As some of you know, I blew out my water pump last Sunday. Seeing as I had saved a boat load of $$$ doing the water pump change myself (all done), I figured I'd upgrade to the Fluidyne 3-core w/ROE silicone hoses as well (on order). Did some research on the pros/cons of various radiator configurations...copper/brass two core vs aluminium 2 core, 3 core. Biggest issues were weight, low speed airflow, and high speed airflow. Most of the testing determined that for slow speed operation/city driving, three core aluminium construction seemed more efficient while high speed driving tended to inhibit airflow through a 3-core and the two core aluminium was more efficient. Aluminium for the most part out performed all brass/copper constructed radiators. I opted for the Fluidyne 3-core since most of my driving would not be considered high speed...and for those times, I'm sure the Fluidyne will be just fine. Hot Florida city driving lead me to the Fluidyne decision. Anyways, appears Dodge went for the copper/brass two-core which leaves alot to be desired. You can see just how much excess room they left on the core presumably to gain airflow and cooling power efficiency vice forcing air between wider/multiple cores that would have filled-up the core. It would have been interesting to have been part of that engineering effort/trade off discussions during the radiator development effort. When I removed the radiator, about the lower three inches of the core was packed with old leaves and gunk...so that area of the radiator was non-functional for the most part. The A/C condensor interestingly enough has fairly wide spaces between the fins so as to not inhibit airflow to the radiator. I can't inagine an intercooler tucked away in front and then the oil cooler, A/C condenser,radiator, and then the P/S cooler. Lots of things dumping heat along the airflow path. Anyone need a GTS radiator???
