As I said in another post, I found a brand new heavy duty SPI dual core aluminum radiator on Craigslist for a $100 and planned on putting it in my truck today.

Archion confirmed that the shroud was different than my wimpy single core and I found the correct shroud today while at the yard.

When I was pulling the junk radiator out to get the shroud out, I noticed that some trucks have a totally different mounting system for the radiator.

My stock single core (and some multi-core) radiators sit in two rubber "U" shaped bushings on the bottom. This one (as well as many others that I looked at today) have plastic tabs that stick out from the tank on both sides that support the radiator.

To make a long story short, I now have to change out my entire radiator support to be able to use this new radiator. It turned out to be a good thing because my existing one is pretty beat by the battery tray and there is a lot of rot/rust near the bottom.

I found a mint correct one today and I'm heading back to get it tomorrow. What I thought would be about an hour job tops just turned into a major project.

 

What core support are you going to use? I'm not aware of any different style of radiator used in these trucks. The 95 core support I have used the same radiator as my 85 core support.

 

Hmmmm, if you pull up the link i posted earlier and look at a CU131, the all metal Rad, it mounts the same way as the CU1451. something smells wierd... It sits in the aforementioned rubber bushings in the bottom, and bolts in with the two wings on top. That radiator will fit all the way up to 96 on the 150, and 97 on the Super Dutys. The only different mounting that I know of is the Diesels.

 

I have a huge massive 4 core factory in my current 90 150, and in the shed I have a replacement 2 core (where each core is twice as wide as stock) from old blue (also a 90 150) both used the rubber U-thingies.

are you sure this is a truck radiator, or even a ford?

 

Guys, I have been looking at thousands of F Series trucks and Broncos.

There are two different ways to mount the radiators.

1) Rubber "U" shaped bushings that sit directly beneath the tanks on older brass radiators.

2) Rubber "U" shaped bushings that sit off to the sides on plastic tank - aluminum core radiators. They are attached to the sides of the plastic tanks about 1/4 of the way up from the bottom.

Trust me, I have looked at it enough to realize that I either have to replace my radiator support (which I need to do any way because of rust), or cut the side saddles off of another support and weld them onto mine.

I'd rather just change the support and be done with it. I already found a mint one for about $23. I just need to go pull it off the truck in the yard.

I'll see if I can get a pic of the new radiator to show you what I'm talking about.

 

What is the part # of the new SPI radiator?
Here is the all metal CU131

 

and here is the 2 row P/A

 

Part number is: CU1451A

The stock radiator that is in there now does not have the "ears" on the sides of the plastic tanks. And, there are two straps with rubber "U" bushings at the top that hold it in place. Unlike the aluminum radiators that bolt directly to the support.

A lot of other trucks that I looked at yesterday have the same setup as mine: Rubber "U" bushings sit directly beneath the tanks in between the the bottom of the radiator and the radiator support.

Then again, a lot of trucks that I looked at yesterday use the newer style radiator that have the "ears" on the tanks to support the bottom.

My radiator support does not have the "cradles" for the "ears" to rest in. Like I said, no big deal. Mine is not that great any way. I just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that they are different.

Until yesterday, I thought they were all the same except for the diesel.

Here is the one that I bought for a Benjamin:

 

I'm sure you know what you're talking about stosh, I think you spend more time in the junkyard than I do at home. I wasn't aware there was a different way to mount the radiators in these trucks. Was it something that was changed during model years, or was it just dependent on the style radiator that came with the truck?

 

That's the thing. I thought maybe it was a 87+ thing, but even the 80/86 trucks that I looked at had either type of mounts. It didn't matter what size engine it had in it either.

I looked at another truck today (was thinking of buying some parts off of it - private owner) and it too had the same mounting style as mine. Under the tank supports.

 

I just looked in my old DPI book here at work, the 80-84 gas engines used a saddle mount radiator like a gm, part #'s CU557 through CU561, forgot about that one...lol 85-96(97SD) used the wing style.

 

Well then, that would SPLAIN it!

 

Heck, I thought your truck was newer than that... it's too clean

 

That's correct. The core support changed in 1985. I did the same thing as you did, and found that my core support was rusted at the bottom, and found out that only the 1985 and 1986 were direct replacements.

I would stick with the single core radiator. You will find the stock Ford single row radiator is much WIDER (not thicker) than the others. The extra width means more efficient cooling, and the fan shroud is much bigger as well, and that means more air for your engine. I just replaced mine ONLY because it was 24 years old (1985) and it was easy to do while the support was out. In all those years, it NEVER ran hot, not even close. I live in SC where the summers are brutal and A/C is a must.

 

Thats some handy info to have.