Upgrading Your Challenger’s Cooling: Radiators & Intercoolers

Not every Challenger comes from the factory with an intercooler, but they all come with radiators. Radiators are a simple but effective method of cooling the engine’s water supply. The water pump is what cycles water throughout the engine. 

As the water, or coolant, runs through the internal workings, making contact with all the hot iron, it acts to keep things cool. With that said, the hot surfaces also heat up the water. To keep the water cool enough to perform properly, it must pass through the radiator.

The radiator in your Challenger is mounted right in the front of the engine compartment. Here air can easily pass through it in order to cool the water within. The factory units work very well and can keep up with some decent hot rodding. There is still a point where one will want to go ahead and consider moving up to an aftermarket unit.

Not every Challenger comes with an intercooler, nor will every build require the use of one. Still, it’s important to understand their function for this topic. Intercoolers are similar in design to radiators in the sense that they can use air flow to aid in the cooling process. However, they are used to cool air rather than iron and aluminum. These units are used with forced induction. An intercooler cools air that is being sent through the forced induction system in order to make it denser. Dense air contains more oxygen, which is key to making more power.

Your Challenger, of course, already has a radiator, but why and when should you change it? Well, heat is energy, and energy is power. Therefore, the more power an engine makes, the hotter it can become. Is there any particular mod that requires one to use a better radiator? Not unless it’s a major power adder like a stroker kit to a Hemi or a blower on anything. Really, the time comes with more horsepower not mods. So if you’ve been working on your engine and are figuring out ways to seriously increase power, be sure to throw a radiator on your shopping list.

What makes an aftermarket radiator better? Well, for one you can increase the number of times the water passes through the radiator. In many cases, you’ll find that you don’t need to increase the number of times water passes through the radiator. 

In fact, this isn’t recommended unless you’re making some serious increases in power. For jumps in power like 50-100 horsepower, it’s wise to consider a radiator with wider tubing in the rows. Though, when you start topping that increase, you should turn to more rows. Both options are methods used to effectively cool water temperatures.

When to Upgrade the Radiator

• After power output is dramatically increased

Any time you’re running boost, the addition of an intercooler is a good idea. Needless to say, without a blower or a turbo setup there’s no call for this component. With that in mind, intercoolers come in many shapes and sizes and throwing one on after the initial set up with forced induction can require a lot of work and attention.

Roots style superchargers are very common on Challenger engines and without the intercooler out of the gate, you can be in for a real headache down the road. With a set up intended to produce small amounts of boost, they aren’t a must but for anything that is forcing out some serious boost, this definitely isn’t something to overlook.

Add an Intercooler:

• (Generally) When boost is on the list
• When high amounts of boost are made

A properly operating cooling system doesn’t solely rely on the radiator to get the job done. Sure, it’s a major player in the game, but without the help of proper pumps, hoses, and even coolant, it can very easily fall flat on its face. For one, hoses and fittings are subjected to factors that can restrict the flow of coolant and even prevent the fluid from staying at proper temperatures. 

After so much power is made, the use of an electric pump to cycle coolant can really help make sure water is moving fast enough throughout the system to stay cool. Hotter temperatures and the boiling point of the coolant used can cause some serious issues in the system as well. Like-wise, water-based coolants can lead to corrosion within coolant passages, which is why many are making the move to waterless cooling agents.