86CamaroDan

I purchased a 3 core, champion radiator summer of 2013. Installed it, it was a tight fit, but it fit. Worked great, cooled way better than the piece of junk that was in there before.
3 months in i noticed a drip, and 5 months later when i put it in winter storage i went to warranty it. Called the Brent(the ebay vender) and paid to have it shipped back. It took a week or two but i didnt care, it was winter.
He sent me another one, i put it in place and the top mount was over an inch away from the rad support. Called him, he said that doesnt usually happen, take a measurement and get back to him. Shure enough, it was 1 7/8" too high,
I called him, left a message, got no return call. Called him 3-4 days later, left a message, no return. 9 days later, i called, got no awnser, and called corprate to see if he was on vacation, or just straight out ignoring me. 30 min later he contacted me and sent a call tag for the deffective rad.
I waited for the radiator to get there in a weeks time (roughly) and waited, waited, waited, 3 weeks later he finally sent the replacement, i went to put it in, and its 1 1/2" too tall, I called him, and i still havent heard from him.
BAD PRODUCT.
Vender now co operating with me on a second return this month.

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

You can buy a factory 3 row, my 84 h.o. had one, cooled really good even in summer with a/c on. Think to adapt to another year just put your old tanks on. It was a staggered 3 row. Not sure what other years had it though.

joshc

iTrader: (1)

Mines been good so far, installed last summer, cools well, no leaks.
Did have to trim the lower insulators down a lot and use rubber strips on the top. Not sure what you mean by the top mount is over an inch from the support. They are a saddle mount on the inner edge of the tanks. The radiator leans back from the rad support a little by design. Do you have pics of the issue?

ringo234

I've had mine for 3 years now, with no problems. I think they must have changed the design since I got mine, cause I have seen new ones going in the year camaro that didn't fit as well as mine.

Keoman

iTrader: (3)

If they changed it, that would make sense because as others have said, I have owned mine for years now without any problems what so ever. Been a fantastic radiator actually.
Sorry to hear about your troubles.

formula forever

I've read on here and also other boards it seems like for every 10 members say its great now problem 3 reports problems. I'm almost ready to pull the trigger and buy this radiator but I keep hearing such mixed reviews

articwhiteZ

iTrader: (56)

I've had one for 2 years. But I have not installed it. I had to change a few fittings over to AN fittings. And I had to tap and plug with a 1/8"pipe plug that temp sending bung. They put in them..but I tested all the cooler line set up and it all fits fine...even the over flow swaped right over to AN Fittings...

If my aluminum guy.can I'll have him swap upper and lower radiator hoses to AN fittings also
also the tanks buff out to a nice chrome looking finish so that's a plus..

Chuck84TA

Also close to pulling the trigger...but this development that seems to suggest that these radiators don't even fit that well anymore has me concerned.

project89

iTrader: (1)

i didnt get an fbody unit , i got an nova unit iirc in my iroc fits great , though i did have to tweake the trans cooler lines a bit

86CamaroDan

The core section is too high. The sadle mount isn't able to fit, and yes I know how the radiator fits. I just took the old champion out!

Luckily the vender seems to be a lot more co operative this time around, and hes gonna have the factory who ships it measure the tanks before they send another.

B4CHawk

This was my experience as well. Core was too tall and too far away from the actual core support; I ended up with a large GM replacement that so far has served me well.

kmcn47

nott o threadjack but do al the 84 ho cars have that radiator? ive noticed even in the dead of summer sitting in the drive thru my car never ever overheats.

86CamaroDan

Radiator was supposed to be sent out Tuesday after fronting them more of my money, still no paperwork started at the factory or shipping info.
slow slow slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

Dont know if you have checked the other thread you mention his name.
Understand please I dont want you to think that I am questioning you in the rad you ordered.
Just been curious if they sent you rad # CC951?
Most of us had gone thru
www.ledfootracing.com
and dealt with Jeff.
Sorry you are having such a freakin bad time!

86CamaroDan

1 week later, 3 days until deadline that their aware of.
Called another person at champion distribution center and he said they had measured the core height and their all the same. he didn't call me last week to let me know. so inother words all their stock is 18 1/2" tall (Spec is 17 1/2") and correct or my radiator support is just short right from the factory

joshc

iTrader: (1)

Are your lower mounts trimmed way down? I took the stock upper rubber mounts right out and just put some rubber pieces I trimmed out of a tire tube.
Even the stock rad sits higher than the rad support. That's why the upper plastic shroud/rad mount is raised up above the support.
I cant get an exact measurement on mine since its in the car with the shroud bolted it in, but I took a measuring tape to it and it looks like its right around the 18 1/2" your talking about.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Seems like some people have problems, some don't.

My machinest always told me, if they sell it in a box, it comes f'd up.

Mine needed a hammer and a sawzall to install 2 years ago, and works fine on a 600+hp 412" sbc. If radiator fitment defeated me I'd be too embarrassed to post about it

-- Joe

86CamaroDan

Even if I took the lower and upper mounts out, I still couldn't fit it.

rusty vango

another reason to be wary of "feebay". you truly cannot ever know just what youre gonna get from their "vendors"

86CamaroDan

Talked to Jeff at the distribution center today. Apparently theres white box's and black boxes and the black box is 1/2" shorter so hes sending me one of them. Still no word back from brent. Just got shipping confirmation wich means it took 8 whole days to get a radiator in the mail....

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

I owned a radiator that you have now. It installed fine several years ago but it later developed a leak that was not in a place that would allow welding. I ordered the same radiator and this new radiator was too big! I returned it for a 2 row hoping the 2 row was shorter, nope. I am able to use it but it is obvious when installing that it is on the fringe of being too tall for the stock radiator shroud.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Even my Becool rad needed trimming on the mounts for the rubber isolators.So regardless of price, there is always fitment issues.

Do the mounts fit within the isolators? Thinking they may be sitting on top of them.

86CamaroDan

The rubber bushings fit in the plastic mount bracket I have just fine. If I take the bushings out of the bracket, I still cant fit the bracket over the radiator, and bolt it in. Its too tall

86CamaroDan

How long ago was this? they told me its very uncommon that I have one that's built wrong, nevermind two.

rusty vango

so youre saying that even if you buy a expensive radiator that is "supposed" to be designed for our cars. it wont fit without monkeying with it ??!! cutting and trimming and all that rot? I would think that "made for our cars" would mean exactly that.at that rate just having the local radiator shop make one from scratch,would be the better choice. maybe im missing the point here,but nothing pisses me off faster than buying something and having to just make it work

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Yes, thats what im saying.It wasnt anything major, rather minor actually.Just glad i didnt pay anywhere near retail for that unit.Otherwise, i would've bitched & moaned about it.

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

It's been three or four years now that I bought the previous radiator that fit.

rusty vango

good to know I WAS considering one of those as the stock rad. plastic tanks will pop sooner than later. but now I may just have the rad shop make me some aluminum side tanks for the one I got and call it done.nothing worse than buying parts that don't fit correctly the FIRST time

86CamaroDan

Correction. Nothing worse than buying parts that don't fit correctly the first and second time. lmao

rusty vango

point taken. one of my biggest pet peeves is hearing "made for your car " only to find that whomever said that was taking "artistic license" to a whole different level!!!!

86CamaroDan

UPDATE
Got the 3rd radiator today. The core height is correct finally! I went to install it and now the side tank thickness is too much and wont fit in the saddle correctly. Returning both and buying a BeCool.
Completely done with champion

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Hopefully you will have better luck with their product.

86CamaroDan

Absolutely ****ing livid right now. I had the Champion company send me a radiator asap the 2nd to last time I dealt with them. BRENT said deposit 169.99 and it will be refunded when they get both defective ones back(that way I don't have to wait two weeks for them to send me a new one). FedEx messed up the first order two weeks ago which was returned(They took my becool instead and it was damaged at the lower neck when I finally got it) and the other one was taken a few days later. Brent at champion sends me a email today asking WHAT I DID TO THE RADIATOR and sends me a picture of it with it damaged like somebody ****ing kicked it. NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO PISSED OFF IN MY LIFE. I bet hes gonna try and con me out of my refund too! You watch!

86CamaroDan

Alice89

iTrader: (6)

Wow! You have had some major issues! Your not the only one having problems with them; Another guy on the "aftermarket Vender" forum is having similar issues.

It's sad because I have a champion radiator and have had no issues with mine. A design change or maybe even a poor change in management must have happened in the last few years with them.

I really hope this brent guy doesn't screw you. It's looks like it might have gotten damaged in shipping.

On the other hand I've had no issues with Becool radiators as of yet. But then again I didn't have any issues with champion either.

I hope your experience with becool is better than what you have had to go through with champion!

Good luck with your build.

86CamaroDan

In champions defense, their customer support from the facility is awesome. Jeff and jourdan are upstanding guys and I don't blame them one bit for the radiator not fitting. Really reasonable call back time <24 hours. The part that burns my *** about this whole thins is Brent, the ebay vender never returning my calls. Dude, your product doesn't fit. I get it, its ok. The least you can do is call me back and say sorry, ill give you a refund. Instead he ignores me, and then when he gets the product back says im the one who damaged it?!?!?! AND HE DOESNT CALL ME - HE EMAILS ME

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Mine fits fine. I can measure my radiator tomorrow and verify the actual size.

-- Joe

Alice89

iTrader: (6)

So does mine. I'm guessing a change in design must have taken place since we purchased ours.

I would be annoyed too. So is the guy brent going to refund you; or have you found out yet?

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

I suspect that part of the reason for the inconsistent reviews on this radiator hinge upon the fact that on TGO you have people with wildly different levels of mechanical ability and expectations about the fit of aftermarket parts.

If you want a radiator to fit exactly like stock, get a stock radiator. The way a better radiator primarily improves cooling is by increasing capacity, in other words, it has to be bigger in some way. So it's not going to fit just like the dinky stock radiator.

It's sort of like installing a set of headers and then complaining that they don't fit exactly like the stock manifolds, or the header bolts get loose (omg) well, duh, it's not a factory style part.

I'm of course not talking about any drastic design or quality control issues on champion's part. I have no doubt that my Champion radiator in the hands of some of the dissatisfied customers here would elicit the same exact response from them - that it doesn't fit, it's crap, etc.

As far as I am concerned, this radiator is one of the best deals in thirdgens. Yes you do need to remove the rubber mounts up top and trim the ones on the bottom (it's a much bigger radiator) but once you've done that, it fits like a glove and does a fantastic job of shedding heat. I put mine through the paces here on tight road courses or mountain runs in the middle of the Mediterranean in the dead of summer (I.E. it is hot as hell) and it keeps my temps under control with a reasonable amount of abuse.

IIRC mine came in a white box about 3 years ago. IIRC I dealt with Jeff at leadfoot racing and it was A+ service. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Totally agree. Guys who think they need a race radiator for their stock 160hp car gripe and complain when they had to work it to get it installed. Those people should get a stock radiator.

The people with the mechanical abilities to build a 10 second car are not the ones complaining. I wonder why that is?

Like I said earlier, if I had been defeated by a radiator installation I'd be too embarrassed to post a thread about it.

As you can see in the attached pictures, I had to do a little trimming to make it fit. Think of it as "making the car lighter".

You should see what I had to do to get the freaking intercooler to fit!

-- Joe

86CamaroDan

I have the dimensions thanks, and the two that I sent back are just flat out too big. I haven't heard from brent. Jourdan at champion HQ said that their going to lable it not my fault based on the video I sent them.


As far as my mechanical aptitude ive been a mechanic for 8 years, so I kinda have a idea whats going on.
Mount bushings or not it does not fit, Its bigger than their OWN specifications, the last 3 were different dimensions (this shows inconsistency in the build of these radiators) and my Becool fit just fine. A little modifications is fine with me, but if I have to cut out my whole radiator support to fit a radiator in, forget it. You can keep your piece of junk and refund me my money, ill spend it on something that fits!

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

I usually agree with Pablo and Anesthes but this time I don't. Build consistency on these appears horrible. My radiator from three years ago fit fine with both upper and lower mounting bushings but it's replacement barely fits without the rubber pieces at all. It still is a good deal for an aluminum radiator but the advertisement should indicate that trimming and fitment may be needed.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

That shouldn't really be possible. The end tanks and cores should be mass produced and on the shelf. All they are doing is welding them, and putting the filler and hose nipples in place.

If the actual tank size or core size is differing between units that would tell me the error is selecting the wrong cores for the application. That would be odd even in the worst manufacturing facility.

When I had the shop in Lawrence the guys next door had a radiator shop for some 30 years. These things are pretty basic.

-- Joe

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

When the ad says...

They come with a Limited Lifetime Warranty and are made to install with limited or no modifications using your original mounts and fan shroud giving you the confidence you desire.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-1992-PO...vxp=mtrhttp://

...then you should not have to have extraordinary fabrication skills to make them fit.

This buyer is not the only one on this forum having problems with aluminum radiators that claim to fit, and don't.

It's simple. As a seller, don't lie. If it doesn't fit without significant, well defined mods, say so. If you've never tested the fit for a given vehicle and don't know if it's a bolt-in (or the level of mods needed), say so. But DO NOT make a generic core, claim it will fit everything under the sun, and play dumb when it doesn't fit.

Most everyone on these forums has done some sort of modification or another. We've all run into the need to message parts to make them work. But sellers should be honest in their descriptions.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

As I said previously, it took 15 minutes to 'make it fit'.

I bought mine 8/3/2012, and paid $209 shipped to my door. I'll go measure it in a bit and see if it's what the ad says.

-- Joe

Pablo

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't call removing two rubber strips and trimming two other ones "significant" modifications. But like I said, we all have different skill levels here. I can understand that for someone with rudimentary mechanical skills, this sort of thing can be a show stopper.
I would say "limited" is a good word for the amount of modifications I had to do. Actually, I would say minor. One man's minor is another man's major though.

Again, ignoring any drastic changes in size. I'm speaking about the one I got only.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

And that seems to be exactly what he's describing in his first post. His first Champion fit, the second one is too large. It doesn't come across to me, by that description, as an issue of him not knowing which end of a wrench to hold.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

He sated that the replacements were "1 1/2 and 1 7/8" too tall. I don't seem to remember him providing the actual measurements, where they were "too tall" or showing a picture of the radiator with measuring tape in place.

Maybe he got the wrong size radiator. Or maybe, and more likely, that he's used to R&R work like most mechanics.

All I know is, if installing a radiator defeated the mechanic, he should sell the car and buy something with a bumper to bumper warranty.

-- Joe

gsmarcano

clear as mud ya'll, I guess I'll wing it,..................

86CamaroDan

I would expect if you told me a direct fit radiator was going to directly fit, that well. Maybe it would fit. Some of us are running AC and cant just jimmy rig it in there, Nor do i feel like hacking appart my radiator support to make some part that should fit without a problem, fit. I cant seem to find any of the other pictures at this time, so if you dont belive me, go ahead and buy one. Make it from brent too so you can have the same wonderful return experiance as I.
If i remember correct the spec brent gave me over the phone for CORE HEIGHT is 17.25"