[chiphead]

I got the PY aluminum radiator in the other day. I thought I'd throw out a quick review for those in the market. The application is a '67 GTO with AC and AT.

The rad is in the mid 300s thru this site. Typical leadtime is 2 weeks, but it took about 5 for mine because of production ramp up issues. PY customer service was great about taking my weekly call and updating me on what was going on.

First impressions: The packaging was good, the radiator arrived in a heavy cardboard box and padding without obvious damage. The radiator has 2 rows of 1" tubes. The tanks are stamped aluminum. While the tanks seem a bit thin, they should be adequate for a street/strip application where you make sure the brackets or other items won't rub the tanks. I did notice that the welds look hand-done, not CNC or jig welded. I think it looks fine, but some concours guys may get their panties in a wad with the tank beads. The filler neck is a stamped piece welded from the inside to the top tank. The fins are delicate and seem to be easy to fold over if you're not careful.

The radiator inlets and outlets are in the stock locations, as are the cooler fittings. Factory rad hoses fit the radiator fine. The AC cooler requires screw-in I.V. fittings, the cooler fittings on the rad dont appear to have the correct inner flange shape to seal off against stock metal lines.

My only complaint was the drain cock. This one was shut so tight, it wouldnt open. When I tried to make sure it would open, the little handle came loose and spun. I had to replace the drain cock.

The tanks are about 1/4-3/8" thinner front-to-back than the stock tanks. This requries shimming the stock rubber brackets to take up the slack. I used short pieces of 3/8 rubber hose. The overall height of the radiator is correct for my application.

I installed the radiator as normal. The overall fit in the car was about perfect, except for the narrow tanks. There is a bit more space between the upper tank and the fan shroud. I painted the top tank flat black so it would blend in with the engine bay. You can't tell it's not stock unless you look closely.

Initial fire-up looks promising. With 160 T-stat, extended idling resulted in max engine temps of 175.

Initial thoughts: Good radiator for the money. Road tests to follow.

[Junkyard Dog]

Originally Posted by chiphead

I got the PY aluminum radiator in the other day. I thought I'd throw out a quick review for those in the market. The application is a '67 GTO with AC and AT.

The rad is in the mid 300s thru this site. Typical leadtime is 2 weeks, but it took about 5 for mine because of production ramp up issues. PY customer service was great about taking my weekly call and updating me on what was going on.

First impressions: The packaging was good, the radiator arrived in a heavy cardboard box and padding without obvious damage. The radiator has 2 rows of 1" tubes. The tanks are stamped aluminum. While the tanks seem a bit thin, they should be adequate for a street/strip application where you make sure the brackets or other items won't rub the tanks. I did notice that the welds look hand-done, not CNC or jig welded. I think it looks fine, but some concours guys may get their panties in a wad with the tank beads. The filler neck is a stamped piece welded from the inside to the top tank. The fins are delicate and seem to be easy to fold over if you're not careful.

The radiator inlets and outlets are in the stock locations, as are the cooler fittings. Factory rad hoses fit the radiator fine. The AC cooler requires screw-in I.V. fittings, the cooler fittings on the rad dont appear to have the correct inner flange shape to seal off against stock metal lines.

My only complaint was the drain cock. This one was shut so tight, it wouldnt open. When I tried to make sure it would open, the little handle came loose and spun. I had to replace the drain cock.

The tanks are about 1/4-3/8" thinner front-to-back than the stock tanks. This requries shimming the stock rubber brackets to take up the slack. I used short pieces of 3/8 rubber hose. The overall height of the radiator is correct for my application.

I installed the radiator as normal. The overall fit in the car was about perfect, except for the narrow tanks. There is a bit more space between the upper tank and the fan shroud. I painted the top tank flat black so it would blend in with the engine bay. You can't tell it's not stock unless you look closely.

Initial fire-up looks promising. With 160 T-stat, extended idling resulted in max engine temps of 175.

Initial thoughts: Good radiator for the money. Road tests to follow.

I did not even know our host sold aluminum radiators. Thanks for posting.

[bnorris_74]

You are going to love the aluminum radiator.
While I didn't buy mine from PY (sorry) I did get a similar two 1-inch tube aluminum and instantly got cooler operating temps by 40-50 degrees.

I replaced a two core brass radiator and my aluminum unit was actually thicker than the stock one by 1/2-in. It still fit the rubbers fine. Height seemed to be exactly the same as the OEM unit. The only thing I had to do was to tweak the radiator lines a little since my radiator came with screw in adapters for the transmission lines.

Best money I ever spent.

[270win]

Aluminum is far superior in cooling to the factory stuff, I bought a Summit direct fit aluminum radiator for the Nova and the temps dropped 30 degrees.... Good review, looking forward to the road test results...

[71 Goatman]

I also bought a Summit direct fit for my 71 goat, almost runs to cool. The filler neck on the Summit is heavy machined aluminum instead of being stamped. Could not be happier with the quality or the results.

Took it on the Power Tour with only 24 miles on the car, no cooling issues whatsoever.

[270win]

Summit is about an hour from my shop so they get lots of "last minute" business from me...

[66Post]

Looks like I was about 7 months a more than a couple $$ early. Bought mine from Griffin, it was five and change, tanks look a bit different, but it fits and cools very well, particularly since I have newly rebuilt 389.
I painted mine and other than the welds, it looks completely stock. AL is the way to go.

[71 T/A]

The Griffin also features 1.25" tubes. Most aluminum radiators have 1" tubes and thus cost less. The 1.25" tubes cool up to 600 hp. The 1" tubes work for up to 400 hp.

[chiphead]

Finally got a road test in.

I drove the car this afternoon. On a normal 90* day, the motor would typically hit 205-215 on the 10 mile trip to the gym. Today she was rock steady on 180*! The lower temps and the Rotella 15-40 had the oil pressure sitting pretty at 50 PSI at 2500 RPM.

I also bypassed the radiator tranny cooler. I'm running the B&M plate cooler B-Man recommended. Tranny temps were steady at 150*

I'm sold on this radiator so far. Now I just gotta keep an eye for leaks, etc. But this first ride was great!

More tests to follow, but I'm stoked!

[270win]

I'm going to change mine too...the old style radiator/clutch fan setup is marginal in my opinion and my car is going to get power upgrades so it won't get any easier to keep temps under control..that external tranny cooler is a great idea too. I ran one on a built Nova and it kept that trans nice and cool under lots of street thrashing.

[75TA]

Installed PY aluminum rad in 75 TA, it fit. The bottom of rad is different from stock - although it fit, it is not perfect. This rad solved my cooling problems also - temp at 160 - 170 steady.

[chiphead]

My car is still running in the 180* range. Man, what a feeling! That rad is moving a LOT of heat out. It's hotter in the car now, but the engine is cool....