Fitting The New Radiator

I have mocked up the radiator and air-conditioning condensor to determine the amount of room I will have between the radiator and the crankshaft-pulley/water-pump. The water pump in this photo is the short water pump I bought from Stewart. Notice how much shorter it is than the old pump shown in one of the previous photos. I have decided AGAINST the use of this radiator. It is an older radiator out of an early Ford. What I do not like about this radiator is its use of a down-flow design instead of the newer cross-flow design. I have read articles that claim the down-flow design is more prone to overflow because the pressure cap is subjected to higher pressure due to its placement on the "high pressure" side of the radiator. The newer cross-flow radiators have the pressure cap located on the "suction" side of the radiator and are therefore less likely to overflow. This may or may not be true but I have opted to use a universal cross-flow aluminum radiator anyway. I ordered a Be-Cool universal fit radiator (part # 65005) from Performance Automotive Warehouse. It is slightly shorter and wider than this current radiator which will give me additional hood clearance (I have to eat these words later!). The radiator measures 22"W x 19"H. The manufacturer claims it reduces the water temperature more than a copper and brass radiator of equal size Who knows? It may or may not. I selected the aluminum radiator because I wanted a NEW radiator and it will reduce the weight by a couple of pounds. I ordered a Flex-a-lite Black Magic electric fan (#M150) and shroud that is sold for use on Ford 5.0 radiators and will use this combination in place of an engine driven fan. The fan pulls 2800 CFM of air and draws 13.8 amps (I have started thinking about a high-capacity single-wire alternator). I will have additional freedom to mount the radiator since I will not have to worry about alignment of a belt driven fan to the radiator.

I received the new radiator and began to test fit it so I could decide the best method of mounting it. I set it into place and discovered that the lower hose outlet and the petcock were blocked by the front body mounts. After a little cutting and sawing, the body mounts no longer posed a problem. I will have to do a little metal work to strengthen what remains of the mounts. I set the radiator into place and began to admire my handy work when I started to suspect the radiator cap looked a little high when compared to the upper plane of the engine compartment. I placed the hood (bonnet) in position and GUESS WHAT?!??? Yep, the !(#(*&!^!#*&^%@*$ hood rested on the radiator cap and required about 1-1/2" of additional clearance for the hood to sit correctly. The problem was that the hood has a strengthening brace that runs across the hood and is about 1" deep. The radiator lined up perfectly with the brace (AARGGHH!!!). If the radiator had been in front or behind the brace, I do not believe there would have been a clearance problem. I thought about tilting the radiator but could not convince myself that this was what I wanted to do. Cutting the brace was never considered as an option. My only recourse was to lower the radiator.

The front skid plate is directly underneath the radiator, supports the front sway bar, and is bolted to the frame. I noticed the radiator rested on what can be best described as a ledge formed by part of the skid plate. If I could lower the ledge, it would give me about 2-1/4" of additional clearance which would be more than enough to clear the hood. My first thought was to simply cut away the ledge and install the radiator. Once I looked at the front of the car it became apparent that the radiator would become the curb guard - and not a very good one at that! I needed a way to protect the lower portion of the radiator.

I finally decided to carefully cut out the ledge, rotate it to form an extension to the lower skid plate and weld it back into place. After I cut out the ledge (using a combination of a cut-off blade in my angle grinder and a reciprocating saw), I placed the radiator into the skid plate to examine side clearance. It just barely fit but I was very concerned that normal vehicle vibration could cause the radiator to touch the skid plate and eventually wear a hole into the side tanks. I needed a way to gain about 1/8" to 3/16" total side clearance. I decided that the thickness of the skid plate side walls was just enough. If I cut off the towing/tie-down "ears" and welded a new plate on the outside, this would give me the clearance I needed. The upper picture shows the "ears" I am talking about. The front of the skid plate has two large holes that I surmise are used to towing and tie-downs. I cut off these "ears" and welded a new piece of metal to the outside of the skid plate. The lower photo shows these plates and if you compare the two photos you can tell where I have made the cuts. I had to bend a tab in the plates to maintain the spacing and allow the plates to be welded in place. The clearance between the radiator and the sides of the skid plate is now adequate to prevent damage.

After welding and painting, I remounted the skid plate. The radiator was placed in its desired location and I put the hood (bonnet) back on. PERFECT!! I had about 1" clearance between the hood and the radiator cap, the lower portion of the radiator was protected by the skid plate, and the clearance between the radiator and the sides of the skid plate was adequate. A test fit of the plastic air dam showed that it would hide the lower portion of the radiator and skid plate from sight. This front view also shows the radiator will receive plenty of cooling air. Since I never modified the lower portion of the skid plate, the sway bar will be reattached in the original position.

An inside view showing the radiator sitting in the skid plate. I have two mounting brackets made for the radiator to rest in. These brackets have rubber cushioning to prevent the brackets from wearing a hole in the radiator. The brackets will be bolted to the skid plate using 1/4" bolts. You may be able to see that I still have strengthen and modify the front body mounting brackets.

This picture shows the amount of room left between the front of the car and the radiator. I will mount the Air Conditioning condensor in this space.