Hi folks, long time since I have posted on here. My 63 270 Dart convertible with a 225 has been working pretty well over the past 4 years or so but I am just not driving it too often unfortunately.

I am still trying to get the charging voltage appropriate but that's another story for later.

I started her up a few months ago and took her for a short ride and things were great. Fired her up several weeks ago and it started puking out coolant from the radiator overflow and the water inlet with the cap off. This very quickly sent the electric temp gauge steadily over a few minutes up to 200-210 so I shut it down. I removed the thermostat and fired it up, same thing. I replaced the thermostat with a new 180 and same thing. I did notice that the heat across the radiator wasn't even. I kinda figured the radiator was clogged so I pulled it and ran water through it and found that the in/out side side (Left from the front) of the radiator was cold from the cold water but the right did not seem as cold.

A little background, the original 63 radiator was clogged bad, so I replaced it with a 72 dart radiator only to find that the core sat too far into the engine compartment and the fan sat only a very small distance from the radiator. Getting to the bolts on the fan was impossible without removing the radiator so I removed the stock fan and installed an electric fan 16" or so with mixed results.

I took the radiator to a local repair center only to find that the owner had died and the business was closed. I went to the other "radiator" places in the area only to be told that there were no other places in the area to get the radiator repaired, but there was one up north from seattle area. I was told it was too expensive anymore to get them repaired and that they were now mostly disposable.

I contacted the place in Lake Stevens, told him what was happening and he just said replace it.

So I've told you all of that to get to this and I know that my question can be a highly energized one from the posts I've read here and forabodies, but I remember back awhile reading about the Champion radiators and I am looking at one and thought I'd just go for it, but I thought better and decided to post for advice here. The one I was looking at is CC63DT Radiator.

The girl has a 225 that has been rebuilt, it was bored 60 thou and a mild cam, rebuilt milled head and the block also. I installed a super six setup on it also. I reset the timing but it still overheated but I wont talk about the timing being too high because I missed the 1 on the distributor cap but ....

So does anyone have a thought on this thing for me? I know there are a ton of posts regarding the radiator so beg my pardon and be gentl please, the smoke here is making me crazy. %^>

Cheers and stay safe friends.

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Psychics will soon lead dogs to your body!

1963 Dodge Dart 270 convertible

Couple of thoughts:

Check the radiator cap and make sure it is pressurizing the system. Top hose should be hot and firm after thermostat opens.

Check to see that the electric fan is getting full voltage when running.

Consider back flushing your present radiator, with garden hose, and compressed air.

Report back with any new observations.

I purchased a champion radiator (technically an American Eagle) for my slant 6 but haven't gotten it installed yet. Its going to take a bit of work because i'm modding a early mustang radiator to fit into a 1916 Dodge Brothers grill for my slant roadster project. I got the 2 rows of 1" tubes which was made by Champions company American Eagle it looks to be great quality for the price. The Champion brand radiator only had 2 rows of tubes .75".

Sorry I don't have any on the road experience with the radiator yet but I would definitely suggest putting a stainless steel screen over the inlet to your radiator to help prevent more gunk from clogging your next radiator. They also make inline coolant filters too which are another great option. When you go to change your radiator I would flush your block as best as you can. I ran mine with a garden hose in the water pump inlet. I also bout some adapters so I could hook the garden hose up to the drain hole (after i dug all the crud i could out with a screw driver) Mine was so clogged the drain on the back passenger side of the block wouldn't even flow. Best of luck!

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have less than 1k miles on the car now. The engine was torn completely torn down, block and head tanked. The radiator was an apparent rebuild when installed. New thermostat and radiator cap were installed.

My biggest concern is the speed in which it starts throwing out coolant. it takes only minutes and its only in the 70s here. I can remember it taking much longer to warm up in the past.

I did run water through the radiator and it does pass through drain hole, and inlet/outlet depending on the direction. I am trying to get my girl to a shop for a flush and drain but it gets hot too quickly to even get far at all. The fan has an 180︒ thermostat but in the past it never got hot enough to come on until I was going uphill or had to stop at a stop light. I will run water again through the radiator and see if I can determine temp differences. I thought about reinstalling it and firing it up and checking heat differences it but Ill try cold water first to avoid unnecessary wear and tear and work.

Ill also run water through the block again and check for any apparent blockage, but that seems to be a subkective test other than flow.

Fan, when running is relay operated right off the battery distribution point.

The drain plug hole is free and drains well, Ill see about finding a secure fitting to connect the hose for best flow and let yall know whats going on.

Take care yall and stay safe and stay healthy,

Cheers

John

"I had my patience tested today, it came back negative."

"If a drummer comes out of retirement, are there repercussions?"

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Psychics will soon lead dogs to your body!

1963 Dodge Dart 270 convertible

Read this (link is to Chapter 1; advance to each next chapter at the bottom of the page).

Info on the radiator featured in the radiators chapter is here.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

You might also look at these guys not cheap but a copper brass radiator http://www.usradiator.com/dodge-dart-19 ... iator.html

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63 Plymouth Valiant Wagon

If everything was hot tanked, and the radiator was rebuild, with a radiator cap... AND the radiator is plugged all ready, then I have to ask if the water that was used is of high mineral content.. Cant believe that such would happen quickly, or all of a sudden.. Good news is that such would probably be able to be cleaned with a citric acid flush.

As for the cooling system getting pressurized quickly, I wonder if the issue could be a head gasket? Ive no experience in that regard, other than seeing a vehicle put so much air into the cooling system that the recovery tank appears to be boiling the coolant.. Others may have better insight on how to observe and continue to troubleshoot these symptoms.

I am gonna re-read Dan's links for fun and enlightenment.

Could they be hot dogs, plz? And could they, like, please hurry it up? I'm hungry but I've been breathing crapped-up air (wildfire smoke) and don't feel like leaving the one room with A/C.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I'm a little late to this party, but there is a place in Vancouver (WA not BC) that will fix or recore a radiator. They recored the one in my 66. I haven't put it back in yet, because I put in a Champion that works great. When I swap in the new motor and trans, I will swap radiators back to the stocker but that's just for looks.

I did a how-to on my radiator swap, this link will take you there.

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/th ... ap.359779/

I'm a little late, also, but what the heck, I'll ask...

Does anyone know what's going on with the recore material? I was told a similar story a month ago, that the brass/copper stuff has become so expensive that even though the radiator shops would love to fix old ones, no one can afford $500-600 to do it. Except for the guys who are running concours museum-quality original stuff (Mercedes, etc.) and really need original (or date-coded?) top tanks -- they cough up the $ regardless of cost.

I've even considered attempting it myself, just for fun. Spare time, if I can find some. I've got a couple of radiators that might be really sweet except a water leak has disintegrated the core. Darn, I wish I had taken them in for repair years ago. A gentle flame and a little vacuum solder sucker ought to break everything loose... or am I crazy?

But where do you purchase recore material?

- Erik

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Lots of early Valiants and Barracudas have crossed my path.
Also a handful of other toys for variety now and then.

I've rodded out a clogged radiator (too much stop leak)....

The tanks are easy to remove and put back on.

If you only have a few leaky tubes, you could just solder fill the tube at each end of the core............

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

The tubes don't leak at all. Near the bottom, the fins are corroded into non-existence. So... it's a question of efficient thermal transfer, not leakage.

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Lots of early Valiants and Barracudas have crossed my path.
Also a handful of other toys for variety now and then.

Hope this isn't a threadjack, since I don't have a suggestion OP for your troubles sorry. However, it is related:

Does anyone have a 63 Valiant radiator handy to take a set of dimensions for me? I contacted Randy Pettey (thanks Dan!) about making an aluminum replacement for my original and it turns out the one I removed is not the original at all. Randy looked at the pics and dims I provided and he called me to say it is most likely out of a GM due to a very hard to see embossing he found near the inlet which reads "Harrison". This is not a Mopar part. Anyway, I need to provide him with the dimensions of the original which I don't have. I did a search and found the following when discussing a 63 Dart:

the dimensions for the radiator are 17" across, 21.5" tall, the mounting flange holes are 21.5" CL to CL. The top tank is 4" wide while the radiator itself is 1.5" wide.
The upper hose connects on the right side (passenger side) and the lower is also on the right side (passenger side). The lower pipe comes out and up to the passenger side. The bottom pipe is about 1.5" from the right side of the radiator (passenger side).
The transmission lines are on the bottom and are 10" apart.


Just want to verify this is correct before I relay it to Randy and have him start the fabrication process. I need overall dimensions across with and without the brackets, height and width (tanks and core). Thanks all!