Lern me cheap $129 Radiators for Datsun 240Z

I have two original 240Z radiators that have seen better days.  I'm trying to keep it factory stock and I'm planning to stop tomorrow at an old school radiator shop to get the skinny. 

1. Am I wasting my time? Are labor costs going to price this baby out? 

2. What are the $129 aluminum ones on eBay and Amazon?  Are they the same radiator but a dozen different names?  Avoid these?

3. Spend the money on a $3-$400 new aluminum one?

4. Just drop the old one in and a bottle of stop leak?

Here's last night if you like to see progress.  
 

That's so pretty....  with what I see there, an original style radiator would look so much better....  

I'd be surprised if a good radiator shop couldn't repair  your oem radiator. 
 

That's so pretty....  with what I see there, an original style radiator would look so much better....  

I'd be surprised if a good radiator shop couldn't repair  your oem radiator. 
 

In reply to jfryjfry :

They can test and repair the old one but at what cost?  $300?  

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

The last OE vintage radiator I had recored was $450 and it was for an old 720 pickup. That was even wholesale!

I bought a cheap radiator for an E250 once. Lifetime warranty so I figured I couldn't go wrong. I changed that radiator 5 times before I gave up on cheap and bought a name-brand from the local FLAPS. Practice makes perfect though, I can do an E250 radiator in under 20 minutes. It's not a skill I wanted to perfect. 

I bought a cheap all-aluminum radiator for my XJ. It worked OK but developed a leak after a couple of years. I went back to an OEM radiator. The OEM cooled better than the aluminum one. It has also lasted longer. 

I also bought an inexpensive all-aluminum radiator for the Bentley. OEM was $1100. The Chinese radiator was $300. It was still working fine when I sold the car. 

The Samurai also has an eBay radiator in it. It seems to work very well. 

The eBay and Amazon radiators are of varying quality and there is no way to determine quality before you buy them.

So, do you like to gamble? For me, it's going to depend on the price difference. 

The LMP360 has had a Amazon painted Civic radiator, and 2 polished original mini radiators in it.  All 3 radiators where <$60 each.  The quality of the polished ones seems to be higher then the painted and you can visually see all of the welds.  I am sure compared to like a PWR the flow and heat transfer of the core is SUBSTANTIALLY worse on the chinese origin Amazon radiators, however for the price I am pleased with their performance.  I would recommend the polished ones simply for ease of inspection and repair if any issues were found with the aluminum welding.  

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

You're doing nice work on that.  When it's done you're going to want to drive it and be able to rely on it.  Find a good radiator shop and pay the man, you don't want to be sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow.  Getting the radiator re-cored and reliable is cheaper than warping a head or worse by overheating the engine.

eBay all-aluminum radiators are a pretty safe bet in terms of reliability from what I've seen, their cooling efficiency probably won't be as good as OEM for the same number of rows though, so get one with extra rows if possible. I got a 2-row all-aluminum radiator from GPIRacing for my Toyobaru and the build quality looks decent. Price was on the higher side of what stock-spec plastic-tanked replacements cost, and now I never have to worry about plastic tanks inevitably blowing open.

There's an old school radiator repair shop in the town  I grew up in - I'm swinging by tomorrow to see what they think.  

They worked on my '66 Datsun 1600 roadster radiator back in 1991......I might remind them.

Let us know what you decide here. I have an original radiator for my 280z that will likely either need work or replacement too. 

Hope you can get it redone. I had an Alfa radiator redone, and they added an extra row to help cooling. If I were to do another challenge car, I would consider a cheap Al one. 

$185 to clean it and fix a few spots.  Reworked one of the end caps.  Radiator shop has fixed my junk since 1980.  
 

Excellent! 

I made the cheap radiator mistake with an 87 4Runner. It had 450,000mi when the rad started lacking out of a few pinholes. 3 Vatozone radiators later, I was cursing scrapping the original. I should have had a shoo repair it instead.

You made the right choice.

I used a cheap radiator on my 1994 Toyota pickup before selling it, it was Amazon/eBay aluminum radiator.  The radiator itself was good but the plastic drain plug was weak, leaky.  I had to put correct radiator cap on it.  One of the rivnut mounts stripped.  With better plug and hardware it would be good.