Radiator

[Jgard]

I am ready to buy my radiator and do not want to have cooling problems. I was looking at the polished radiator speedway sells that you do not have to run a grill shell with but it's only a two row. I will be running a 355 that's pretty stout bigger cam 500 hp and higher Compression. Are you guys running two, three, or four row row cores and what would you recommend to make sure I don't have cooling issues. I really would like to have a polished radiator I do not have to run a grill she'll with.

Thanks

[Bill Cleveland]

As with a lot of the things we use in our hot rods, radiators have gone high-tech over the last several years. It's not a simple choice between two or three rows. In fact, today's aluminum 2-row radiators probably cool better than yesterday's copper/brass 4-rows, because of the size & spacing of the cooling tubes, and the heat transfer points between the tubes and the fins. I'll bet someone has a very similar engine combination to yours, and will offer advice on what works for them. I personally have an old-style 3-row copper/brass radiator for my mildly hopped-up Chevy 350 (Vortec 64cc heads, mild cam, flat-top pistons) and it does the job.

[Orville Duncan]

I have a mild 350 with the 64cc Vortec heads and pistons. I have a two row Aluminum radiator and the engine would not heat up passed 125 degrees with no fan. I put in a 180 degree thermostat and an electric fan to turn on at 195. The fan only comes on in heavy stop and go traffic on a hot day and have never had a problem in ambient temps of 100+. No problems sense 2008.

[Jgard]

Thanks for the replies I think I'll give it a try.