 Aluminum Radiator InstallThe aluminum radiator is working out pretty well. The install presented a challenge or two. From the advice I got off the LCML archives, I decided to go with the 19 x 26" griffin radiator. Actually, when it got down to it I cheeped out even more and got the Summit Radiator, cause it was 10 or 20 bucks cheaper. If I had to do it again, I think I could have actually gone up to the 29" without too much more hassle.
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I also got Summit's radiator mounts (would skip these and make my own if I had to do it over), a
Summit electric fan, a griffin 16lb radiator cap and a Painless wiring electric fan wiring
harness. All together it ended up hitting me for $354.98. Since that wouldn't have even bought
me a Be Cool Radiator or MAF Aluminum radiator as a drop in, I was willing to do a little work to
get it in. I started off by welding the Summit radiator mounts to a piece of channel I'd cut to run across the top of the frame. Then I bought a titanium bit to drill through the frame where the old one had been welded on (lots of patch jobs in 31 years I guess). Being from up north, I detest rust. So I got some 3/8" stainless steel bolts and lock nuts to secure it. I put a rubber stopper between this crossbar and the frame to create a cushion. I've heard aluminum radiators don't hold up to vibration as well, and for the effort it took to isolate it, I figured it was cheap insurance. Then I spray painted the whole thing with Plasti-Coat. You know, the stuff you dip pliers handles in. The radiator now had a cradle to sit in. Now I just needed to keep it from falling backward or forward. I took a piece of 'L' Aluminum and ran it left to right in front of the radiator. I bolted this to the radiator mounts from summit and to two plates I'd made. To these two plates I welded two steel tubes that run at a slight angle down to the frame crossmember right below the grill. This keeps it from going forward to back and the rubber stoppers I put in the summit mounts keep it from moving up and down. The aluminum 'L' also serves as the mounting point for the electric fan (puller configuration). The fan runs down to the lower brace that triangulates it all pretty good. The radiator sits pretty high though, being on top of the frame. In fact, after putting the radiator cap on I had to cut down the rubber isolators to get the hood to close. My motor is still mounted a little low in the frame, so the fan on it is only partially engaging the radiator. I may see if I can just completely get rid of the engine driven fan. How does it run? Pretty good. At idle in the sun with 100deg temps we've been having, it runs right at 200 on the gauge. But I'm pretty sure the gauge is reading high as it's right next to the exhaust manifold. My fan that is supposed to come on at 180 - with the sensor in the manifold (the gauge is in the block) doesn't come on until the gauge is reading 200. I saw as much as 220 on the highway - but again, I think the gauge is off. The other thing working against me is the old radiator was so gunked up before I flushed it (and once flushed it leaked), that after putting this new one on and running it for a while, I started seeing gunk in it. New radiator, so it must be from the passages in the engine! Sunday I put in a 10-minute radiator flush. Drained it all out, then hooked up the lower hose and let the top hose dump out to the ground, and stuck the garden hose in the radiator inlet. I let it run that way until it flowed clear water. As nasty as the water was that came out when I first dumped it, I'm hoping that will give an increase in cooling as well. Still have no fan shroud on the electric or the engine driven fan. And I think it would be fairly easy to make a little sheet metal scoop to direct more air from the crossmember up to the radiator rather than allowing it to escape the engine compartment without passing through the radiator. The flex fan being so much below the radiator is probably encouraging that at this point. I'll take the flex fan off and run it now that the system is all cleaned out and see where I end up temperature wise. I'm definitely running much cooler than before. I was seeing 240-250 (which is where I shut her down on the side of the road for fear of damage) before the radiator change when it was only in the 80's. 'Course before I really get some miles on it to test it out proper I have to adjust my brakes again - sooner or later I'll get them right. I really should have gotten disks rather than dumped all this money into drums. So that's the aluminum radiator saga - probably a little long-winded. 10 years from now when I have to replace it again (hopefully it's that long) I'll probably improve on the mounting a bit and go 1 size larger. |
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 Radiator Top Mounts  Radiator Rubber Mount and Brace  Radiator Front Brace  Radiator Top Heath Vogt |
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