Looking for leads on a new copper/brass radiator for my 1994 pickup. Can't seem to find anything but the aluminum/plastic POS's. Any ideas?
Get the fabricated aluminum style. They've always worked well for me Or talk to a radiator shop. Tell them you have an 80. Those should be brass.
Yup, brass radiators are a thing of the past, low demand due to the price of copper so supply drops almost as fast. I agree the aluminum core/plastic tank jobs aren't great but the all-aluminum ones like mine are usually built well with bigger cores than stock.
Brass Works--www.thebrassworks.net, are one of the oldest /largest radiator suppliers to old style hot rods. I like & run a aluminum Griffin one. And in looking for one chose one that is all welded has to a epoxied one! BeCool is widely used by street rodders , used to be a epoxied type ,but I u was told Griffin bought them & they are welded how.I'd research that fact. Griffin does use epoxy over there welds which I don't care much for,as repair is impossible!
Are the older toyota radiators the same as the newer ones as far as the mounting hole are concerned? Truckaction, how did you choose and mount your aluminum one? I've had two aluminum ones in the last year and a half and they both started leaking. I assume they were epoxied instead of welded. They both sucked, which is why I figured I'd end up with a stock copper/brass one. I found a listing on eBay for one, hopefully it is what it says it is, although I'd love to stay with an aluminum one. Just not cheapo aluminum.
yea... the aluminum/composite ones are crimped and sealed with an epoxy... the areas near the ports arent crimped since the hose connections are in the way and thats where they start leaking from. the full aluminums are where its at. ebay has em, i think LCE also carries them as well as the brass core/tanked.
also if you can find an old oem radiator, some shops will rebuild them with the stock tanks for less than the cost of a new one.
Speedway Chevy Universal Aluminum Radiators - Speedway Motors, America's Oldest Speed Shop this is what i run in the hilux. all welded no epoxy. just needed some flat stock welded on for mounts. altogether i have about $130 into it.
I'm pretty sure 84 - 90's mount the same, I took photo's from all angles & sent to Griffin. They found that they had the pattern in stock,so the one they sent me mounts as the stock one did!! It is fully welded ,I did have a problem after a year or so , & they made a new one for me!
I have swapped late model rads into the hiluxs and the holes line up. My experience has found that a late model 4 cyl unit uses stock hoses. When I put a 94 V6 unit in I had to extend my lower hose with exhaust tubing. 78 didn't have the metal u-turn under the motor mount like later years. So if you get a late model replacement, keep that in mind. I did it anyways because its a larger radiator. It does hang below the core support and frame crossmember though. When my new plastic/aluminum one gets here from FedEx I will be swapping the all aluminum one out. Can they be fixed? It leaks at the lower tank seam and the upper seam near the rad hose. I think it's probably garbage. It's the welded style.
