Most of what I would have said has already been covered here, but I would like to comment about the Nissens radiator issues.

"I paid about $300+ for it and was unhappy with it right away.

This is pretty normal. Several people here on the board have received bad units right out of the box, and either leaked or could not be installed due to mechanical defects (like yours). The particular units that Nissens is selling for the Volvo 3-core units lead me to believe that they're buying them from Universal Radiator and not making them themselves. Either way, whoever is building them is doing a terrible job and I haven't seen one of the Nissens 3-core "heavy duty" units last longer than 5 years in anybody's Volvo (including my personal friends and those I know from the Brickboard).

"But that was almost 10 months ago. I am willing to write it off as a rotten experience. I still like IPD, but will be more careful when purchasing parts in the future rather than just go with one place for everything.

While their markup is a bit high on their parts, the do an excellent job on customer service. They've got some seriously well qualified people at their shop and they really know their Volvos inside and out (and many of them used to race them in their younger days). While most of their aftermarket parts are good quality, this particular one (Nissens radiator) is not and I wish they would wake up and realize this.

"I found out today that the OEM radiator purchased through my dealer is only $233 total. That is with tax added in. I pick it up, so no shipping."

I completely agree. When I walk through the salvage yards, I check the date codes on all the RWD Volvos that I come across. If I find a used OEM Blackstone/Volvo radiator, I buy it right then and there ($35 at my local yard). The date codes are stamped on the sides towards the top on the end tanks.

"I would really prefer one of these. If I have to purchase another one in eight years . . . so what? Mine was built far better than my replacement Nissens."

I completely agree. The average life of a Volvo OEM Blackstone radiator that came in our cars from the assembly line is 15 to 20 years. Since I haven't seen a so called "heavy duty" radiator from Nissens last longer than 5 years, I'll stick with the Blackstones.

"I understand that most here seem to have had good experience with their HD Nissens and that they fit just fine."

I haven't seen a Nissens Heavy Duty 3-core fit correctly yet. Of the handful of my friends that bought them, and from reading other people's horror stories here on the Brickboard, it seems that there's always a problem and they usually have to modify the radiator mounting brackets to get them to fit snugly. Other common problems are usually with trans cooler fittings that have issues, or broken solder joints that cause leaks, or a damaged inlet tube, etc, etc, etc.

God bless,
Fitz Fitzgerald.
--
'87 Blue 240 Wagon, 278k miles.
'88 Black 780, PRV-6, 149k miles.