What are my radiator choices for BB Dart?

[72Dart_400]

Putting a 400 in my 72 Swinger, what choices do I have for a radiator?  What have some of you guys used?  Any tips, or recomondations are appreciated!  Thanks

[Jim_Lusk]

I think Bill used a Ford truck radiator (check the tech pages). Basically anything that will physically fit and has enough cooling capacity. my favorite was the 65 Chrysler wagon unit until it split a tube.

[72Dart_400]

My car came with a 318 with a/c, I still have that radiator.  But would this have enough cooling capacity for the 400 though?

[Jim_Lusk]

It will probably be enough. Just match the water pump housing to the lower hose side.

[72Dart_400]

I'll have to give it a shot.  Thanks,

-Ryan

[Evan]

Ryan, I had the same combo you have, and it overheated on me. It may work fine for you. I went to a local radiator shop and gave him my measurements. He found me a new late model truck radiator and it works fine. If I had to do it again, I would buy one of those inexpensive aluminum ones from Summit or Jegs

[unreformed66]

Well, I'm not running a big block, only a lumpy cammed 360. My 72 Scamp was a 318 auto car from the factory and had the crappy little 18" core radiator. It did fine as long as you were moving, but try sitting at a drive through (or even a long red light) with that combo on a hot day and you'll soon realize you need more cooling. I went with an Afco aluminum 22" core radiator and it works great. Now it looks like I'm gonna have to go to a hotter thermostat just to get the car to warm up in weather like we've been having here in southern Ohio recently (50's and 60's).   

[Lars]

I put a Summit Aluminum radiator along with a Flexalite (I think) tranny cooler, had to do some fabbing for the brackets and used an electric fan on my 70. I haven't driven it much, but it never overheated.

[blackshire]

I put a radiator out of a ford van.  Astro van maybe?  If you start looking around in the yards you will find 2 different radiators in the older Ford minivans.  One is about 1/2" thick the other is about 1 1/4" thick.   The thicker one fits great.  You do have to make sure you get it dropped down on the core support as far as possible since the cap extends about 1" over the top of the radiator.

[guzzimike]

Jeep wagoneer radiator for a 400ci motor. Notice the correct position for the water hoses AND tranny cooler lines.

http://www.carpartsdeal.com/J2100CPD/Car/Wagoneer/Radiator/Radiator/

You do have to shave off the existing mounts and weld 4 ea. "L" brackets or similar to fit your application.

[Lars]

Jeep wagoneer radiator for a 400ci motor. Notice the correct position for the water hoses AND tranny cooler lines.

http://www.carpartsdeal.com/J2100CPD/Car/Wagoneer/Radiator/Radiator/

You do have to shave off the existing mounts and weld 4 ea. "L" brackets or similar to fit your application.

Wow, that looks really good. You can't just redrll the existing mounts that are on it?

[farmington]

I just used a 26" wide Chrysler b body radiator.  Got a shroud with it, and got it recored.  I had to drill 4 new mounting holes in the core support and then opened up the core support to uncover all of the radiator core.  Relatively cheap, uses all factory parts,looks stock.

don

[guzzimike]

Jeep wagoneer radiator for a 400ci motor. Notice the correct position for the water hoses AND tranny cooler lines.

http://www.carpartsdeal.com/J2100CPD/Car/Wagoneer/Radiator/Radiator/

You do have to shave off the existing mounts and weld 4 ea. "L" brackets or similar to fit your application.

Wow, that looks really good. You can't just redrll the existing mounts that are on it?

Well, the Jeep Radiator is Rear Mount (see pic)..The mounting flanges are esentially reversed from what we want. I suppose that you could mount the radiator using 2" spacers and some long bolts, but I chose instead to disk grind the flanges on mine and weld on 4 ea.  "L" shaped brackets that I got at Home Depot. I drilled on hole in each barcket and matched either existing holes or made new ones on my car's radiator mount frame. It's a very sold mount..

On my dart, about 3/4" on each side is not exposed directly to the slipstream because the Jeep's radiator is that much wider than my OEM radiator window opening. But the top with its radiator cap and the bottom are a perfect fit. I'm running twin Flex-a-Lite electric (shrouded) fans. Works great. My motor is a 383, bored .060 over. Runs between 180F - 200F all day long.

One last item....the Jeep Radiator has the Pentastar logo on it... It looks Original with the Dart

[Lars]

Jeep wagoneer radiator for a 400ci motor. Notice the correct position for the water hoses AND tranny cooler lines.

http://www.carpartsdeal.com/J2100CPD/Car/Wagoneer/Radiator/Radiator/

You do have to shave off the existing mounts and weld 4 ea. "L" brackets or similar to fit your application.

Wow, that looks really good. You can't just redrll the existing mounts that are on it?

Well, the Jeep Radiator is Rear Mount (see pic)..The mounting flanges are esentially reversed from what we want. I suppose that you could mount the radiator using 2" spacers and some long bolts, but I chose instead to disk grind the flanges on mine and weld on 4 ea.  "L" shaped brackets that I got at Home Depot. I drilled on hole in each barcket and matched either existing holes or made new ones on my car's radiator mount frame. It's a very sold mount..

On my dart, about 3/4" on each side is not exposed directly to the slipstream because the Jeep's radiator is that much wider than my OEM radiator window opening. But the top with its radiator cap and the bottom are a perfect fit. I'm running twin Flex-a-Lite electric (shrouded) fans. Works great. My motor is a 383, bored .060 over. Runs between 180F - 200F all day long.

One last item....the Jeep Radiator has the Pentastar logo on it... It looks Original with the Dart

Oh OK, I couldn't see that from the pic. Good to know though.

[383man]

My sons 72 Dart was a 318 AC car. Now it has a .030 over 400 in it.  We use the original 318 AC radiator but had it recored and they added a row to it.  It cools the 11 second 400 just fine.  Never a cooling problem and the car runs in the 160 to 190 range all summer even on the hot 100 degree days.  In fact we still use the stock 318 AC fan and shroud.  Ron

[Lars]

Ron, got any pics of the lower radiator hose? i have one of these radiators and I'm curious how you got it to work.

[383man]

This is the only pic I have thats shows any of the lower hose.  If you look real close between the coil and alt you can see the lower hose a little.  We had alot of bigblock waterpump housing around and I just used one that exited on the pass side so it would work with the stock rad.  Ron

[scampgt440]

how well would the 318 AC rad work on a califorina 440 dart? and wut year ford truck did you get the rad out of?
wayne

[JoeSwinger69]

I used a 70's Jeep Wagoneer, the rad. shop had sold quite a few to other rodders for Mopars and fords, price was cheap and is a 3 row. When I went to pick up my rad. the price had gone up to $200 so maybe a summit aluminum would be a better choice. I didnt want the aluminum look but I wish I would have stuck to a old style curved tank radiator to match my 69 dart. The jeep tanks are squared.

[67Satty]

Another option if you have the 26" 318 AC radiator (which is already a three core) is to have it re-cored as a high efficiency three core. 

[dart4406]

Why Mess With Junk Radiators Out Of Other Cars...If You Have The Bucks And Want To Do It Right...Go To A Aluminum Griffin Radiator.

[guzzimike]

Why Mess With Junk Radiators Out Of Other Cars...If You Have The Bucks And Want To Do It Right...Go To A Aluminum Griffin Radiator.

Well, FWIW, the Radiator I used was a good quality 3-row NOS unit,Brass/Copper, Made in Canada, and all the water and tranny oil cooler fittings were in their exact place...Install took all of one hour.



Not bad for $180.00..

It's been in place for close to two years now, and it lives as a daily driver in SoCal, where it can get hot sometimes..Cooling is by a dual Flex-A-Lite electric fans, set to come on at 180F.

It has never gone above 220 F, and this was after either some freeway run (I have 3:91 gears) or some spirited Hi-RPM fun 'n games and then sitting in heavy traffic or at a light...

It normally runs between 180 to 200 F, year round..

I run straight distilled water with Royal Purple radiator coolant.
http://www.nolimitmotorsport.com/royalpurple/purple-ice.html

[375InStroke]

Another option if you have the 26" 318 AC radiator (which is already a three core) is to have it re-cored as a high efficiency three core. 

I looked into that and they are listed as being a 2 row radiator.  Is this wrong?  If they are 3 rows, is going from a reg 3 row to a high efficiency 3 row necessary?  What did 383 and 440 Darts have?  Wasn't it only a 22" 3 row?

[ski]

I think they were all 22" due to the size of the opening in the support.  This link shows what it looks like.

http://www.usradiator.com/images/drawings/3/35455.gif

Here's their home page.  Read about their triple flow. Pricey but probably a good bet if you want to look stock.  You can email for quotes.

http://www.usradiator.com/default.htm