Old brass radiator questions

[AuroraGirl]

1) What does long term windshield washer fluid in radiator do? Looks like a previous owner, of my 1977 buick, put some in... It boiled and caused it to have a heat pocket in the cooling system nonetheless.
2) I have about 8 square body chevy radiators, presumably good when pulled. Are they worth anything or is new copper the way to go? Are there any reasons to go brass over aluminum?
3) how to tell a HD radiator from a regular? I believe diesels had the hd. my grandfather picked apart a lot of squares in his day, and he might just have a HD radiator. but i wouldnt know.

 

[shiftpro]

1) What does long term windshield washer fluid in radiator do? Looks like a previous owner, of my 1977 buick, put some in... It boiled and caused it to have a heat pocket in the cooling system nonetheless.
2) I have about 8 square body chevy radiators, presumably good when pulled. Are they worth anything or is new copper the way to go? Are there any reasons to go brass over aluminum?
3) how to tell a HD radiator from a regular? I believe diesels had the hd. my grandfather picked apart a lot of squares in his day, and he might just have a HD radiator. but i wouldnt know.

1. Nothing, including cooling the engine, as you discovered.

2. One man's junk is another man's treasure... if the old rads are in good shape I would keep them, sell them, whatever... Aluminum cools better
but it's not a necessary change. These old cooling systems where very well designed. The brass tank/copper cores are stronger than aluminum, which doesn't come into effect until you do things like... driving 100 mph down gravel roads.. the gravel 'splashes' into the engine compartment, and finds the fan... the fan shoots the rock into the rad and the aluminum now has a hole in it. Also heavy bush work, wheeling or digging for firewood there are always branches and little trees poking branches everywhere.. again the aluminum yields to a poke in the eye much more than copper.
There are several companies in the US that sell copper cores. SAVE your tanks! You can get them re-cored.

3. Size matters... a HD like the diesel trucks are like 28" long and three cores! Also late '80s one ton BB trucks finally ran this same rad. IMO it
is THE rad for a BB. Especially a modded BB... increased compression and power = more heat.

 

[Rusty Nail]

Well, a good radiator weighs a ton.

No such thing as "new copper" radiators, they sell aluminum and plastic parts now as new replacement.

Not cool.
Get it?

The brass radiator vs aluminum is a much "heated" debate within this place, right up there with full or ported ignition advance.
A true source of contention!

I appreciate your posts.
Most of them anyways...

It seems there has been enough time passed that you likely have decided who to listen to, as there are MANY opinions here but they certainly are not all equal - some are more equal and right than others lol.

Went through a big mess to find the right radiator that matches "heavy duty cooling" OE specs and will use it for awhile to complete the build but there is a real BRASS, OE replacement waiting in the wings. Detailed in the build thread...

They cost $200 +or- to rebuild the big ones.
If you can find one, it's gold.

That's what I choose to run in both of my trucks. Maybe i'm stubborn but my radiator will kick your radiator's ass.

My trucks are baddddd though.

So there's that ...

You will receive many opinions.
It'll be fun!

 

[Paladin]

Windshield washer fluid?????? Really!!! Must be a yankee thing!!! LOL

 

[Rusty Nail]

Yeah well, it WAS the winter de-icer stuff though so it had antifreeze in it....

Technically.

Same stuff, right?

 

[Blue Ox]

WW fluid has no corrosion inhibitors. Not a good thing for any material.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I have the diesel radiator, which is actually bigger than the BB ones. I had mine redone for about what Rusty quoted.

Iirc, while researching radiators—I did find a new brass radiator of comparable size to mine (which is 35”x22” I believe), but it was $900. Probably why most get aluminum ones when theirs goes kaput. Most likely your factory shroud won’t be a perfect fit, so there’s that too.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Well, Im just asking because I have so many of them I wouldnt bother keep them unless they were special. I have the one in my trucks and its fine. If the rest are just normal then I might keep one for backup and sell the rest. But cores.... is that the tanks on the side you mean? Or horizontal runs?

 

[AuroraGirl]

The radiator in the car has got to be fixed or replaced..... she leaks BAD on top. The reservoir is the size and shape of a washer reservoir with no labeled cap. although an idiot would notice how its next to the radiator and not make the connection despite being the exact opposite corner of the wiper mechanism.

 

[Snoots]

A 3 or 4 core radiator should fill the bill.

Look inside and count the rows of tubes across, not down.

 

[shiftpro]

I have the diesel radiator, which is actually bigger than the BB ones. I had mine redone for about what Rusty quoted.

Iirc, while researching radiators—I did find a new brass radiator of comparable size to mine (which is 35”x22” I believe), but it was $900. Probably why most get aluminum ones when theirs goes kaput. Most likely your factory shroud won’t be a perfect fit, so there’s that too.

My '89 BB crewcab had the big monster you see in the diesel trucks.

 

[Frankenchevy]

My '89 BB crewcab had the big monster you see in the diesel trucks.

Im curious, perhaps GM started using them on BBCs in the tbi years due to the 195 tstat...?

Craig’s 85 454 K30 has the correct radiator in it and it’s just a tad smaller than mine. Also, I believe they had transmission cooler ports but no engine oil cooler ports on the opposite side tank like the diesel radiator.

 

[shiftpro]

Im curious, perhaps GM started using them on BBCs in the tbi years due to the 195 tstat...?

Craig’s 85 454 K30 has the correct radiator in it and it’s just a tad smaller than mine. Also, I believe they had transmission cooler ports but no engine oil cooler ports on the opposite side tank like the diesel radiator.

It certainly was TBI. It was also a Camper Special 4x4 so that might have something to do with it.

 

[nabeshin]

I had my radiator rebuild at a local shop for about $500. It has a brand new core, made by some outfit out of texas it seems, they just braised my tanks onto either side and changed the upper hose diameter to be correct for a 76 (was an 81 radiator with larger hose). New petcock as well.

This shop specialized in semi-truck and tractor radiators, been in business for 40 years, so they know what they are doing. The tried blocking off passages to get it to seal and it was just too many rows that we decided to get a new core.

He had told me this was the same as a BB radiator and the largest radiator that GM ever put in a vehicle; maybe gas vehicles. I do not have the built in oil cooler, so diesels were different/slightly larger and had that, I guess.

They did say that copper and brass is the way to go. Aluminum radiators have plastic ends, and they will leak as they age.

 

[Camar068]

I just take mine to the local rad shop. thankfully we have one in my area. If they that service guy passed away, they'd prolly never do them any more. I don't trust plastic tanks.....and they can't be repair reliably.