Radiator Replacement

[tucsonjwt]

The copper/brass Ready Rad radiator which has been in my 83 C20 454 for the past 8 years is leaking from both tanks, so I shopped for a replacement radiator.

It seems that copper/brass radiators are no longer available, even from Ready Rad (now Vista Pro) under the same part number - 433730. It also appears that the numbers "730" are part of the part numbers for all of the different vendors ,so I suspect that Ready Rad, or some other company, is making all of these generic replacement radiators now. I found one copper/brass radiator for $650.

So, even though I don't like the plastic/aluminum choice, I did find a "limited lifetime" warranty option at Autozone on the Spectra B730. The price was $143.99, but they currently have 20% off and free shipping to home until October 17, so the final price was $143.99 (-$28.80) = $115.19 + $9.33 AZ sales tax = $124.52 delivered to my door.

I am hoping that the lifetime warranty works because I suspect that I will be using it a lot. Autozone had the best delivered price and was the only source with a lifetime warranty. Rock Auto and Pep Boys were around the same price but had no lifetime warranty.

I have read a lot about this radiator not fitting properly in the top and bottom rubber cushions and the top bracket, but I hope I can make this one work. I will post installation details and pics when I get the radiator, assuming that I can stuff it in the old beast.

I hope the copper/brass scrap prices are up when I take the old radiator to the scrap yard. I might end up with a net sub $100 radiator replacement and a lifetime warranty too.