I finally got the SD to accept a lower temp thermostat AND get all of the air out of the system, but I was still getting a lot of heat soak. I pulled the rad and took it to the local shop down the road to have it looked at, and he said to just get a new one.

FCP has a plastic tank unit for $321. I'm not huge on plastic tanks, but lifetime warranty:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/lan...sr3687#fitment

Ebay has a mountain of these 2 row all aluminum units at varying price points. No lifetime warranty, but aluminum cools better:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/14396544683...Cclp%3A2334524

This claims it's a three row all aluminum for $229:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/15353421103...AaAmlLEALw_wcB

I'm not looking for the cheapest solution, but if these ebay ones aren't junk they seem hard to pass up. The rad shop said for $6-700 he could recore the one I have with an extra core, but it said it still probably wouldn't be as good as a two core aluminum one as long as they don't leak. Any advice?

 

I've been happy with my 2 row aluminum with plastic tanks. Performed well during the recent heat wave. A while back I stopped the occasional drip at the main outlet pipe flange by tightening the bolts a tiny bit, although it was nerve-racking. Still drip free. How is your fan clutch?

 

Everything except the radiator and water pump is new. If I'm just tooling around town it'll run ~5 degrees over thermostat temp (180F) but on the highway in this Summer heat it eventually starts creeping up to ~205F. When I got the radiator out it's evident that 1. It's been apart before, and 2. It's time to replace it anyway. The shop said there's some blockage, but not a ton.

I suppose it could be the water pump losing efficiency at speed, but I'd think that would present with higher temps. It did the same thing with an OEM 195F thermostat, so it seems to me that the radiator is lacking a bit.

 

I just did a Ebay 4 row all AL unit. Where do I start..
It was too tall for fitting factory fan shroud. Had to cut new holes to attach it. It sits 5/8 taller than stock.
The oil cooler fittings were aluminum copies of the early range rover/disco that screw in the rad. Center hole was way way too small for the cooler pipes to fit. And to add into that galled into the rad fittings. Slowly carefully removed them, then chase with a 3/8-19 bspp tap and installed 8an fittings for the cooler lines.
Hole for oil passage into the rad cooler was 1/4 in dia. Had to open that up to 3/8 in.
Side mounting tabs/pins on backwards. Pin was closer to engine side than bumper side. Had to grind off an redrill new holes then get pins rewelded on.

Other than that its pretty nice. LOL If I did it again I would go for the AlliSport one. If you count all my time/new tooling added to make it right and the base $300 for the Ebay unit. It would be damn close to what Alli asks for one.

 

For all that effort I'll just get the one from FCPEuro and if it has issues at least it has a warranty.

 

I’ve been wanting to know a good replacement too! I’ve looked into Nissens, though they have a lot of plastic parts. Definitely not interested in having to make a bunch of modifications.
I want to replace mine before I take a trip from Indiana to Texas and back. Guess I can just flush mine really good for now...
Hope the FCP one works out for you.

 

My new (three years ago) radiator looks a lot like the nissens, two row aluminum with plastic ends. About the same price too, as I recall, but lost the paperwork. Made in China. Number PBI 1383 EM0701 stamped on the side. It fit in perfectly. My fan shroud was bowed on the right side, so I built up some soft foam weather stripping to fill the gap.

During the heat wave, coolant temperature dropped at highway speed, then rose a few degrees around town, with highest temps at idle in the parking lot waiting for sandwiches. I have a set of four used adapters for the oil coolers if anyone is interested.

 

I ordered a nissen radiator, which showed up today, but not the adapters...They should be here in a day or so. Hopefully this helps my strange 'running hot' problem. Going down the highway at 70 MPH ish, it gets warm, say 225 or so, slowing down going into a small town 35 mph ish it drops to about 197-207. kind og the opposite of what it should do. But only if outside temps are above 85 degrees. slowing down to around 60mph cools it off to around 212-215.... 195 Land rover (marked) thermostat. putting in a 180 stat made no difference. Hopefuly the radiator will settle things down. Oh and new fans and fan clutch , belts etc.

 

Mine did exactly the same thing, but didn't get quite as hot. I ordered a Nissens unit that showed up broken. FCP hooked me up with THREE MORE before one arrived at my house that wasn't broken. I didn't need any adapters, though...

 

I want to know what is good. I have a perfectly good stock brass radiator. It runs pretty cool, doesn't leak, and I can see the solder bloom is not too bad. When I first got the vehicle, I had to have the oil cooler nipple re-brazed. Since then, I've ran it for the last 10 years (it's original so 23 years in all). I wonder though, if there is a better Aluminum radiator or if they're just cheaper. We know Aluminum is theoretically better, but it still has to be made better in fact. My brass radiator is thick and heavy. On hot days (90's), coolant temps can run as high as 209 F on long highway grades or on slow trails when only the fan is blowing air over the radiator. I do have a good water pump and new fan clutch from some years ago. Those were both necessary at the time but definitely working well now. I recently replaced the rubber hoses because they were 10 years old -- still good, but getting a little hard. I also flushed and changed out the coolant because it was also old. I had just been wondering about changing the radiator while I was at it. I'll probably get many more years out of the stock one.