My Cooling System set-up

[73restomod]

This is how I am installing my cooling system in my car. I got lots of pictures from what I have done so far and what I will do. To get to this point I had to fit the radiator to the car, its overall width is 30.5 inches. The core is a universal cross-flow triple pass 26" x 18.5", for a circle track application, why, because it's 1/3 the cost of an application specific radiator for our cars ($218). I did measure between the frame rails which have about 31-3/4", but they have a lip that has to be cut back flush to the frame rail, then welded back together (they stick out an inch on each side).



This shows the rad mounted with its upper tabs welded on (the tanks are 1/8" wall thickness so plenty of meat). I have more finishing work to do on them, but I address that later. I did this by making some jacking bolts thru the existing holes in the lower radiator support got it into position and used a MIG to tack the mounts on. and finish welded them on the bench with a TIG.









This pic shows my Derale universal 26"x18" fan shroud and dual fan combo that moves 4500 CFM and draws 50 amps. Key word universal; so cheap at $289 with relays and such, but no thermostatic switches which it requires 2, and heck had to cut it just to fit it flush. That's when I checked my real estate between the radiator and the front legs of the K-member and I quickly realized there wasn't quite enough with out some clearancing.  So I marked off the corners, made some templates. Than I cut my marks out and test fit my paper templates













Here is my plan for the mounts that I will make out of aluminum and weld on radiator tanks.



Here is the beastly alternator from Powermaster that will provide the juice that this fan setup requires.

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That's all for now stay, more will come soon.

[brads70]

I'm doing almost the same thing but am ditching the electric fans. I got real sick of switches failing. Going with a simple mechanical fan from Derale.  I got a new unused surplus C&R rad for the Nascar truck for $300. It's a double pass but ( hard to explain) it flows across the entire back side then the front. I'll have to do the same as you by trimming the frame rail lips. Mine is 30x22
Watch out for the lower rad hose hitting the k-frame. I had to buy an elbow and weld it in a different position to make it work.
This should end my cooling issues in traffic I'm hoping!
FYI, I have a triple pass rad in there now and after reading about water pump flow issues with them I installed the Milodon water pump as they apparently flow the best? ( big block)? 

[HP2]

I've in the process of installing a ProTek 28x19, triple pass, cross flow on my car. I agree its hard to beat their price as mine was under $200. However, mine fit without any frame rail trimming. 

I've got a tubular lower core support from XV in my car, so I am just going to weld two tabs on it and us GM radiator cushions to hold it in place. I'll take the same approach on the top once I make a trip to the salvage yard to score a GM upper radiator cover. No doubt it will require some trimming/welding as the GM units I've found online are either 24" or 31" and my core width is 28'.

Shroud and fan engagement is a challenge. I did order the compatible shroud with mine, which would work great with a water pump driven 14" fan that is central to the core. The problem I have is my fan is 17" water pump driven unit, plus add an inch per side for clearance and I'm 19" so my fan spans the whole height of the core. I'd have to trim the shroud to almost nothing. Also, with the tanks size on the side of the radiators and the engine location, my fan ends up offset to the passenger side about 3". I do have an old OEM Mopar shroud I think I can mod to fit, but it will take a pretty fair amount of trimming and covering to get it all functional.

Ah the joys of re-engineering systems.

[73restomod]

Joys indeed my water pump is a flowkooler unit seems like a nice piece and is "supposed" to flow twice as much as everything  else from 0-3000 rpm where it should fall back inline with normal high flows. Impeller design is unique to say the least, but we'll see.

[73restomod]

Well here is the latest tidbit I finished. For the shroud I made my pieces from 18 gauge steel. Than I weld them on with my TIG rig. I spot welded everything, jumping around from side to side to minimize warping, until I had sections of about 1/4 inch in between to weld. Than I just seam welded those, going from one side to the other until complete. Than I metal finished the welds, primed it, and painted it all to match.

[73restomod]

Here is the last of the work, cooling system is complete, next up exhaust  , and than start up.

First up some picks of the shroud mounts, nothing to crazy, and eventually I will also do more finishing work to these as well. For now, they will do just fine.





To mount the shroud to the radiator I used some 1/4"-20 thread-serts set into the shroud. This last pic shows the "rough" finished product.

[HP2]

Nice work! Here is how mine has progressed...

I've got a lower radiator support from XV. I welded some angle tabs on it to provide the lower support. I drilled a hole through these and mounted OEM GM style support cushions. This was after obsessing with position relative to the engine, hood, and core support and fan. Decided no additional height was needed other than the cushions. Washed out pic below. Flash over exposure I guess.



Next up, steel straps with threaded rod welded to them for shroud mounting. Riveted the bars to the flange on the radiator to provide mountings points for the shroud.



For some reason my photo of the shroud died. Anyway, I took a factory shroud I had laying around out of an F body Aspen. Set the radiator in its lower mounts, and align the shroud to line up with the fan centerline, and mark the trims lines necessary to get the stock shroud to fit the new core. Trimmed about 2" off one side and 4" off the other. Neatly snaps into place on the new Pro-Tek core. Drilled new mounting holes to align with the steel straps installed above.

After that, an upper mount was required. I tried every GM style upper mount in the Summit catalog before concluding that I had a non-OEM sized core. Did you know chrome radiator mounts are cheaper than powder coated ones, if you own a Camaro. So, off to pick a part where I snagged one out of a  mid 70s Chevy truck. It was way to big, so I sectioned 6" out of the middle to align the mounting pads with the flange on the radiator tanks. I also had to radius one end to clear the  radiator neck. Here is the finished piece. If you look close, you can see the sectioned  seam. I'm not the greatest body guy.



Mocked everything up to make sure they aligned okay. Discovered I had to take about an inch out of the upper radius of the shroud to clear the  upper mount plate. This will require an additional block of plate to isolate the newly revealed opening on top and bottom since this radiator is actually shorter than the OEM Mopar unit. I also need to clean and paint the shroud so it doesn't look as ghetto.



Unit sitting in its new home. I still need to add mounting tabs to the core support to bolt down the new retainer and  attached the radiator hoses. Did you know the top of the core support isn't flat? Neither did I until I put this flat piece of steel on it. Fan is half way into the shroud opening, has an inch  to spare all the way around, and is about three inches to the radiator core. Fan is a thermal clutch, 17", 7 blade, heavy duty cooling unit out of a 440 station wagon with a/c and trailer towing package. Between that and the triple pass aluminum radiator, I don't anticipate any cooling issues. I also did a whole lot of pulley shuffling to get a factory similar drive ratio on the pulley set. May cost me a few horses up top, but I'd rather keep the whole shooting match cool.

[brads70]

Will your hood close?   Looks good though! The weather has started to warm up so I'll get to work on mine soon.

[HP2]

Haven't verified the hood yet. That one will require an extra set of hands to get mounted for checking.

[73restomod]

Looking good will be home again to work on mine tomorrow night. I will be adding the US cartool support as well. That's why I haven't built the lower rad supports for mine yet.