Radiator Swap

[Steve C 1964]

I am going from a six cylinder to a 350 TBI motor. I have purchased a V8 radiator. The original radiator went between the frame rails into the U shaped brackets. The new radiator is to wide to fit between the frame rails. I can see that I can relocate to U shaped brackets to the upper position on the crossmember. I need the upper mounts or maybe some pics of what they look like. My truck had a radiator from a Chrysler product in it so I am not sure what to even look for.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Vin63]

I am going from a six cylinder to a 350 TBI motor. I have purchased a V8 radiator. The original radiator went between the frame rails into the U shaped brackets. The new radiator is to wide to fit between the frame rails. I can see that I can relocate to U shaped brackets to the upper position on the crossmember. I need the upper mounts or maybe some pics of what they look like. My truck had a radiator from a Chrysler product in it so I am not sure what to even look for.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, that's correct, the lower radiator saddles will need to be relocated to the upper mount position on the crossmember (the lower position was indeed for the narrower radiators to fit between the frame rails). The upper mount looks similar to this...(I misplaced my factory one)

This is similar to the factory upper mount. I fabricated this one to accommodate an aftermarket aluminum radiator, but this should give you an idea of what a factory one looks like. It bolts to the threaded holes on the top rail of the radiator support.

 

[LEYLAND]

the bottom of the V8 rad will just sit ontop of your frame rails with two small "U" shaped rubber pads to support & protect (check out the online catalogues to see). Upper radiator support is centered on the rad and very similar to whats pictured above, again using a piece of rubber to protect the tank.

Make sure to get yourself a good fan and more importantly a fan shroud, my truck had major cooling issues without the shroud when I installed my 350.

Good luck.

 

[Steve C 1964]

Thanks guys. I will fab one in I have to. I am going to try to look around for one. I will probably end up making one. I plan on running an electric fan and leaving the clutch fan off. What say you about this?

 

[Vin63]

...I plan on running an electric fan and leaving the clutch fan off. What say you about this?

As long as your electric fan(s) can pull enough air volume and velocity. It's hard to beat the mechanical fan. Maybe supplement the mechanical fan with an electric pusher fan that you can run while idling or at slow speeds.

 

[LEYLAND]

Electric fans work well and free up some horsepower but they need to be sized and installed correctly.

Many companies make a good fan but most are undersized for CFM. I would suggest looking for a Ford Taurus SHO fan. Before you get all "anti ford" on me do some research and you will see they are probably the best fan available, especially when they can be found in junk yards They can be identified as having three wires (two speed fan) and were relatively small in size but packed a very large CFM into a nice small unit which works well with our small stock radiator sizes.

an electric fan also needs to have a thermostat installed into the upper heater hose with a relay, this will eliminate the old "forgot to turn my fan on" situation.

Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[Steve C 1964]

I am totally anti Ford. I know a guy that had one a long time ago.

 

[LEYLAND]

never would have guessed

 

[markeb01]

Thanks guys. I will fab one in I have to. I am going to try to look around for one. I will probably end up making one. I plan on running an electric fan and leaving the clutch fan off. What say you about this?

I've been running a Flexalite Black Magic fan for over a dozen years with no mechanical fan. It is "adequate" most of the time where I live in the Northwest, but to live in consistent triple digit tempertures I'd have to step up to a dual fan unit. The mini-shroud that comes with the single electric fan I have is too small and ineffective for hot temperatures. Since my truck is a hobby toy, when it gets that hot I prefer my air conditioned Honda!

In the old days a mechanical fan was generally preferred because it would never fail on a hot day like an electric fan could. But today electric fans are so reliable they are standard on many new cars.