500 Radiator question

[Hankk17]

On the '76 FI 500 sedan deville I'm going to get this weekend I need a new radiator.  BUT all I can find are 1 row aluminum core with plastic tanks.  Is this going to be sufficient cooling or do I need to bite the bullet and find a 3 row copper/brass one? 

tia

-Hank

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

Hank,
The short version is that one of the "replacement" aluminum radiators are, in my opinion and experience not worth the trouble to open their box.  For the long version, go to the search window above and enter "aluminum radiator".  Previous discussions will give you more information.  In continuing the short version, with cooling being of great importance for summertime traffic in Central Texas, I either get mine re-cored with a 4 row Brass/Copper core or buy a custom radiator from US Radiators in CA.  Never had a problem doing either.
Greg Surfas

[76eldo]

The rad in my 76 Eldo developed a leak. I need to pull it out and I am getting it recored.
Looks like the only way to keep a stock appearance and cooling performance.

I was quoted $450

[Hankk17]

I managed to find a 3 row copper/brass radiator at a local parts store for $188.  so they DO exist.. you just have to be relentless and call everyone lol

[Hankk17]

so I should've suspected - the local parts store ordered me an aluminum core/plastic tank radiator even though they swore it would be brass/copper.  So guess I'm re-coring my old one.  I called easily 15-25 places on the web.. this part is absolutely not produced anymore.

foo.   

[Antoni Deighton]

I had to have the radiator of my '67 Eldorado replaced last spring. The shop that was working on it swore that the replacement was a proper brass/copper OE equivalent (and so it should have been at $400!). When it turned up my first clue should have been that the inlet and outlet tubes were incorrect for the hoses, and it was lacking the thermo-switch for the distributor. Nevermind! I paid to have the parts on the old radiator welded onto the new one. After it was installed the car would overheat while idling! The shop then tried to tell me that I had something wrong with the heads, and perhaps they should be removed. After all, the water pump, and radiator had been replaced.
I went to another shop who looked at it and said that the radiator was not up to the job. Fortunately I had kept the original, and had it properly recored. Problem solved, but not without wasting a lot of time, and despite getting a refund on the defective new radiator, a lot of money too. So the lesson here is to get the radiator properly recored by someone who knows what they're doing. Most of the other stuff is crap, and you'll pay a fortune trying to track down a non-existant problem (because hey, it just can't be the brand-spanking-new radiator that's causing the trouble!)