US radiator for big block stroker

gearing up for a new engine install. Right now I am running a 1967 26" oem big block radiator. It runs pretty well with the 383, I commute with it in the summer and no issues. New mill is 500ci so I figure I may need to upgrade to stay around 180-190 coolant temp.

I like the look of copper oem so I'm not going aluminum. I saw us radiator sells a 26" oem style copper rad with their optima core. Claims a 40F temp reduction. It's expensive and I don't want to overkill, but I want enough cooling. Anyone run one of these?

SlinktRR said:

gearing up for a new engine install. Right now I am running a 1967 26" oem big block radiator. It runs pretty well with the 383, I commute with it in the summer and no issues. New mill is 500ci so I figure I may need to upgrade to stay around 180-190 coolant temp.

I like the look of copper oem so I'm not going aluminum. I saw us radiator sells a 26" oem style copper rad with their optima core. Claims a 40F temp reduction. It's expensive and I don't want to overkill, but I want enough cooling. Anyone run one of these?

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I run a 512 stroker on a 22" rad and a slight extra cooling fix and my car runs 175 degrees all day, all conditions. I think you'll be OK with a 26" rad, 16 lb rad cap and a 160 stat. I highly recommend you give your existing rad a try before dropping $600 on something you may not need. If your current rad works out for you, that's quite a bit of coin you could use on something else. The reason I say a 160 stat is to engage the cooling system earlier, you'll still run a higher temperature than that by virtue of the engine size and horsepower, but you'll start full flow of the coolant sooner. That will ensure your cooling system isn't playing "catch-up" at a higher temperature.

thanks yatz! I will likely wait and start out with the stock radiator to see how it goes but then again I don't want to run 200+ right out of the gate either. Looks like us radiator has mid range options that look reasonably priced. All I have run are factory radiators so I really don't know what's out there to compare.

i bought a 22" u.s. radiator 4 row brass radiator. gave a bunch of money for it. real piece of crap. the top tank split and when I went to get it repaired found a bunch of tubes soldered shut or partially shut. i'd look someplace else.

i bought a 22" u.s. radiator 4 row brass radiator. gave a bunch of money for it. real piece of crap. the top tank split and when I went to get it repaired found a bunch of tubes soldered shut or partially shut. i'd look someplace else.

I also run my 22" radiator that was for my 383 and now keeps my 512 cool as can be. No issues at all.

lewtot184 said:

i bought a 22" u.s. radiator 4 row brass radiator. gave a bunch of money for it. real piece of crap. the top tank split and when I went to get it repaired found a bunch of tubes soldered shut or partially shut. i'd look someplace else.

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Same thing happened to mine too.

lewtot184 said:

i bought a 22" u.s. radiator 4 row brass radiator. gave a bunch of money for it. real piece of crap. the top tank split and when I went to get it repaired found a bunch of tubes soldered shut or partially shut. i'd look someplace else.

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And the customer service is a POS too, some guy that doesn't speak English.

About 10 years ago I bought mine directly from US radiator and it was nice, no issues. I keep reading guys have issues with them so be careful I guess. I might not consider them again if needed in the future because of it. SPend the dough and recore yours or buy one from Glen Ray to void any issues. Hopefully! Good luck.

I bought my radiator direct from u.s. I called them after having some install issues and the guy on the phone told me "what do you expect? they're made in California." I was dumbfounded and lost for words. never again.

I bought a US Radiator from Yearone thank god, Yearone paid $200 to have mine fixed.

Hi guys, this is Don from US Radiator and have been a member here for many years. It appears I owe a couple of you an apology for poor quality and customer service and wished I had known of the problems at the time. That's not who we are or how we work and I sincerely apologize. That being said I'll also mention we manufacture about 10,000 units per year, both copper/brass and aluminum, for all US cars from 1928 to 1980 and have done so for well over 50 years. There's bound to be some problems but poor customer service is unacceptable and if others have feed back or unresolved issues I'm here to help.... For SlinktRR I agree with Yatzee for the most part and give your existing unit a try before you spend any money. I would guess about 30% of the units we manufacture for our dealers are sold to solve an overheating problem that wasn't a radiator issue to begin with. I can't tell you how many times a week I talk people out of buying a radiator when I know it won't solve the problem to begin with. On the otherhand, when setting up a new engine upgrade I usually do the following; I use 160-S type stats by either Robert Shaw or Stant. The S, or Super stat name means a slightly larger plunger and allows for about a 10% increase on flow at low speed and idle where most over heating occurs. Any greater amount of flow through the stat will work against you on the street. Keep in mind your 26" core unit has square tanks and a flat header which is superior in design as far as pressure related issues and solder joints either at the header or tank-to-header seams and has about 16% more core or cooling surface than the 22" unit. As far as caps go I use a 12 to 14 lbs sealed system cap on copper/brass and a 16 lbs. cap on aluminum units. I use a Flow Kooler water pump if available for my application because, like the thermostats, they offer a slight increase in flow over stock OEM specs. without over-flowing the radiators capacity to drop temperature at low speed and idle which some high flow racing pumps will do. Air-flow is the other critical element and I've found flex fans by Hayden to be both economical and durable for most applications and can be ordered in a 7 blade for most cars and trucks. If the radiator came with a factory shroud I use it as long as it's an actual shroud covering all four corners or the radiator and not just a finger guard. If the unit has a round shroud that cover the blade I throw it away and make a real shroud that utilizes the complete core area for los speed and idle. Placement of the blade in the shroud opening is also important. The best air flow will be attained when the leading edge of the blade is 1/3rd in the shroud and 2/3rds out on the back side. If you have any questions about any of this info I'm a phone call away and willing to help. Don ps, again, apology to Lewtot184 and car nut. I don't monitor calls and wish I had time.

Thanks Don A for coming on and commenting. I bought a 22" four row from Yearone, thank god I did, I would've been screwed. They asked If I would call US Radiator, no problem I said. The guy that took my call at US Radiator was not professional at all. I called within the 90 day warranty period with the cracked tank, leaking problem and the overflow tube out of place (pointing to the back of the engine). The customer service guy made an excuse saying it happens and said US Radiator would fix it, but I would need to pay shipping both ways. I called Yearone back and explained the experience I had calling US Radiator. The guy apologized and asked if I would call US Radiator again, I said yes. I called US Radiator again and spoke to the same guy (he doesn't speak English too well). He was more rude this time and asked if it was within the 90 warranty period. I told the guy the warranty expired three days ago, he laughed and said sorry US Radiator could not help. I called Yearone back and their professional customer service told me to have the radiator fix locally. I did, paid over $200 and Yearone gave me store credit. I understand that quality isn't what it used to be, but customer service should be top notch.

Car Nut said:

Thanks Don A for coming on and commenting. I bought a 22" four row from Yearone, thank god I did, I would've been screwed. They asked If I would call US Radiator, no problem I said. The guy that took my call at US Radiator was not professional at all. I called within the 90 day warranty period with the cracked tank, leaking problem and the overflow tube out of place (pointing to the back of the engine). The customer service guy made an excuse saying it happens and said US Radiator would fix it, but I would need to pay shipping both ways. I called Yearone back and explained the experience I had calling US Radiator. The guy apologized and asked if I would call US Radiator again, I said yes. I called US Radiator again and spoke to the same guy (he doesn't speak English too well). He was more rude this time and asked if it was within the 90 warranty period. I told the guy the warranty expired three days ago, he laughed and said sorry US Radiator could not help. I called Yearone back and their professional customer service told me to have the radiator fix locally. I did, paid over $200 and Yearone gave me store credit. I understand that quality isn't what it used to be, but customer service should be top notch.

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Thanks for your comments John. We've already had a meeting and discussion on this issue this morning with the folks involved and will have another before the end of day to better address your problem. While our warranties are fairly specific to the radiator itself however, all things are negotiable, and a better solution to the freight issue or a replacement would have been my suggestion at the time. Also, hiding behind a one day past warrantee is not who we are either. Call me if you would like a better resolution at this point. Don

I thought i'd try to put something together on this subject. I usually save all my receipts on my cars but don't know where I put them at for the radiator. maybe I was too embarrassed to keep them. pretty sure I've got around $650 to get the radiator to my door. the factory shroud was suppose to fit; that didn't happen. so instead of cutting up my original to fit this cock eyed piece of crap I bought a re-pop from mancini to whittle on. mancini's price is about $168 for a shroud today but pretty sure I bought one for less; maybe $100 to my door (?). spent some time and got everything fitted plus new hoses. drove the car a little and didn't seem to do much at all for better cooling. the radiator I took out was a 22" three row, 144 tubes. new u.s. radiator is a 22" four row with 220 tubes. I got to noticing that two rows of tubes on each side were pinched off. I called and asked why and the guy said we do that to allow for an electric fan which I don't and won't use. shouldn't you ask first before making assumptions? ok, I drove a little more, and I mean a little, and noticed anti-freeze spitting. I thought maybe may coolant recovery was at fault; nope the top tank separated from the core. ok, so I take the radiator out and to the shop for repairs. the guys remove the top tank and find 7 more tubes soldered shut and 30 tubes partially blocked on top of the 16 pinched off for "my electric fan". so about 24% of the tubes are either shut or impaired. the radiator guys told me to take the piece crap and sell it for scrap! well, I took the "parts" home and looked at them trying to figure a way to salvage this. I thought i'd try to unplug some of the tubes; don't ever try this! after a couple weeks I took the stuff back to the shop and put the thing back together; whats another $100 at this point? i'm sure I have well north of $800, maybe close to $900 in a piece of crap that sits in the box in the attic. oh, I and I got an apology too; what's that worth?

Don A said:

Thanks for your comments John. We've already had a meeting and discussion on this issue this morning with the folks involved and will have another before the end of day to better address your problem. While our warranties are fairly specific to the radiator itself however, all things are negotiable, and a better solution to the freight issue or a replacement would have been my suggestion at the time. Also, hiding behind a one day past warrantee is not who we are either. Call me if you would like a better resolution at this point. Don

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Thanks Don, can you PM your direct number or ext?

lewtot184 said:

the factory shroud was suppose to fit; that didn't happen.

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I was told by US Radiator my original fan shroud was suppose to fit too before I bought the radiator. I also had problems with my transmission cooling lines not matching up. The original radiator has a 12" spread, US Radiator has a 10" spread.

lewtot184 said:

I thought i'd try to put something together on this subject. I usually save all my receipts on my cars but don't know where I put them at for the radiator. maybe I was too embarrassed to keep them. pretty sure I've got around $650 to get the radiator to my door. the factory shroud was suppose to fit; that didn't happen. so instead of cutting up my original to fit this cock eyed piece of crap I bought a re-pop from mancini to whittle on. mancini's price is about $168 for a shroud today but pretty sure I bought one for less; maybe $100 to my door (?). spent some time and got everything fitted plus new hoses. drove the car a little and didn't seem to do much at all for better cooling. the radiator I took out was a 22" three row, 144 tubes. new u.s. radiator is a 22" four row with 220 tubes. I got to noticing that two rows of tubes on each side were pinched off. I called and asked why and the guy said we do that to allow for an electric fan which I don't and won't use. shouldn't you ask first before making assumptions? ok, I drove a little more, and I mean a little, and noticed anti-freeze spitting. I thought maybe may coolant recovery was at fault; nope the top tank separated from the core. ok, so I take the radiator out and to the shop for repairs. the guys remove the top tank and find 7 more tubes soldered shut and 30 tubes partially blocked on top of the 16 pinched off for "my electric fan". so about 24% of the tubes are either shut or impaired. the radiator guys told me to take the piece crap and sell it for scrap! well, I took the "parts" home and looked at them trying to figure a way to salvage this. I thought i'd try to unplug some of the tubes; don't ever try this! after a couple weeks I took the stuff back to the shop and put the thing back together; whats another $100 at this point? i'm sure I have well north of $800, maybe close to $900 in a piece of crap that sits in the box in the attic. oh, I and I got an apology too; what's that worth?

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lewtot184, for the record, the two rows of tubes on the outside of the core were simply put there as filler and were not in the original radiator to begin with. The original side bracket wrapped under the bucket header and up against the core in order to fill the gap that would be there if the bracket was flat from top to bottom. We opted 30 years ago to fill that space with tube and fin not only for appearance but to add strength to the outside actual working tube rows which are the weakest part of a radiator core. So basically the 16 tubes you mentioned were not in an original core to begin with and couldn't be attached to the original "bucket header" to be functional beside. They also come in handy in case a customer decided to install an electric fan but not the actual reason they are there. We also solder closed the outside row of tubes (8 in all) to provide additional strength in that same area for reasons already mentioned combined with vibration issues and 50 year old suspensions. If the radiator is in good shape send it to me along with invoice and date and lets work something out. The apology was free, and sincere. D-

Car Nut said:

Thanks Don, can you PM your direct number or ext?

I was told by US Radiator my original fan shroud was suppose to fit too before I bought the radiator. I also had problems with my transmission cooling lines not matching up. The original radiator has a 12" spread, US Radiator has a 10" spread.

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my tra

Car Nut said:

I bought a US Radiator from Yearone.

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Same here a few years ago, after my fan hit my original radiator. Simple swap and this radiator couldn't keep my engine cool whatsoever.

Car Nut said:

Same thing happened to mine too.

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SlinktRR said:

gearing up for a new engine install. Right now I am running a 1967 26" oem big block radiator. It runs pretty well with the 383, I commute with it in the summer and no issues. New mill is 500ci so I figure I may need to upgrade to stay around 180-190 coolant temp.

I like the look of copper oem so I'm not going aluminum. I saw us radiator sells a 26" oem style copper rad with their optima core. Claims a 40F temp reduction. It's expensive and I don't want to overkill, but I want enough cooling. Anyone run one of these?

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SlinktRR, in answer to your original question about "Optima" core I would advise against it. The Optima consists of a 1/4" fin and tube spacing designed for maximum heat transfer points in the core (twice as many when compared to the original unit) to be used on high horse power and blower motors and almost always combined with our "Triple Flow" option. It represents the best heat transfer money can buy without changing the original size and configuration of the radiator. The problem then becomes getting air through a very dense core at low speed or idle and usually ends up requiring a high cfm electric fan and different fan shroud. In your case "overkill" for sure. However, I would suggest a high-efficiency core design (3/8th fin and tube spacing) should your original unit not be sufficient. In the late 80's the Japanese came out with the high-efficiency fin design which allows for more tube to fin contact in the core without changing the overall size of the radiator and since then every OE manufacture of radiators have switched to it. Unfortunately our dealers still stock the original 1/2" core "standard automotive" design to keep their inventory costs down but the high efficiency core can be special ordered and is the way to go on any vehicle regardless of who manufactures it or who you buy it from. Your original 26" 3 row radiator should easily handle your 500 cu" upgrade. I mentioned my formula for setting up new engines in the "thread" and the name brands I like to use. I don't sell those brands and have no ties to them other than they work great in my cars. Good luck with your hotrod..