installed my new Champion radiator in my '71 today. looks great and fits good, really tight but good. the mounting flanges are very close to being too short but they work w/o any mods. my biggest complaint is with the draincock. it's literally right against the front crossmember. the reason it interferes is because of the thickness of the radiator, which is also why i couldnt run my taurus fan with it. i snapped some pics for you guys to see for yourself
Well, that SUCKS!! You should let them know, before they build too many. I was thinking of buying one, but not now.
That looks sweet, if the drain cock isn't rubbing it shouldn't be a problem. I have seen some people make either a tubing extension or a pressure hose extension for the drain.
yeah, it's a minor set-back. one of two things have to happen... A: remove the draincock and plug it off or B: notch the crossmember just enough for clearence
I let JIMMY2GATES and Cid Martin, Champion Radidator, know about that problem back in Jan/Feb. They are re-doing the CC339 radiator to shorten the core by 1" to solve this problem. For the existing stock, they're replacing the petcock with a plug to avoid the problem. Cid (cidmartin@cox.net) sent me a plug to replace the petcock in mine. Seems its only a problem on some cars. blugene had no fit problems with his using the petcock.
See this thread. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=53318 Says the petcock/plug is a METRIC thread (no pun intended). Until these two posts I thought mine might be the only car with the fit problems.
I would just notch the crossmember. I modified mine when I installed the 19x26 radiator in mine. I have the first version of aluminum radiator that Cid did that I want to install with a Taurus fan.
Like I mentioned, maybe they should put it on the bottom. It would definetly drain most if not all out also by moving it to the bottom. I'm thinking about notching mine actualy now that I realize how close it is. It's not touching but I would not be able to open it easily if I wanted to. I could if I removed the mounting bolts and raised the radiator a bit, but who wants to do that? The bottom or even there on the side looks best to me.
I agree Gene, i like the bottom idea alot. when/if they send me a replacement part, ill prolly still go ahead and notch the crossmember 3/4" or someting. just enough to add clearence for it
I guess maybe being on the bottom it could get hung on something, not sure what but... the side there is looking like a good spot.
looking alot better than where it is. i installed it and started pouring in antifreeze and wasted about 1/3 gallon before i realized it was coming out of the draincock (it was open) so i had to fight with it and the crossmember to get it closed to save some antifreeze, lol
