47-55.1 Options for moving the radiator forward

[britnjc]

my bottom hose was a little to close to the middle of the motor and was going to rub the drive pulley so I had a local radiator shop (Ensley Radiator) to move the bottom hose as far to the passenger side of the radiator as they could. I only needed about 2 inches to clear the pulley

[britnjc]

ok here are some pics of my modification. I still need to put an insulator in to keep vibration down but here is what I have done to give me more room. I still need to paint the core support and clean up my homemade brackets. Let me know what you think.

[IvelDesigns]

that looks a lot like what i plan to do. I'm going to go with the 48-54 chevy truck radiator from the guy you got yours though. It looks like i'll be able to move it forward 2, maybe 3 inches w/o impacting the hood or the hood latch. I did notch my firewall about 1.5" and finished is up tonight. tomorrow i hope to test fit the motor again and make the mounts, again. hopefully the rest of my hardware shows up from Scotts Hotrods soon so i can actually finish the motor mounts. and then finish the tranny mount.

I hope that with moving the rad, and moving the motor back, I'll have enough room to put the tranny cooler on the engine side of the rad. If not, i'll make a mount in front of the fan on the outside of the rad.

[50adrod]

Originally Posted by IvelDesigns

that looks a lot like what i plan to do. I'm going to go with the 48-54 chevy truck radiator from the guy you got yours though. It looks like i'll be able to move it forward 2, maybe 3 inches w/o impacting the hood or the hood latch. I did notch my firewall about 1.5" and finished is up tonight. tomorrow i hope to test fit the motor again and make the mounts, again. hopefully the rest of my hardware shows up from Scotts Hotrods soon so i can actually finish the motor mounts. and then finish the tranny mount.

I hope that with moving the rad, and moving the motor back, I'll have enough room to put the tranny cooler on the engine side of the rad. If not, i'll make a mount in front of the fan on the outside of the rad.

you can allways use the finned aluminum trans cooler and mount it to the frame. that is my plan.

[IvelDesigns]

Originally Posted by 50adrod

you can allways use the finned aluminum trans cooler and mount it to the frame. that is my plan.

yeah, i may go that route. I won't know until i get it all in place. I'm just happy to see things coming together I need to get some pics up in my build thread. been a while since i've updated it.

[youngrodder]

Looks good.

Did you need to also modify your core support cover?

It looks like it would work, but I would be intrested in how it looks with the core support cover.

Thanks
Marc

[weldvair@embarqmail.]

I made a new core support out of 1"x2" tubing. Looks like it should work.

Don

[britnjc]

Young Rodder,

Well here is my test fit for the cover and I have a small problem but also an easy fix. The radiator is hitting the cover so I have a couple of options. I can either drop the radiator about an inch, which I will probably do or I could notch the cover which I don't want to do. I think when I remove the radiator to paint the support and clean everything up I will just use the other hole I drilled to lower the radiator to clear the cover. Well see though, I need a few hours of free time to get downstairs and do some work.

[youngrodder]

Britnjc-

Thanks for the pics. What frame are you using? I have G-body and because of the placement of the steering gearbox, I can't use a stock radiator. The option of moving it forward might work for me as well. I need to take a closer look at mine.

Marc

[britnjc]

I am using a S-10 frame. And I just realized I wont be able to drop my radiator an inch because of my steering box. I may have to do a little modification to my cover after all.

[PDW HOTRODS]

What I did is a little more work, but I'm using a 78 Malibu front end. I made a wider core support, and I am using a 3 row cross flow radiator from a 69 Camaro. It is shorter, so it clears the steering box, and it will cool a big block. Mine is about 2.5 inches forward of where the stock one was. I modified the front of both inner fenders, and the cover.

[IvelDesigns]

tonight i pulled the front clip out of the back yard and did a test fit. It looks like i actually have 30" of room from the stock firewall to the face of the radiator, then add the 1" i moved the firewall back and we're looking at a real snug fit, but i think mine will work without moving the radiator at all.

I'm going to wait and see once the motor is in it's final position, but i was really happy to see that things are looking good. If it comes down to it, moving the rad forward .5-1" will be easy.

Also, my core support is different that what you guy are showing (at least what britnjc is showing). I don't have that "cover" that you show. my radiator has nothing over it, just some sheet metal right up to it.

[FatherandSon]

Britnjc do you have any pics? I have same situation right now and your solution seems the best for my build. Thanks

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by FatherandSon

Britnjc do you have any pics? I have same situation right now and your solution seems the best for my build. Thanks

You do realize that this thread is over 11 years old The post to yours being 11 years and 2 days old and many of the posters haven't been on the board for years including Britnic who's Last Activity: 05-04-2018 11:21 AM Meaning he hasn't logged on for almost 2 years.

[FatherandSon]

Yeah i realized that. I sent him a private message too. Just in case he’s an infrequent user like me. Thanks though!

[mr48chev]

He hasn't logged on at all for two years. I think if you checked down that list there are three or four who haven't been on for a few years.

[mick53]

"Pusher" fans don't work well.

[PDW HOTRODS]

What is your question and what pic do you need?

[FatherandSon]

I have same issue he had and the easiest solution appears to be moving the radiator in front of core support. I was just interested to know if there were any fabrication issues I haven’t considered. I’m aware the top hood latch apron will need to be modified but there’s otherwise plenty of unobstructed space between the grill and core support as I recall. If you can think of any other concerns please let me know. Thanks

[PDW HOTRODS]

I have a 78 Malibu front frame under a 53. It's a lot like the S10 front. I used a stock replacement aluminum radiator. I modified the core support and dont need to modify the hood latch support. I raised the radiator a little, cut the core support and moved the top of the radiator forward as far as I could but left the top front of the support. I moved the bottom of the radiator forward a lot farther to just behind the grill.

[FatherandSon]

Thanks for the feedback. No other conflicts in your mods right? I'm going to begin modification today beginning with removing X bars at front of core support then see how far forward I need to go. My thought was to do as you have done if I can and if I need more room to go all the way to the front of core support and modify the apron.

[PDW HOTRODS]

I had to make new mount for the core support anyway because of the subframe. I mounted a 2x2 square tube across the frame in front of the steering box and I used thick wall 1x1 tube for the core support and it mounts to tabs on front of the 2x2. The top of my radiator is about 1 inch forward and the bottom is about 4.5 inch forward. I got the radiator from autocityclassic.com with electric fan. I don't have the lower splash from bottom of grill to core support in. If I use it I will need to modify it.

[FatherandSon]

I was able to fit everything without having to cut the hood latch apron. I just removed the X-brace and top rear lip of the core support and slid both the radiator and shroud inside and forward enough to clear.