Aluminum Champion radiators

Keith,

Can always get a local TIG welder to weld on an extension to angle the port up to 90 degrees. Im thinking of doing this to mimic Keith's radiator.

Chris

lol

Keith,

One would hope so. Like I mentioned, the top tank sits about 2.5 inches if not more higher than the top of the rad support. I am hoping that I am going to have hood clearance with this rad.

We need one of our 61-62 guys here to install it on their car and do a hood clearance check.

lol

I keep telling you guys that the new rad #1649 and the old rad ( atleast the one in my 61 ) are different in height by apprx. 3/4", with the 1649 being taller. Chris in particular for some reason has a rad location that only allows for an even smaller unit -- the unit he got from kid442 was too big and it's the same size as mine -- I hate to say it but I believe Chris has a legitimate problem with his situation.

lol

Page 2, post 4.

Also, in one of my posts I provided a link to a drawing showing what would be a drop in unit ( which was drawn using my original as a template ) it measures 17.25" from bottom of tank to top of top tank and an additional .625" for the filler neck, total overall height at 17.88" -- according the 1649 info on the webpage it has a height of 18.63" ( they don't define if thats from bottom of tank to top of top tank or from bottom tank to top of filler neck ) but either way it's atleast .75" taller.

Chris can't even use my rad let alone one that is taller the way I see it ( he can correct me if Im mistaken ).

Anyways as a side note Ive been re-visiting this situation and just received my quote request back from Griffin ( I didn't work with them originally ) and they've indicated they can build the rad per my drawing for a measly $950 + s/h!!   YOUCH!  I will probably proceed with this but it will be later in the summer, I was hoping to be around the $500 mark.  

regal81455 wrote:I keep telling you guys that the new rad #1649 and the old rad ( atleast the one in my 61 ) are different in height by apprx. 3/4", with the 1649 being taller.  Chris in particular for some reason has a rad location that only allows for an even smaller unit -- the unit he got from kid442 was too big and it's the same size as mine -- I hate to say it but I believe Chris has a legitimate problem with his situation.

Josh,

As you stated, there is an issue with the rad that I got off of kid442. the height of it was ok, it was the length that was the issue. The rad would not fit in between the upper rad support provisions.

I have not gotten a chance to verify height between the rad I got off of kid and the Champion rad as one is with the car at my buddy's shop and the other is at my shop.

I am just going off of looking at the Champion rad when I lay in in the rad support (lower radiator supports removed) and the top tank is REALLY tall; to the point where I question hood clearance.

OPGI sells a factory style rad but its like $400.00. To me, that's nuts.

I definitely am in agreement with you Josh... I may have a issue here. Wont know until we bolt hood on and test fit...

woody1640 wrote:Josh: This is the 1st time that I heard you say that, I musta missed your voice before ... lol. I did not know there was a difference in height on yours.

So now I'm curious, what is the height of your original Harrison radiator?

Chris: My bad, I did not realize their was a height difference. In all my research that I've done it shows the same radiators (height and width) were basically used on all  61-63 Buick & Olds mid sized cars.

Keith

Its cool. They actually did use 2 different dimensions on the rads:

61-63 V6: 12 3/8" x 25 1/4"
61-63 V8: 12 3/8" x 23 1/8"

The thing that doesn't make sense is my car was an original Fireball car and it had the smaller radiator in it.

Its all very draining on the brain.....

Esasky's62Lark wrote:

woody1640 wrote:Josh: This is the 1st time that I heard you say that, I musta missed your voice before ... lol. I did not know there was a difference in height on yours.

So now I'm curious, what is the height of your original Harrison radiator?

Chris: My bad, I did not realize their was a height difference. In all my research that I've done it shows the same radiators (height and width) were basically used on all  61-63 Buick & Olds mid sized cars.

Keith

Its cool.  They actually did use 2 different dimensions on the rads:

61-63 V6:  12 3/8" x 25 1/4"
61-63 V8:  12 3/8" x 23 1/8"

The thing that doesn't make sense is my car was an original Fireball car and it had the smaller radiator in it.  

Its all very draining on the brain.....  

See and the info you state above -- doesn't jive with my car either -- it's an original 215 v8 car and has / uses the wider rad... I think things were very willy nilly back then and being mine was a 1/2 year car that could be why -- they still hadn't made the complete change over yet....IDK, you are right it is very draining lol

Yup. it makes no sense to me. Not sure what the deal is. Good ole GM for ya...

Good news on the outlet neck. I called Champion and they are willing to take the radiator back and re-do the bottom neck the way we need it for no charge. All I have to do is pay for shipping to them. My height is iffy, and I will ask them to address that too, if they will. Otherwise I feel it will fit - tightly.

I am going to have them reference this thread as well as take pictures of the old radiator versus the new one. They may be open to redesigning it. I just don't think they realized it was a bad fit.

Not many of these are probably sold resulting in them not being aware.

If I have any issues, I'm just going to take care of them personally. Don't want to ship that rad all the way back to CA.

I think a bigger problem is the disparity of sizes the OEM used but if they were to reference the drawings I posted on page 1 and then make the width the smaller of the two sizes ( 23 1/8" wide ) I think we all could use the same unit....

Yeah, agreed Josh. That would make the most sense and with it having bigger rows, it would cool either motor sufficiently.

Chris -I thought my tank on the 1649 looked tall too - until I put them side by side. The Harrison and the Champion are the exact same height. Now, I know that may not help you having a '62. Again, I can post a picture later.

Josh - I am going to look into a local welder using the outlet off my old unit and welding it on to the new unit. I suspect that by the time I pay for a box to ship it in (I tossed mine literally on Sunday, and Champion will not send me a new one), the requisite Styrofoam and bubble wrap, and also postage, that it will be a wash to have a local welder take care of it. I still plan to email both Champion and Jegs with the photos and this thread information to let them know they have it wrong. I talked with Bob Harris at Champion and he led me to believe that if there is an issue it is easy to fix. He said all they would have to do is "change the CAD drawing".

lol

I had my local autozone order the same hose. I didn't pull trigger because Champion made it sound like they would do me right. Now that the whole shipping part is a hassle I will likely go this route. I just didn't like the way that the 1.5 inch hose looked on the 1.75 inch outlet. It made it look like the hose was bloated. Thanks Keith.

Just tried the new hose. Can't make it work - no matter what you do it rubs on the generator. The radiator will have to go back to Champion. I will keep you guys updated.

lol

I concur with Keith. Have a local shop do it.

I went back out and used some wire to tie off the hose to keep it from making contact with the generator. I fired the car up, and it holds water. I idled it for 15 minutes and it definitely stayed cooler than before. I wrote a review for Jegs that outlined the entire issue, with pictures, and referenced this thread. I have had no reply yet. I plan to make a more permanent bracket in the future, then pull the radiator in the winter and have it welded right. No I have a trans fluid leak. New thread for that.

Bill,

Great to hear that you got it to work with a little bit of "modification" :-)

Sigh... always something with these old cars eh?

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.