Ebay alloy radiator one year on review.....

[peter_hill]

Did a search here about cheapy alloy rads over a year ago. Nobody gave a good or bad verdict but a lot of " I'm thinking about its ".
Took the plunge, purchased a $250 or there abouts from Ebay which from memory included postage to QLD.
Arrived after Xmas 2014 and only took under an hour to remove the old OEM clogged leaker and fit the new one.
It's not a daily driver more a weekend warrior and its kept the mild modified 289 waay cool and still no leaks.
Did 2 wedding chauffeur/photoshoots a few weeks back lots of idling and waiting..never went passed halfway on the guage.

Things you must do...( that I found )..
Check for stray volts..mine was about .36v
Use de-mineralised water
Change the cap...the cap which comes with it is only about 10 or so pounds so it leaked after a long drive in 30+ C temps. I just used the cap from my old rad.
Had an aftermarket half shroud on the old set up but it won't fit without mucking around...but it doesn't need it anyway.
Put in an anti corrosion additive, anti freeze or boil is a bit extreme so I was told by an expert.


So there you have it. I'm giving a cautious yes to this type of radiator.

[mwizz]

Thanks for taking the time to do that.  It is always good to see reviews.

[66FBK]

I put an alloy radiator in 2 summers back and was the best thing I did after a few boil overs in heavy traffic. The radiators in the 65/66 were not the biggest items produced. I think the radiator in a Corolla is bigger. I have seen larger cross flow rads install in early Mustangs with trick motors but you have to start cutting the support panel away to get them in. I went for a US made alloy one but the Chinese ones seem pretty good for the money. The problem with the 65/66 radiator is the top & bottom hoses are on the same side so if you lose say 1/2 litre of coolant and the core is exposed in the top take than the water coming in just flows thru the first 5 or 6 rows of the core and out the bottom hose and it doesn't cool as well.  They do make a split tank radiator which sends water down the first 1/3 of the core and back up the middle 1/3 and down the last 1/3 but it has to be a top LH / bottom RH hose radiator.  The original radiators were the weak link in Mustangs. Any modification to improve them is a good one.

[shelby_mustro]

I've got one in my 65 coupe with a 347 it runs around 165f I did the same changed the cap. Over all it's a good radaitior for the price 👍

[62fordcc]

I just took the plunge and bought one as well, fitting it will be my New Years day task. I'm interested to know if you all kept the standard fan or went for a thermo fan.

cheers

[Salthorse]

Have had an alloy radiator in my '69 for a couple if years now and have had no problems with it unless creeping up to 90C on a 40 degree day is considered a problem, which it isn't. I took the plunge and installed a twin electric fan a couple of weeks ago. It is controlled via the Dakota Digital dash with one fan kicking in at over 80 and the other a few degrees higher. With the AC running on a near 40 degree day yesterday doing both freeway and city driving, the temp sat between 85 and 90. Once the AC was turned off it settled back to around 80. The radiator is a big 2 core Scott Drake cross flow, deeper than the standard size radiator.

[peter_hill]

I just took the plunge and bought one as well, fitting it will be my New Years day task. I'm interested to know if you all kept the standard fan or went for a thermo fan.

cheers

Personally I think thermo fans are BS on a copper core Mustang radiator but that's from personal experience! Once it hit the temp where it's supposed to kick in.....(for eg on my car, it was about halfway on the temp gauge ) it had troubles bringing it down below that ie continuously running. This was always in slow traffic situations. Maybe with an alloy one it would be more efficient. I have found that a 15 or 16 inch nylon fan to be the most effective.

[peter_hill]

Sorry to drag up an old post.......but this will be a 2 yearish review. Well this radiator certainly has surprised me. No leaks from the welds and definitely no corrosion due to stray voltage. BUT!.....the only problem was to get a new cap a few pounds higher. Been driving my mildly modified '66 on a more regular basis now and it has always stayed coooool. 16 inch nylon fan, standard Nulon anti freeze/boil and no shroud. 2 thumbs up! 

[peter_hill]

aaand it's still nice and shiney!..

[BAC]

Just fitted an Ebay special to the Cougar - couldn't stomach the thought of $600+ for a proper repro one.  A little bit taller than stock and needed a bit of trimming/drilling on the mounting tabs to get everything lined up but so far so good. 

Runs much cooler than the old rad (which didn't have any major blockages as far as I could tell) with standard Tectaloy 60+ premix coolant and my thermo fan/shroud fits without any issues.

The Chinese cap that came with it said 1.1 bar but I changed it back to the old 13lb Prestone anyway. 

[peter_hill]

3+ years and still no problems. 
Being alloy I'm assuming it dissipates more efficiently than copper.
One of my more better investments. 

[BAC]

Being alloy I'm assuming it dissipates more efficiently than copper.

Please don't stir up that debate!  Original vs repro, copper vs alloy, painted vs bare, etc. 

[Clubman7]

Bought one of the EBay radiators.
Looks nice when it arrived.
Polished, with nice welds.
Plug supplied was a plastic plug with a fine pitch metric thread.
Thread in radiator is NPT.
Oh well bought new plug.
Fitted radiator.
Found tiny pinhole in last weld puddle on top tank.
Have peened the weld and seems to have sealed it.
Temperature has been good so far on the days I have used the car.
Happy enough so far.

[peter_hill]

Please don't stir up that debate!  Original vs repro, copper vs alloy, painted vs bare, etc. 

Not much of a regular contributor to this forum, so any debates are over my head.
That's why I said " ASSuming " in my post.
Oh well looks like I made an ass out of myself. 

[j1autotech]

Oh well looks like I made an ass out of myself. 

Not at all Peter, many thanks for the yearly updates on the purchase and how it has gone. This would have to be one of the best reviews I've seen as it has been made over quite sometime which is exactly what people want. Real time reviews over many years are few and far between.


Thanks again from a lot of the readers and non posters of this forum   

J1

[Reborn67]

Copper has one of the highest thermal qualities out of all the non ferrous metals but its price has gone through the roof of recent times, hence the sourcing of other materials for radiators etc, and there is no denying alloy rads look good, but at the end of the day it comes back to personal choice and budget restraints, stating a personal preference need not be a debate..,

[Clubman7]

Took cap that was supplied with alloy radiator off yesterday to check level.
Found spring in cap corroded.
Must of been gold paint instead of zinc passivisation.
Would of failed sometime soon when spring rusted through.
Put on new cap that has a stainless steel spring.

[peter_hill]

Sorry to drag up an old post....Still driving the ol' coop and to be honest this Ebay alloy radiator is still cooling strong! No leaks or corrosion and the un polished  look still compliments the front grill.

[BAC]

Sorry to drag up an old post....Still driving the ol' coop and to be honest this Ebay alloy radiator is still cooling strong! No leaks or corrosion and the un polished  look still compliments the front grill.

Thanks for updating the thread! 

[peter_hill]

DAAYYUMMM!!....retired a few months back, decided to check out the ol' forum because I've now got time to freshen up the Coop. Almost 9 years service from this cheapo alloy radiator! Not a bad investment. Had to replace the water pump about 2 years ago with another Ebay special. No probs either so far.

[Clubman7]

Mine still hanging in there.
No signs of problems at the moment.

[Edz]

I had an ebay alloy radiator with my old V8, no problems. Then I upgraded to a stroker 351W and it couldn't keep up with the heat. I bought a $700 big block one from a Mustang Supplier in Sydney, cut the radiator support opening wider, and had overheating problems ever since. I run the 2nd biggest 16" Spal (the biggest is race only, not waterproof), cools the motor no problem and very quickly, but it was on all the time. Doesn't matter what speed, whether the air is 10 or 40 degrees, open road, etc. Comes on every 3 to 10 minutes. Fitted an engine guard (great device) to monitor block temperature, it sits on 83 on the highway. Also tried the Mondeo Dual Fan, worked as well and exactly the same as the Spal. 
Fitted an old copper big block one from Nuts that was too expensive to clean and the block temp dropped 11 degrees on the highway in the same conditions and the thermo calmed down, only comes on when going slow?

When I compare them, I can't see through the fins on the alloy radiator, where I can on the copper?

[fredm666]

I just installed on my '55 Customline an aluminium radiator from ebay (made in China of course).
Apart from some small fitting issues, a leaking plug and short necks, we were able to install it on the car.
I'm going to test in the coming weeks, hopefully it will run smoothly.