For custom e-fan shroud purposes, are 240 radiators all the same?

When building Big Red Car, the local radiator specialist happened to have a re-cored copper-end-tank radiator ... I've been lead to believe the plastic cores aren't as long-lived, so was happy with that bit of luck.

I can find exact dimensions online for a plastic end-tanks radiator, a guy's I know on another forum is happy to draw a shroud design up for me so I can get it made, and I can't really measure the radiator properly 'til I can get my head under the car (which due to Christmas Stuff is going to be a few days).
Plus I'm impatient.

So for shroudage purposes, are the dimensions the same? If I get the guy to draw it up based on the plastic end-tanks versions available online, the dimensions will be close enough that a shroud will fit, won't they?
[I expect to need a little sealing/packing/high-temp-siliconing around some of the edges regardless]

Radiator and shroud size is similar, but the lower mounting is different. I think it's the old copper ones that have a long ledge along the bottom, and plastic tank ones have two narrow tabs. It may be the other way around, but there are slight differences.

Ah, cool, ta ... will wait 'til I've had the time to fully check then!

ghettobrick said:

Radiator and shroud size is similar, but the lower mounting is different. I think it's the old copper ones that have a long ledge along the bottom, and plastic tank ones have two narrow tabs. It may be the other way around, but there are slight differences.

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My "old copper one" had the two narrow rubber "tabs" on each end....

I found that copper cored radiators don't get the heat out like a good aluminum core.
Tried 'High efficiency cores' in copper with the 'Tropical' fan clutch... Was always just OK.

Replaced with the aluminum radiator and never looked back.

JohnLane said:

Replaced with the aluminum radiator and never looked back.

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A factory aluminum or aftermarket aluminum?

Aftermarket in the rallycar. 'Griffin' purchased from Summit. Ordered by dimension and had the welder move inlet and outlet. Well worth the effort. Would do the same for a road car that uses A/C.

JohnLane said:

Aftermarket in the rallycar. 'Griffin' purchased from Summit. Ordered by dimension and had the welder move inlet and outlet. Well worth the effort. Would do the same for a road car that uses A/C.

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Did you utilize the full width ala diesel radiator? Do you remember the part number on the rad?

Used in the rallycar... V-6 radiator..... Same dimensions as diesel with different hose locations.

Sorry... Invoice for that radiator went with the car.

Get out the tape measure. Summit lists radiators by dimensions.

JohnLane said:

I found that copper cored radiators don't get the heat out like a good aluminum core.

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Mine's copper end-tanks, not copper core. It was a reco'd off-the-shelf copper one probably out of a 70's car, with a new aluminium core.
I'm pretty sure all the dimensions & the location of mounting-points etc are the same as for the original radiator it was made from, not from the newer plastic end-tank design.

TurboBricks, the mailing list which preceded the forum , told me that it would be more than adequate for a 4cyl+T, and there's no room for the 6cyl radiator due to a 740T engine-oil cooler mounted next to the radiator.

Forg said:

Mine's copper end-tanks, not copper core. It was a reco'd off-the-shelf copper one probably out of a 70's car, with a new aluminium core.
I'm pretty sure all the dimensions & the location of mounting-points etc are the same as for the original radiator it was made from, not from the newer plastic end-tank design.

TurboBricks, the mailing list which preceded the forum , told me that it would be adequate for a 4cyl+T, and there's no room for the 6cyl radiator due to a 740T engine-oil cooler mounted next to the radiator.

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Hmmmm.... I've not seen copper end tanks with aluminum core.

The rad in the rallycar had aluminum end tanks. Was more affordable then expected.

JohnLane said:

Hmmmm.... I've not seen copper end tanks with aluminum core.

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Back in the back-then, before the interwebz allowed people selling stuff here to be anywhere but here & hence only being able to sell to a small market, factory bits were very expensive, so there was quite a big aftermarket in reco'ing various bits of cars with newer other-bits.
Radiators were an example, the one I bought had been recycled/remade by a cottage-industry style small factory who'd have been supplied with old radiators by various wreckers (ie. for all makes/models of car) and were fitting current-spec cores to them. Radiator shops had them in stock, although mine had been sitting on the guy's shelf for longer than he liked.
Ali Baba & eBay have undoubtedly destroyed this sort of thing (which probably means cheaper parts but more recyclable stuff going into landfill).

Most of the 'old school' rads were brass tanks soldered to copper cores. That construction went into hundreds of millions of cars over the decades. Material advances, economics and environmental regs allowed the plastic/aluminum construction we see today to put the old brass/copper units out of business. I had the V6/diesel sized 'frame' (larger than the 4 banger) -- and we put a then-contemporary 3-row, 16 fin/inch copper core in it back in '01 or so to help keep the Ford 5.0L cool. The core dimension - bounded by the tanks on the side and the frame on the top/bottom was just a bit shy of 24" x 16" -- a shrouded dual 11" SPAL fan set up fit perfectly between the tanks and the frame on that unit. Tried to give it away here when I ordered up a new aluminum unit for the LS3 in the car now -- but no takers. Off to the recyclers it went!

From reading past radiator threads I know where this is headed. You've got the brass camp and the aluminum camp.

Back to the OP....I put a 740 Turbo shroud on my '89 NA metal end tank rad, so I would think the rads are the same as far as how the shroud mounts. The aluminum core turbo rads are thinner in the core area than the metal tank version.