74-78 Cold Case Radiator Install

jason99

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Back in the summer when I first got my small block Monaco it turned out the radiator was trash. There were no after market units available that fit and I also had a difficult time locating a unit that was suitable for recoring and someone to recore it. I posted in the Cold Case forum and they agreed to take mine and see if they could make a drop in model. I received it a few weeks ago and now have it installed. Here are some pictures of the install. Full disclosure they gave me a discount on this unit in exchange for reporting back about the fitment.

Here is the product page:
74-78 Mopar C-Body 28" Aluminum Performance Radiator | Cold Case Radiators | Performance Aluminum Radiators

New unit out of the box behind the car.
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The tanks on this are 3in, top and bottom and it has two large core tubes running through the fins. The tanks are 0.5 to 1in thicker than stock units.
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A small tweak was required on the bottom bolt channel, but I think this may be because of a minor tweak in my car's radiator support. Regardless it is maybe 1/8in and took all of 30s with the dremel.
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After I removed the clipped in rubber mat at the bottom of the radiator support (not pictured) it dropped right in. The fan shroud bolted up properly with zero clearance issues.
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The wider tanks means that on the bottom the tank is now close to flush on the lower radiator support.
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The larger tanks also mean that the factory transmission lines are too long.
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I was able to make a small bend adjustment to the passenger side line and that was no longer an issue. On the driver side I cut off a length of line and reflared it. If I ever have to flare another line for anything, I'm saving until I can afford a good line tool instead of this loaner from the parts store. Regardless I think it got the job done well enough for a transmission cooling line.
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Unfortunately I don't have any before numbers for temperatures because the old one didn't function and I won't have any new readings until I have the car roadworthy and get a temp gauge installed, but I'll update at some point in the future if I ever get that far.
 
Did they offer an electric fan option?
not yet. Forums members have been very critical of radiators that don't allow the reinstallation of the OEM fan shroud. So we concentrated on making sure the OEM shroud fit first. Soon we will have a dual 12" fan kit option as well.
 
not yet. Forums members have been very critical of radiators that don't allow the reinstallation of the OEM fan shroud. So we concentrated on making sure the OEM shroud fit first. Soon we will have a dual 12" fan kit option as well.
not yet. Forums members have been very critical of radiators that don't allow the reinstallation of the OEM fan shroud. So we concentrated on making sure the OEM shroud fit first. Soon we will have a dual 12" fan kit option as well.
That was for a 74-78 small block C-body.
You have a 74-78 big block C-body yet?
 
That was for a 74-78 small block C-body.
You have a 74-78 big block C-body yet?

Stan, I believe the 74 Formal and possibly the 75 Formal has the bottom hose on the drivers side and the 76-78 has the lower hose on the passenger side. I have no idea what the 74-75 Imps went driver or passenger side with the lower hose.

I have a Mopar Performance Hemi aluminum water pump housing and pump on my NYB and the lower hose on my aluminum water pump is also on the driver side.
 
BTW, my aluminum radiator is 26" and will bolt in to B & E body but is 1.5" short on each side to fit on a C body. I had to fab aluminum mounting brackets out of 1/4" aluminum bar stock.
 
That was for a 74-78 small block C-body.
You have a 74-78 big block C-body yet?
No, we didn't know there was a difference. Anyone know what is different bout the BB? If someone can get us an original to borrow we can get it done.
 
I found pictures on the Cold Case website last night. If that might help answer any questions.

CBODY67
 
Just that the top hose is on the passenger's side.
Appears the mtg flange, mounts, cooler line locations are the same but fact check it.
Can anyone confirm this? It would be nice if all we had to do was move the top hose. :)
Also, if it is just the top hose, then it would be fairly easy to change water neck and get a new upper hose and use the radiator we've already made.
 
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I'm trying to get my hands on an original 74 big block radiator, I'll let you know if I can scrounge one. In the meantime, I'll cruise by my storage and take some measurements and pictures of the aftermarket cheapo in my 74 Fury III big block (400cid).
 
Here's a couple pictures of the aftermarket unit in my 74 Fury 400cid. The mounting location and shroud looks identical to my 74 Monaco 360, but I'd need to get this into my garage and drop in one of the factory small block radiators just to double check. The lower tank hose is on the passenger side as is the upper tank hose.

The aftermarket unit is labeled CU506 which is a Spectra unit. A couple notes about this one.
-The tank depth is rather anemic at less than 2in, which is narrower than any of the factor units.
-It doesn't come through great in the pictures, but this is sort of a radiator core tacked into a mounting bracket rather than a complete, solid unit.
-The fit may be questionable as the previous owner cut some portions away from the shround, I assume to deal with fan interference created by this radiator.
-The transmission ports are 14in apart, which is what I believe to be the spacing on 1976 and after units vs 12 on 74-75s.
-There is a CCEGR port on both sides of the upper tank and one just has a removable plug.

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