I was wondering if anyone has had any dealings with Smith Racing Radiators. I saw an earlier post where the question was raised, but no reply. I also know there has recently been an extensive and quite thorough post on cooling systems. I enjoyed reading it and found it very informative. My factory 4-core 26" radiator in my Challenger needs a re-core. Copper has gone outrageous and due to this I was looking at about $800.00 for a re-core. If the price had been in the $600.00 dollar range I would have considered it. Since my car isn't a real show car and the big block is not original, I have no problem replacing the radiator with an aluminum one. As discussed, a good factory radiator properly installed with a proper shroud and fan will keep the engine cool unless it's modified and running over 450-500 HP. I did a lot of looking and a lot of problems with aftermarket aluminum radiators is that they have no "ears" for mounting, no brackets for mounting a factory fan shroud and often don't include a drain plug or auto trans cooler. They also often have a reduced cooling surface area with a cross flow design because the tanks take up much of the width that was all core with a down flow factory radiator. Some people don't realize this when they switch to a cross-flow radiator of the same width as the factory down-flow radiator. The Smith radiator has all the items I mentioned that are often missing and looks & installs like a factory fit. It uses 1 & 1/4 inch tubing, as most aftermarket aluminum radiators use a 1" tube. the Smith radiator will also acccept a factory fan shroud and has mounts for it. It has a 1 year warranty and sells for about $600.00. I am impressed. Anybody familiar with these or ordered one?? If interested the web site is
www.smithsradiator.com Happy motoring!!
Matt B.
