Diesel Bombers - Ultimate Cummins Radiator

I have a decent amount experience in the cooling of diesels and hot rods and air planes and just thought I would share some.

The aluminum/plastic radiators are fine for most people as far as cooling goes. They aren't extremely reliable. I have cut many cracked tanks off and welded aluminum ones on. They are used cause they are cheep.

Copper & Brass ones are the most reliable. They can last as long as the truck in many instances. The draw back to them is in the design of the core. If you aren't having a cooling problem I would recommend them.

All aluminum is the best at dissipating heat. The draw back to them is they have about a 10 year life expectancy.

Aluminum can remove the heat better than brass because. Even though copper & brass can actually transfer heat better but the material thickness has to be thicker in c&b which causes it to loss that advantage. Aluminum can be just .010 thick in the tube. C&B radiators have more of a round shape tube that usually measures 1/4" which causes some of the coolant to come in contact with the metal of the tube where heat transfer happens but the majority of it runs in the center not transferring much heat. Aluminum on the other hand runs a flat wide tube usually 1" wide. This causes the majority of the coolant to run along the metal of the tube and transfer more heat. C&B radiators use soldered joints at every tube, and the tank joint. This has always been a reliable and good way of doing it that is easily repaired if there is a leak. The down side is solder joints transfer little to no heat. Aluminum on the other hand are fully welded so every joint still transfers heat. A 2 row aluminum radiator will cool like a 5 row copper and brass.

Remember a lot more goes into cooling than just a radiator. You have water flow, air flow, and just variables that exist in every engine.