Anyone that swapped to the universal Griffin radiator, what did you do about the lack of a heater hose return fitting on the passenger side tank below the radiator cap?

TPI cars use it instead of running it to the water pump. I really don't have room to run to the water pump due to my LT1 intake and 58mm TB. Kind of crowded there.

 

Normally you would order the radiator with the fitting (costs extra). If you are not going to use your heater, just block of the manifold hole.

 

So is that what the plug in the water pump is for?

 

I will be running a heater core. Even if I wasn't there is still a need to have a constant flow of coolant while the thermastat is closed.


Edit The direct replacement radiator is $200-300 more the the universal one, that's alot to pay for a fitting port.

 

Yes, it is an alternate but as I orginally stated the water pump port is great but with my LT1 intake and 58mm TB it is almost completely blocked.

 

I was asking for myself. I can take the heat all summer but I'm a wuss when it comes to the winter months. It's nice to know I can hook my heater back up again come November.

 

Right now it would be nice to know someone who can heli-arc.....

It would not take much to do...drill a hole, get a short length of the correct size tubing and weld it in.

I was going to do it until I found out about running the return line to the pump.

Darrell

 

Can't heli-arc a fitting to it, that would MELT the epoxy that attaches the tubes to the tanks. Bad, very bad.

 

Constant flow can be achieved by drilling holes in the thermostat.
As for the cost of a fitting....I thought they had an option to "add" features. The heater line fitting was only another $40 or so.. Maybe that was Be-Cool.

Anyway, I found a drop-in replacement aluminum radiator with dual 1" core that has all the fittings, for $299 manual and $369 for automatic. I have already ordered mine, and will let you all know if it is a good piece. I was going to order the Griffin, however, I didnt want to have to mess with making another upper radiator bracket, nor did I want to have to deal with spacers on my dual fans (did both on another car and it was a pain). The only modification that needs to be done on this new one is to trim the rubber a bit to get the larger core to slide in. No spacers or custom upper bracket needed.

 

Didn't know about the epoxy.....Now I'm glad I didn't have to do that.

 

Desert86Roc where did you get that radiator? got a part#?

 

yes desert where did you get this radiator???? a near direct fit

 

cant u just get a fitting and epxoy it to the griffin tank yourself? Use like cold-weld or something, cant be that hard right?

 

It would have to be a good job, the fitting would be subjected to 16 psi 200°F. coolant all the time. Not something I would trust to JB Weld.

 

See if there is enough room above the heat exchanger coils for the transmission to use a marine thru hull fitting. Cut a hole in the aft side of the tank and insert the fitting from inside the tank and then screw down the nut from the outside. You would need to use an O-ring or a gasket to seal it but it would already have a hose barb for your return hose on it. It will be bronze and thus would be a corrosion problem with aluminum but you will be using antifreeze with anti-corrosion features anyway so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

You mean something like this picture? (the thru-hull connector)

I don't have coils for the tranny heat exchanger in the universal radiator, I will be running an external trans cooler.

 

Yeah, exactly like in that picture except that I don't know if the various kinds of plastic ones will take the temperature which is why I mentioned the bronze ones. They come in diameters at and near the size you would need.

 

I used a T-fitting I got from Autozone for $5. It's a T that you splice into your lower radiator hose. It has a fitting on it for the heater hose. Good Luck.

 

I'm in the same quandry right now so I called Griffin. They can weld the return fitting onto the universal radiator for $25 according to the lady that I talked to. If that's the case I'm probably going to get one.

Desert86Roc, what brand did you get and do you like it?

 

Scratch that. I called them back today and the price jumped to $50, plus they get $225 for the same radiator that everybody in the known world sells for $189. I decided to buy it from Summit and have a local welder add the heater hose return fitting. Then I get to fab the top piece.

 

You need to weld the fitting BEFORE the sore is assembled. they use epoxy to attach the core to the tanks. If you try to weld afterwards then it will melt.

I just ended up running my heater core return to the top of the water pump like they used to do it long ago.

 

Hmm. I was under the impression that the radiator was fully welded.

 

Nope, not the Griffins. Only the Be-Cool is fully welded but you pay for that $$$.

 

highhat this is a site i found a stock replacement aluminum radiator 2-1" rows for '82-'92 camaro www.chargedair.com these are also tig welded through-out from what i read hope this helps

 

chargedair is where I originally planned to buy my radiator, until I got email from a few guys that had to wait anywhere between 3 months and a year for a radiator or intercooler that was "in stock". I don't need the radiator in 3 months... I need it now.

Anyway, contacted griffin and this is the response I got:
"Our tanks are welded to the header as you should be able to see. The core is also furnace brazed. The epoxy is a secondary application that cushions the tube to header weld. You do need to be careful when welding on these rads"
The email gave me the name of somebody to talk to, so I'm going to give him a call this morning and see what the specifics are.

 

I talked to a tech at Griffin today. He said that welding that piece on shouldn't pose much of a problem. He said that it needs to be TIG welded with a 4043 rod. He said that as long as you tack it and let it cool, and keep repeating until you've got it welded all the way around that it should be fine. We'll find out soon enough.

 

the be cool is a better choice it will save you money in the long run. i have there exact fit in my 85 and it is sweet every thing were it should be an keeps my 500hp 400 at 180. they claim it will cool upto 1000hp in 3rdgen. check out becool@rogers.com talk to grahm a great guy.

 

I can buy 3 Griffins before the Be-Cool will save me any money.

 

I know this is an old post, but i talked to Griffin today and ordered my radiator, the 31"x19" dual 1" tube version. they are welding on the fitting for me for free, and also their price was $5 cheaper than summit, $184. this price is posted on their website, didn't expect them to weld the fitting for free though, before the epoxy application. The bad news: lead time was "max" 2 weeks, and shipping another 2 days. I'd feel lucky to see it in less than 2 weeks. I'll update when i recieve it.

 

Cool...what about a drain plug?

 

I have one on my lower radiator hose already, but i'm sure they'd do that too if i had asked, probably pretty cheap. They also gave me one of these 17 lb. caps for 10 bucks.

 

desert86roc.....where did you purchase yours from? any updates, hows it perform etc?

 

update-got my radiator 5 days after i ordered it, not too bad for a "custom" order, and quicker than the 2 weeks they estimated.

 

I did .
I don't know what kind of epoxy they're using but it shouldn't be epoxy. It should be a metalic brazing even on aluminum.
For our FSAE car I had to take a single radiator and cut it in half then weld up new end plates for the tanks. On one of the radiators we melted the actual fin with too much heat, the rest went fine. Oh, and the fin that did get melted back got JB-weld and it doesn't leak .
It doesn't take an expert either, you just need to be good at welding aluminum and TAKE YOUR TIME. It would probably help to isolate the heat if you weld on the tank by blowing air across the fins for extra insurance.
Any professional welder should be able to do it if a bunch of college students could.

 

Good to hear. They wanted an arm and a leg when I called back in 2002.

But... as long as we're re-hashing this old thread, I'd like to tell everybody that my radiator is still 100% leak free, and for those who haven't found it by searching already, I wrote a step-by-step tech article for how to install the radiator:

http://iroc.fbody.com/rad/rad.html