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Be Cool radiators - Universal vs. Aluminator, OE, or Extreme?

M

miketyler

Member
Ok, its not a Mustang but still is vintage metal - my 72 Cuda runs hot. I have tried lots of things over the past few years; timing, carburetion, vacuum leaks, balanced thermostat, etc and feel like I could write a short novel on the subject. Engine is a broke-in 340, running Flow Kooler water pump, OEM 7blad belt driven fan with shroud pulling air across a copper OEM 26" radiator that was freshly recored to a 3 row. Its an AC car with a large true flow serpentine condensor and trans cooler. Car gets pretty hot on a 100*+ degree day with AC on and can get right up to about 230* (confirmed).

Anyhow, I am considering a BeCool aluminum radiator for it. Am not expecting night and day improvement but I wanted to be sure I understood the differences in the product lines before I pull the trigger. Does the BeCool Universal fit (may be also called Qualifier series) utilize the same fin and cooling design as their other models like the Aluminator? Has anyone tried one of the their universal units?



 
For about the same or less you can have one built by Wizardcooling.com. Scott is a great guy to work with and can custom make one to OE specs or custom install like mine. Give him a call before you buy a radiator.

http://wizardcooling.com/

Here are a couple pics of the radiator he made for me.

RadiatorDS.jpg

RadiatorFront.jpg

RadiatorPS.jpg
 
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WoW, what a cool radiator!

I used an aluminum radiator on my 65. It is a Chinese bolt in. I found it on Ebay. It took the car from 230 to 190 with a few bolts and a bit of coolant.

I know it is not the unit you are looking at, but it is an example of what kind of results you can get.

I would definitely call the custom guy. Could turn out to be a cool addition to a cool car.

Mel
 
Mike, is your car overheating while driving at higher speeds or in stop-n-go traffic at lower speeds? Where was the temps being taken at?
 
"miketyler" said:
The BeCool universal line start around $200 ea. Is he building them that cheap?
Click to expand...

IIRC the radiator itself was about $300. The shroud and 4 fans pushed it up higher but was still reasonable for the level of quality and parts involved.
 
Temps were taken as water was leaving the intake. Used two different mechanical gauges and an infrared surface probe. It does run a little cooler on the freeway


Maybe a better question is do all aluminum radiators cool the same?
 
Good to know you used an infrared device. I've had a few gauges give false high readings because there was an air pocket below the sender (since its on the top of the intake). The air pocket creates steam and gives a high reading. I loosened the sender till it started to leak, then tightened it back down. Doesn't sound like your problem though.

If it runs about the same temp at both high and slow speeds then it isn't a fan issue.

I've found that a crossflow radiator cools better than a downflow. While the downflow is typically a bolt-on solution, the crossflow can provide more surface area for cooling. With the tanks on the top, part of the tanks take up part of the radiator support opening. By getting a crossflow wide enough that the tanks are outside the radiator support opening, you now have nothing but radiator fins exposed in the opening.
 
Thanks for the info. I am ordering a Be Cool universal fit cross flow model for it. On another note, I want to go with BeCool on the stang. I bought a 26" universal fit unit that turned out to be a single core model (1" rows)

Is there a discernible difference in one or two row models? I know size of rows is material, but what about a one 1" row vs a two .5" row model?
 
Yeah my Northern aluminum radiator has 2 one inch cores, and agree with Darreld. I think the newer cars use thinner cores but those motors run a bit more cool than our old beasts.
 
For the record, I replaced my copper OEM radiator on the Cuda with the Be Cool universal fit 26" and it seemed to make no difference. Temps creeped right up to 230* and I think would have continued to climb if I let it. Not giving up so easy, I built up some U channels and spaced the radiator and fan aft about 1.5". This opened up the airspace between the condensor and the radiator to 3.5" and I was able to install a 16" SPAL pusher fan. We took it out for a test run last week and I couldnt get it past 210"! Although that day was a little cooler here in DFW (high 80's), I feel certain I would have seen hotter temps without the pusher.

I still have other improvements to make such as a shroud, some aluminum air panels, and PWM fan controller but I think it can only get better from here. I do plan to go with a side flow aluminum unit on the Stang, am uncertain which unit I will settle on. For my appliction, I dont believe there is an appreciable difference in cooling efficiency between aluminum and copper rads.
 
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