I have an OEM single row aluminum radiator with plastic end tanks. I strongly suspect that this is one of the key reasons why we overheated our 302 engine and cooked our oil. Even though it doesn't seem to leak, after probably 50-100K mi, it's cooling capacity is probably severely diminished. While that would be OK with a DD, it couldn't move the heat out of our engine fast enough.
I'm now taking the engine apart to see exactly how much damage we caused (found so far: 3 collapsed hydraulic lifters + at least one of the bearings is wiped). Hopefully, I can save myself from a full rebuild.
In hindsight, I should have just bought a bigger radiator.... and an oil cooler.
-g
Myopic Motorsport's #888 Ceci n'est pas une Citron Thunderbird ("This is not a lemon" but a 1995 tbird w/ 93 V8 swap + shopping cart rear wing + engine mounted frito maker)
2017 Sears Pointless Organizer’s Choice
Frito Making Tbird from 2018 Sears Pointless Engine Heat BBQ -
http://goo.gl/csaet4