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Postmaster
Joined: Feb 2000
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From: Auburn,Al
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got a questin about yourrear mount radiator.....im not sure if you drive on the road much or not, but i have heard that the radiators mounted int he back like thattend to cool fine at low speeds, but once you get to highway speeds, they cant ge tmuch air and the vehicle runs hot until you slow back down.
im thinking of doing this with mine, but i drive ont he road occasionally
also..did you just run a normal ford 3 core??? and how many/what size fans you run?
im thinking of doing this with mine, but i drive ont he road occasionally
also..did you just run a normal ford 3 core??? and how many/what size fans you run?
Post Fiend
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 8,238
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From: Oregon
Yea, it cools fine as long as you build it a proper shroud and use good dual fans. As a point of pride I drive it to the competitions if they are close enough, and have driven two hours on the freeway in the summer with it not overheating. Also, using copper lines helps dissapate the heat, as well as all the extra coolant it provides. I have a 4-core radiator and dual fans which were each yanked out of a fiero. So, my recipe for a rear mount rad that will cool a serious motor is:
180 t-stat
copper plumbing, 1 1/2 ID w brazed connections
4 core radiator
dual fans with shrouds
top of the rad needs to be close to the same height as the top of the cab
marine relay and heavy wiring.
I have a piece black sheetmetal enclosing the entire grill and front of the engine compartment to keep out mud. Even with this seriously prohibiting air flow to the engine the above set-up does not overheat. I do have to take off the sheet metal if I'm driving it on the roads and its in the upper 80s+ though, and then its fine. Hope that helped buddy...glad you posted that here cuz I get asked it allot and now it will be in the search database.
Believe it or not the radiator setup is usually the first thing people ask me about my truck when they see it.
180 t-stat
copper plumbing, 1 1/2 ID w brazed connections
4 core radiator
dual fans with shrouds
top of the rad needs to be close to the same height as the top of the cab
marine relay and heavy wiring.
I have a piece black sheetmetal enclosing the entire grill and front of the engine compartment to keep out mud. Even with this seriously prohibiting air flow to the engine the above set-up does not overheat. I do have to take off the sheet metal if I'm driving it on the roads and its in the upper 80s+ though, and then its fine. Hope that helped buddy...glad you posted that here cuz I get asked it allot and now it will be in the search database.
Believe it or not the radiator setup is usually the first thing people ask me about my truck when they see it.
Post Fiend
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 8,238
Likes: 3
From: Oregon
Nope, no misprint. You can see in my gallery how high mine is. Its not quite as high as the top of the cab but its up there. The reason so many guys have over heating problems is that they have it so far down the slipstream coming over the cab completely misses it. It needs to be higher than the engine anyways. I theorized that having it up higher, and angled with the bottem kicked out a bit (just like the slipstream would be coming over) would cool more effectively. This does seem to be the case. I would think that since my 460 in punched out stroked out to 514 with a 10:5.1 compression and it cools it easily even in the summer this setup will work for anybody.
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Postmaster
Joined: Feb 2000
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From: Auburn,Al
why did you not just use aluminized exhaust tubing, does copper cool that much better?
is it a ford factory 4 core rad or what?
i figured id ask ya about it on here since it will be here for a long time......if anyone searches.......
is it a ford factory 4 core rad or what?
i figured id ask ya about it on here since it will be here for a long time......if anyone searches.......
Post Fiend
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 8,238
Likes: 3
From: Oregon
Thought I'd check in on this before I gorge myself with turkey 
I didn't think a stock water pump would be up to snuff, but out of a morbid curiousity I left mine in to see what would happen. Two years and going so I'd say a stock pump is fine. I have a thermostat housing that has a bleeder screw on top...whenever I have to drain/refill the system I crack that a hair and let the steam work its way out untill I get only water. You ask an important question, as you have to be very carefull to bleed air out of these setups when you fill them otherwise you will get hot spots.
Ho~ It pains me to reveal this to you all, but if memory serves its a four core out a suburban, its a little larger than the Ford stocker. Hey, its not really a chevy product anyways. A Four core out of a Ford would be fine, provided you can fit dual fans on it. I've got an earlier four core on my '72 and its not really wide enough for the dual fans I have now, or the ones you can from Summit. I think aluminized exhaust tubing would work, I just think copper is better...heavier duty, more durable, and easy to braze.
I didn't think a stock water pump would be up to snuff, but out of a morbid curiousity I left mine in to see what would happen. Two years and going so I'd say a stock pump is fine. I have a thermostat housing that has a bleeder screw on top...whenever I have to drain/refill the system I crack that a hair and let the steam work its way out untill I get only water. You ask an important question, as you have to be very carefull to bleed air out of these setups when you fill them otherwise you will get hot spots.
Ho~ It pains me to reveal this to you all, but if memory serves its a four core out a suburban, its a little larger than the Ford stocker. Hey, its not really a chevy product anyways. A Four core out of a Ford would be fine, provided you can fit dual fans on it. I've got an earlier four core on my '72 and its not really wide enough for the dual fans I have now, or the ones you can from Summit. I think aluminized exhaust tubing would work, I just think copper is better...heavier duty, more durable, and easy to braze.
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Postmaster
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From: Auburn,Al
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Do you use some sort of vibration damper (a flex conection) on the copper pipe?..A piece of rad. hose between connections?..I know at work we use them (copper flex, not the rad. hose) on the bigger AC compressors to help keep the copper lines from becoming work hardened from vibration which weakens it..Just wondering..