your phone.  49 different colors, different types of modes ( music, pulse, prism, etc... ), and each "zone" can be controlled individually or they all can be controlled as one.  Wanted to get install done first before I share some pics of it but I think you'll like it.

No way! That sounds super cool! Definitely looking forward to seeing that!

Where did you pick those up at?

Esasky's62Lark wrote:Where did you pick those up at?

Believe it or not A&@holezone lol -- gonna use this same setup on my bike now I think too lol

I'll definitely share some video of it as soon as I get it all buttoned up this weekend.

HAHA! I never go into that place. I instantly get annoyed.

Cool! Looking forward to it!

Well.... after all the complaining I did, I can tell you one thing - the radiator works. I have been driving my Buick around quite a bit lately, probably 200 miles or so in varied driving conditions. It rarely gets above 200 (in a drive through) and usually doesn't break 190. Very happy - after all the modding.

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No puke tank. Might do it in the future, but so far no need.

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I hadn't realized the lack of an overflow has caused so many issues over the years. I know it is a cheap addition. You convinced me Keith.

Did this a little while ago on my 62 Cutlass and posted on the Jetfire site. Thought it may apply to this post on the Buicks too. Just finished doing all the fabrication to set up a HD cross flow cooling system in my Cutlass without having any of the F85 HD cooling components so went to available new stuff. Set up is as described earlier in this thread with 26×16.5″ crossflow 209567B (actual size was 25.75″) alum rad blank set up by Northern Factory with original style in and outlelts/ ran about $300 for the fabbed up rad, Northern eng driven shroud blank, D&D short pulley, Hayden 2765 fab clutch, and Flexlite 15″ fan clutch fan. Lower mounts in alum to fit the new rad copy downflow rad factory mounts-fabbed a new full width upper mount that directs grill air to upper portion of rad at speed and for shroud pull. Wouldn’t go this far with the Jetfires we are doing since they have factory HD cross flow rad but may go to the smaller hub WP, short pulley, and fan clutch for dependability and accessibility to replaceable components when on a road trip. Clearance to rad from fan clutch is 3/8 to 1/2″ depending on how you set it up. No mods to the car itself and maintained all orig parts or the orig basic system. Shroud is mocked up in picture and I am going to welder next week. This my first attempt at pics so I hope it works.