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[chargincharles]

OK- so, just last week, the radiator in the 82 F/A decided to give up the ghost.  Blew a nice little hole in itself.
Sooooo...of course I come on here and read all the posts about This Radiator vs. That Radiator vs The Other Radiator.
But NO PICTURES...
So, taking things into my own hands-
I got ahold of the Radiator from a 87 Dodge W250/Ramcharger- with 360, Air, etc.
OK- here are the side by side comparison pics-
New radiator is the nice black one-











OK- as you can see- here are the highlights-
Part Number is 433959.  Purchased at OReillys Auto Parts, but can be had at MANY outlets.  This is the radiator carried by Rock Auto and Advance Auto as well.
Made By Modine- just like the OEM unit.
Fan Shroud lines up just fine, bolts up just fine.
This is a Aluminum core radiator- with 2 Cores and a MUCH higher fin count than the OEM Brass/Copper Radiator.
The tanks are Brass- NOT Plastic.  The part unit sold by Autozone IS a plastic tank version of this radiator.  I verified this by looking at the ACTUAL radiator at Autozone.  The Radiator at Pepboys is ALSO the Plastic Tank Version.  These are Made by Spectra. 
YOU WILL NEED THE LOWER HOSE FROM THE RAM.
Gates part number 20046. 
You will need to trim 1 inch from the pump side, and 2" from the inlet side.  Custom measure this though, every car COULD be different.

Finally- bolts in Just fine.  Been running the last week with it and absolutely zero problems.  Car doesn't not overheat, or get overly warm- even though it has been in the 90's here in Cincy, and I was driving on the highway at extra-legal speeds for about 70 miles.  No issues whatsoever with this.
Also- Ignore the Descriptions on the website- GO AND LOOK at the Radiator in question....

Link to Radiator-
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/PNC1/433959.oap?year=1987&make=Dodge&model=W250&vi=1101137&pt=01386&ppt=C0331

Link to Hose-
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/GAT0/20046.oap?year=1987&make=Dodge&model=W250&vi=1101137&pt=01358&ppt=C0331

Hope this FINALLY clears up everything.
If anyone wants to see pics of it installed, let me know, but it looks just exactly like the old one- so what's the point....
And a final point- This radiator is $10 LESS than the 'correct' replacement.  That radiator has copper tubes/brass tank, is still 2 core, and has a lesser fin count.  I again verified all this by comparing the two side by side.  So why bother???

Enjoy!
CC.

[moparmuscle88]

ive put one out of a dodge truck into my fifth avenue awhile back.  but thae radiator in my fifth was a very small 1 row so the truck rad was a much bigger improvement

but yes now there are finally pics for reference because i rember when i found on here that the swap could be done, there were no pics so this should definatley make it over to the library

[Erics5th]

Very nice, thank you! 

[cbodymoparfan]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330444057218&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

[Reggie]

Great photos CC!  Thanks! - RR

[ramenth]

Very good post.

[lsm360]

Thanks for the photos. The one thing mentioned by some in the past that has had me reluctant to use one of the truck ones is that the shroud doesn't fit as closely as to the stock rad. I was always concerned that the extra capacity (I have my stock AHB radiator) and/or fins would be canceled by the shroud not fitting as tightly.

[Butch]

Good info and great photos, I always wondered how the shroud would fit .

[Butch]

Chargincharles,
I was looking at your rad photos again and I don't understand why the RAM lower hose is needed,
the inlet and outlet seem to be in the same place more or less.

[chargincharles]

Chargincharles,
I was looking at your rad photos again and I don't understand why the RAM lower hose is needed,
the inlet and outlet seem to be in the same place more or less.

Hi Butch,
Simple reason, Ram lower inlet (actually radiator outlet) is 2" OD, and the factory M hose is 2" OD in the pump side, and 1 3/4" OD on the Radiator side.  The Ram hose is 2" OD on both sides.  That works out to like 1 1/2" ID on the radiator side and 1 3/4" ID on the pump side for the stocker, and 1 3/4" ID all around for the Ram hose. So, the M hose simply won't fit.

Also, since everyone keeps mentioning the SHROUD fitment-
here are pics of the radiator (with the shroud) installed.  As you can see NO gaps, etc. beyond what was there originally. 



Hope this erases any doubt any of you may STILL have about this- AHB cars or not.....

CC

[occupant]

If someone wanted to be really picky they could fabricate a small crescent of plastic to cover the back side of the shroud at the top center.  They could also run some door frame-type weatherstripping along the top edge of the radiator to seal up that gap.  As always there is room for improvement but when you're talking about getting this much cooling for a low price and not having to custom fabricate anything other than ordering a different radiator hose part number, it's absolutely a no-brainer to go with the truck part!

[Mike]

If someone wanted to be really picky they could fabricate a small crescent of plastic to cover the back side of the shroud at the top center.  They could also run some door frame-type weatherstripping along the top edge of the radiator to seal up that gap.  As always there is room for improvement but when you're talking about getting this much cooling for a low price and not having to custom fabricate anything other than ordering a different radiator hose part number, it's absolutely a no-brainer to go with the truck part!

The fan shroud looks like it fits exactly the same way it does on the proper radiator gaps and all. So all of that could also be an improvement for any picky person regardless of what rad they have. What got me to recore my rad instead of getting a new one was the new ones I was finding were all horrible fits and looked nothing like the factory ones. It was cheaper and quicker to get it recored then farting around trying to find a good one from a parts store. The truck one looks perfect and at least they haven't gone like the GM replacements with them and use plastic tanks.

[chargincharles]

The fan shroud looks like it fits exactly the same way it does on the proper radiator gaps and all. So all of that could also be an improvement for any picky person regardless of what rad they have. What got me to recore my rad instead of getting a new one was the new ones I was finding were all horrible fits and looked nothing like the factory ones. It was cheaper and quicker to get it recored then farting around trying to find a good one from a parts store. The truck one looks perfect and at least they haven't gone like the GM replacements with them and use plastic tanks.

Hi Mike,
My search began after the local radiator shop (whom I had been doing business with for the past 20+ years) changed hands, and then wanted to charge me $275 for a stock re-core!  No thanks.
I found this radiator because I opened all the boxes at all the local parts houses with part numbers 433959.  Note that the Spectra brand radiator IS aluminum core/plastic tank.  Just like GM.  The Ready-Rad and Proliance Brands were the only ones who were aluminum core/brass tank.

Finally- one note-
For TRULY complete flow through ANY radiator you MUST have a good radiator support to hood seal.  If the seal leaks, air will pass OVER the radiator entirely and, shroud or not, you get no cooling.  People must remember that most Big Block Mopar Muscle ran 22" all brass/copper radiators with NO shrouds and fixed fans- no clutch at all.  This was the standard cooling system, and it worked for everything from 273's to 440's.  They WERE 3-core radiators, not 2, but the much smaller size and no shroud should have offset that.  The trick was a really good seal between the hood and the radiator support.  All of my B/B 68-74 Chargers came this way.  None had A/C or H/D cooling packages which would have called for the 26" radiator.  NONE overheated unless the radiator was plugged or damaged in some way.  My 73 with a 318 actually ran TOO COLD!  I had to block part of it in the winter if I wanted anything that resembled heat in the cockpit!  Yes- it was a daily driver and I drove it year round until the quarter panels flapped in the wind as we went down the road- but it was a beater and now lives in that great junkyard in the sky....
So- the 26" 2-core with shroud and clutched fan is overkill!  But, Mopar was known for engineering overkill.  Which is why I love my old Mopars. 

Any chance of adding all this to the radiator posts in the library Mike?
CC.

[Butch]

Chargincharles,
Once again thanks for the good info and photos.

[lsm360]

By far my favorite radiator posting....I now feel confident in buying that radiator and having it fit my AHB.

On the topic of re-coring my factory AHB radiator; Rad shop told me nobody making the core for the police one anymore. He said he can get cores for the civi, but not AHB.

Thanks again for the great info.