An aluminum radiator

for your '60-'66 Chevy/GMC Truck
Jeff S from down Kansas way (fritz1990 on the chevytalk.com forum) shares withus the following on his radiator installation:

I used a universal from Summit Part# 380328. I used the stock lower supports and rubber cushions and split the upper stock support and made two brackets out of it and used 1" X 1/4" flat welded to top of supports. I used some inner tube rubber for cushions for radiator tanks to radiator support and some adhesive to keep inner tube in place.

"It cools my 496 very well. At 103° and it never got over 195° with 180° stat. I am running a stock fan with a Hayden HD Thermal fan clutch part #2797 and a stock long water pump with only a partial shroud. I am having no problems keeping it cool. BTW, there is no trans cooler in these rads. The upper hose is for a 1977 Chevy 1/2 ton PU w/454, the lower hose is for a 1968 Chrysler New Yorker w/440 engine. The reason for this is that the Summit radiators lower connection is at a slight angle towards the drivers side approx 15°. Shorten the hose as needed. I might also note that I am running the 496 in front motor mount holes and I had to drill new holes for lower radiator support brackets to move radiator farther from fan for more clearance. The down side to this is that if I want to take fan off I have to remove rad first I only have about 1/2" - 5/8" clearance from fan clutch to radiator but is giving me no problems. I am thinking if I remove the rad to take fan off for whatever reason about cutting some off the water pump pilot shaft so I won't have to take rad out, it just lacks a frog hair. I used the upper portion of a shroud from a 81 Cadillac then trimmed as necessary just to keep things out of fan while running. Bout all I think there is to doing this install. Will add more if I remember anything but should cover it. Glad I can help!
Regards, Jeff

 
The price of this radiator makes the conversion a very economic alternative to a stock 4-core unit. Anything one can do to make the engine compartment and its components cooler will keep the beast running better longer.

Here's another way to keep that radiator in place:

Brian Cooke from Utah says:

I did a radiator swap as out lined in the article above.  I just though you might want to consider what I did for top brackets.  I took 67 to 72 Chevy truck brackets and just squared the inner part next to the radiator that was curved to sit on the tank.  I used the holes for the old bracket on one side and just drilled a hole for the other side and bolted it down with the same sized bolts.  I put the original rubber from the original bracket inside the new brackets and cut to length.
   
Back to the Idea Page index