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I have had five Panteras with the following radiators:

1. Hall Phoenix (copper) - Worked great.  Heaviest radiator imaginable.

2. Fluidyne five row with shrouded puller fans.  Works great, still have it.

3. Stock radiator with upgraded fans - Worked great, better than I expected.  Sold the car and new owner drove it home 300 miles on the hottest day of the season without a problem.

4. Stock radiator with stock fans - Works great, current owner of the car is suspicious yet continues to use it.  It's an original Pushbutton car and I keep encouraging him to stay with it.  When I talk to him next I may suggest he keep the radiator, upgrade the fans, and put the originals in a box.

5. Pantera Performance Colorado - Works well except that it is leaking.  Has an integrated shroud and fans.  Made by Ron Davis.  It runs a little hotter than I think it should but temp is okay.  This is the one that is currently leaking and I would like to fix it if possible.  Suggestions are welcome.

Both aluminum and brass rads can leak. With aluminum, its often simple corrosion from using overage antifreeze or plain tap water without some sort of extra anti-corrosion additive. No-Rosion is used by quite a few Pantera owners and some shops sell rads with it included, but it doesn't last forever. A sacrificial anode is also sometimes used. So repairing a corroded rad is usually a core replacement, only re-using your tanks.

Reason is, some areas of the U.S. have tap water that's as corrosive as mild acid! I've seen high quality aluminum rads fail in less than a year in such areas. Swimming pool shops sell cheap pH test paper; if your water is below pH 7, it will dissolve aluminum. There are inhibitors in antifreeze but they also get used up fast in some locales.

Racers also have to contend with track bans on antifreeze since a crash often dumps antifreeze on the track, and antifreeze reacts with hot asphalt to produce a permanently slick spot that does not clean up. But Water-Wetter and No-Rosion in plain water are both track-accepted.

And there's more to engine cooling than simple heat transfer of aluminum vs brass. Aluminum rads have tubes that are 3-6X larger than is possible with brass rads. Those huge tubes move a LOT more coolant than brass and often fix a persistent overheat problem without changing water pumps or lines. Corvettes, Z-28s and V-8 Firebirds, besides most foreign performance cars have used aluminum rads since the '60s.

Always thought it was Interesting that the way to go was a Aluminum Rad. because it was lighter then Brass Rad. Both cooling well. But Aluminum is lighter! Then We all have to have a Front Spoiler/Splitter because front end lift at higher speeds. Wouldn't the Heavier Rad. up front Help with front end lift? 

The thermal conductivity of Copper is nearly twice that of aluminum meaning a better material to use.  I agree with you that the Aluminum Pantera radiator was someone's idea of saving weight.  I know the big auto manufacturers went to it to do that as well as cost.  That's why the Hall Copper rad is $1700, the Brassworks is $1900, and a nice GT40 copper rad is $2500.  Some of the aluminum rads are also epoxied, not welded.  

FWIW, I personally never use silicone hose for anything because it unzips itself under pressure if nicked even slightly. Instead I used 1-1/2" OD sweat-solder 90 degree copper fittings from a plumbing supply shop, with short straight pieces of 1-3/8" Gates Green Stripe rad hose (heated in hot water to expand them a bit), to connect into & out of the rad and go around my Flexilite dual sucker-fan shroud.

I also used such a big copper fitting on the end of the underbody water transfer tube back where one comes close to the front of the engine & over to the header tank.  No leaks in this century.

Everything is back together and the leak is gone.  I have taken the car out on two drives and everything stayed sealed.  It looks like the silicon elbow was the problem.  I made some minor changes to it when I reinstalled it.  It is slightly shorter now and the hose clamps are positioned for easier access and maintenance should it start to leak again.

Last edited by stevebuchanan

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