caminofx.org

For quite some time, I have been looking for a replacement for the stock 3-row copper/brass radiator that was the largest available for the El Camino with the 305. Even the Diesel 350 used the same radiator.

That has become an issue because I replaced the stock 305 with a 350. Ever since, the engine has run a bit warm in the summer. Now, we're not talking about fear-of-overheating warm, but warmer-than-I'd-like-it warm, staying between 215° and 220° F on hot days rather than the comfortable 200° it should settle at with a 195° thermostat.

Finally, I located this stock-replacement radiator with two rows of 1" tubes. These radiators are made in China and are becoming easy to find on eBay for $200 for less (compared to $700 or more for one with a transmission cooler from Griffin). The part number on this one is 8162AA.

As far as I can tell, everything really is welded, as advertised. The quality appears to be good. It does include a nipple for a heater hose which is not used in the stock El Camino setup. From the factory, this hose goes to the exhaust manifold, but if you want, you can plug the hole on the manifold and run the hose to the radiator instead.

One major issue is that the manufacturer expects you to use the draincock on the left tank, on the back face. This is almost impossible to reach in the car. Do yourself a favor and go to an auto parts store and get a brass draincock. This screws into a hole on the passenger-side tank, under the nipple for the lower hose. Put Teflon tape on the draincock threads before you thread it in and tighten it. You will find that this draincock lines up with a large hole in the bottom of the radiator support in the car, making it very easy to drain the radiator when it comes time to flush the coolant.

The stock radiator cap fits perfectly, even to the point of the arrows lining up with the overflow hose nipple. If you don't know how old your cap is, though, or it has seen a few years, I recommend changing it. The pressure cap is important and the spring and seals in the cap wear out over time. You want a cap between 14 and 16 psi; stock was 15 psi.

I have attached a few pictures of the radiator. It will be a couple of days before I can install it, but I will document the installation process and post some pictures.