Review & Install of Champion Radiator

[LTZ C20]

Hey all, this will be the install post and my personal review of an all aluminum radiator from Champion Radiators, I will also be reviewing the aluminum fan shroud and 14 cooling fans I bought as well. I don't normally do reviews but I thought it would be fun for this little project.

This is what I bought. An all aluminum radiator and fan shroud with dual fans in a kit from LedFoot Racing down in Orange, CA. I also bought a set of new OE material trans cooler lines from 1 of the large parts box stores.







After having my very old brass radiator cored once and 2 leaks fixed twice, I finally pulled the trigger on a new product. My friend has been using this setup in his truck for over 6 months now with no issues.

Here's the old piece of doggy doo-doo lol.







As you can see I had a few on and off leaks, plus the overflow hose port got snapped off once, that was 1 of the leaks, even tho it was fixed, it leaked again.

The cooler lines were about 44 dollars and change, plus shipping totaled 70 dollars and change (includes oversize parts charge). The radiator, shroud, fan kit was on sale, normally 339.xx, I got it for 329.xx, include shipping, CA sales tax, and a 10 dollar discount on shipping from a promo on their website, the total bill for the kit was 392.xx.

The next post will be a review of the cooler lines. Stay tuned.

[LTZ C20]

Part 2:

So the trans cooler lines that I got were supposed to be of OE fit, quality and materials. I found this to be as close to 100% accurate as I think they could get. The quality of the lines was very good, they arrived with no wrong bends or creases and took me all of about 1 minute each to get them oriented in their proper locations in the truck. They also arrived with caps on all of the ends to block out debris and 2 of those very small metal clips that snap onto the lines. I had 1 clip off my old lines and the old clip compared to the new clips were identical. You can see the clips in the above post in the pic of the cooler lines.

The nuts on the lines were all 1/2 inch on the hex and they all tightened up easily and I had no issues of the corners rounding off, I believe this was because the quality of the steel was better than the OE lines. My home made brake & fuel line wrench probably helped considerably also over just an open end wrench.

Overall I'm very happy with the cooler lines. They were the easy part haha. It all gets really good from here on in with the radiator.

[Chuck Step-a-side]

On my 1984 Chevy Stepside with 350 motor, I just upgraded from a stock single core radiator to a Champion 2 core radiator over the Labor Day weekend and this what I had to deal with.

I have purchased a new Champion 2 core radiator, water pump, flex fan, 180 degree thermostat and all new hoses. Yes, all old school cooling.

To properly go from a single core to a 2, 3 or 4 core you will need longer upper and lower rubber radiator mounts and longer upper metal  radiator brackets . I have used the original single core brackets even though it's been a little short, but with a 4 core rubber radiator mounts and a longer bracket to shroud bolts and 3/8" spacers help the radiator from hitting or rubbing the inner radiator support brace bolts. The metal upper brackets were modified and the 4 core rubber mounts needed to be cut with a blade to lay flat on the upper and lower Champion radiator.

The original plastic fan shroud had to be modified to fit flush. The upper radiator hose connection to the radiator fit tight and I used silicone grease to make it fit.

With engine compartment painting and the extra modifications it took the whole weekend. It turned out nice with no LEAKS and the engine will now keep at 170 degrees. Chuck.

[LTZ C20]

Yea that will be coming up next is a full review of the the radiator and it's install. I originally had a 3 or 4 core radiator due to my truck being a Camper Special. This new radiator is a 2 core but the cores are wider than originals and this will cool up to 450 horsepower, which I am not at so I had no need to go up to another 3 or 4 core because that was for 700 and something and over 1,000 horsepower engines. Definitely didn't need that.

[LTZ C20]

Part 3:

First off, I will cover the radiator features. It's SOLID aluminum and really light weight. I think over all the quality of unit is very good. Just like the cooler lines, all of the holes came with plugs and the shroud came with that plastic film to protect the finish side like what comes on stainless steel appliances.





Pretty nice looking unit I think.



That has got to be the beefiest radiator cap/ fill spout I have ever seen.




Now a few things I would like to point out that I found required extra attention.

1- The spicket for the coolant over flow hose to the surge tank was 2 small for the original size hose, really not that big a deal but I have to get a smaller hose.

2- The upper radiator hose inlet spicket was about 1/8 inch to big in overall diameter for the stock size radiator hose. I had to stretch it just a bit to fit it on, not enough to hurt the hose thankfully. I also had to get a bigger clamp for there also because of the large port size. I use a lot of the spring steel constant pressure clamps, I really like them and they work great.

3- the overall height of the radiator is 1 inch shorter than the stock radiator, which means I had to put 2 pieces of 1 inch square tubing under each side to get it to fit right with the upper radiator mount plate.



I tried to use bolts to attach the blocks to the core support, then put the isolator pads in the top with a locating hole for isolators but that idea didn't pan out so pressure and weight is holding them in place, this is just fine over, because it oesnt move when you give the radiator a good shake when everything is fully installled.

Also, I found this a bit strange, this is the oddest looking internal trans fluid cooler I have ever seen.





A double walled aluminum tube. Fluid flows thru the double walls and the tube allows coolant to flow straight thru the middle of the cooler. Kind of a different method but seems affective.

[LTZ C20]

Part 4:

Ok, I think I covered it all with the radiator. Now to cover the shroud and fans.

The shroud was nice, fit was also perfect, I just had to tweak a few spots with a few taps from a rubber mallet to make it fit just right. I did have to set the fans on the shroud, center them up so they were square and level and equal on all side, then mark the location for the holes for the fans mounts. Then I had to drill 8 small holes for the mounting bolts.

I had to provide my own mounting hardware for the fans to shroud and shroud to radiator. For the fans I used my old valve cover bolts, they were the perfect length and size, I also had the right sized lock washers and nuts. I put a small dab of Loctite on them so that nothing will rattle loose and fall off or get sucked into the fan. That would be bad.

For the shroud to radiator, I fitted the shroud on, then marked the top and bottom braces, drilled 4 holes, 1 in each corner and installed with some decent corse thread sheet metal screws that are actually factory bolts used on some GM stuff like the screws that hold torque converter dust covers on. The shroud had 4 pre-drilled holes, 1 in each corner for mounting to the radiator, these are what I used as my guide. All other holes I needed had to be drilled myself.

Now pictures!







As you can see the shroud has a nice finish on its exposed side.

[LTZ C20]

Part 5:

The electrical plugs for the my new fans and my old fans are exactly the same pieces. Probably made by the same company or from the same supplier. The problem here tho is, with both the old and new, the fans them selves come with the female plug with male spade terminals, the wiring harness however does not come with a matching male plug with female terminals. It's just female terminals with some heat shrink on the end.

Fan plug on left, harness terminals on right. Also, the plug is cut off the new fans.



I believe the problem here is that this connection is not well protected from dirt and water or there is no positive tension to ensure over a long period the terminals never shake loose (tho I never had that problem).

So I cut the new plugs off the new fan wires, cut the terminals off my harness and then I used the flat 4 way plug for a pick up truck and utility trailer wiring harness. I happened to have both the truck and trailer side harnesses in my garage in brand new packaging. The wire size was good. Wired in these connectors, put dielectric grease on each terminal and even tho they are slip together connectors, the terminal tension is very tight so they plug together good and I'm not worried about them comming loose. This not a factory type harness replacement but a vast improvement over the other version and offers much better water and dirt protection.