Hey all, My son unfortunately rear ended somebody this morning in the rain so I am in need of a radiator. I haven't seen the car yet, but from his description, I am sure I will need a radiator and possibly a new fan. He said it crumpled the hood some and pushed the passenger fender back a little, sounds like the headlights are undamaged, though likely out of alignment. Any recommendations on a decent radiator will be appreciated. We had the old radiator refurbished, but it was still inclined to run 180-190 going down the highway and 200+ idling around town. A better radiator would suit us as he plans on keeping the car for a while. Unrelated to the accident, I am certain we will need a heater core or possibly they can refurb the original. It has been disconnected from the time we picked it up until now, cold weather isn't too far away. TIA, Chris
Well, We have a little work in front of us, I will need to get it back on the road as soon as reasonable. I assume after beating the misc. back into approximate place and replacing the radiator, trying to straighten the headlights, I will need to take it for a drive and see how it feels. We will obviously be in need of all the grill pieces, park lights, etc. on down the road. All comments welcome.
Ouch, glad damage was just to vehicle and pride. Member named Chandler lives in Warrenton and sells parts maybe he can help. Most people have bought a Champion aluminum radiator cc339
Thanks Yellow, I will drop Chandler a line when I have a better idea what we need. I assume if we choose to go with a new radiator and electric fan, I will need a new pulley for the front to make space when I remove the fan blade and "stand". My son's car has/had factory AC, so I assume that radiator may be a little different. Chris PS - After looking at a few pics, it looks like some shorter bolts is all that is needed to use to stock pulley and the "stand" and fan can be removed.
Radiator should not be different for an AC car but fan shroud and fan blade will be different, should have more blades on the fan
Unfortunately, the fan has few blades today than it did yesterday! Is there a reasonable consensus on the electric fans with the older cars. I love the stock electric fan set-up on my little Toyota, overheating just isn't a problem. If they work well, it would seem like a nice upgrade for the nights just cruising the strip and trying not to overheat. I remember my Plymouth Barricuda was touch and go when it came to putting around town. Chris
If your going to e-fan and doing lot of night driving ; may need to upgrade alternator from stock. Watch your head/dash lights for weak output; if that's the case -- need more amps.
E fan is a great upgrade but not all fans are created equal so do your research before just going out and buying one and like mojo says it would be to your benefit to upgrade the alternator, it will help with the lights and if your son is like most youngster he will have to have a nicer stereo and that requires more amps as well
I use Flex-a-Lite #118 puller. It draws 18.5 amps and advertised 2500cfm. It is thinner than most e-fans and has less power consumption. I been running this fan about 8 year; never over 190 when AC not running. On hot days and bump-bump traffic can add 20 deg to that. It should work more than adequate for the setup you have. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/flx-118/overview/
Update, I don’t see anything too bad. Needs a new radiator and possibly fan blade (can you straighten a bent blade?). Grill and hood are toast, but we can hillbilly it down for a while to get him back on the road. We will likely swap the driver’s side fender as well in the future. I know where an early (71’ I think) Maverick is, would the hood and fender swap? TIA, Chris
Looks like a flex blade type, don't even think about straightening it. There has been instances of "slinging" blades. I believe some models had a recall.
Core support looks to slightly bent as well. All the Maverick hoods are the same regardless of year. The small bumper cars have fenders that are slightly different than the large bumper cars. The small bumper fenders can bolt to a large bumper car but there is a small cut out directly behind the stone guard and in front of the side marker lamp.
Hey all, From a little study, Champion seems like it can be a little bit of a fitment issue, but we can handle that. They do not currently have the 3-row radiators (cc339) available from what I can tell. Jegs and others show them, but when I inquired they said they couldn't get them (which is what Champion's site indicates). They are showing a typical 2 row for the Maverick and a 2-row (with 1" cores") for the Maverick as well. Champion isn't even answering the phones this morning, everything rolls to voicemail with full mailboxes (not a good sign). I doubt "Cid" works there anymore, but I haven't got a hold of a person yet to ask. I am leaning towards the 2-row with 1" cores delivered for about $220 if I can get them to answer the phone (hoping to get them to move the petcock to the bottom instead of the front). All comments welcome. Chris PS - I didn't see anything promising from the typical autoparts stores in the area either.