jason99
Well-Known Member
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.
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.
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.
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.
The wider tanks means that on the bottom the tank is now close to flush on the lower radiator support.
The larger tanks also mean that the factory transmission lines are too long.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The wider tanks means that on the bottom the tank is now close to flush on the lower radiator support.
The larger tanks also mean that the factory transmission lines are too long.
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.
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.