So I pulled my son's truck back into the yard so I can do a bit of work on it over the next few weeks. I have a C5 to put in and that got me thinking about needing a radiator for it so I came here and did some research for a cheaper alternative to a bolt in unit. That led me to the 70's Dodge truck radiator and I took some measurements off the old flat head V8 unit in the truck to compare to what the book over at Napa had to say. I get over their and start looking through the book with a friend who works their and find the Dodge unit and he punches a few numbers in the computer and says I think we have one of those up stairs. He comes back about 5 minutes later with a box of dust! Turns out they have had one of these on the shelve for the past 20+ years, never opened or removed from the original packaging until tonight. We pull it out and it looks like it was made yesterday and the size looks to be good as well. So I ask "How much for that old thing" and he tells me he has to ask his uncle (the owner) because it is not in the computer with any pricing. Comes back a few minutes later and tells me $95 + tax

So over the next few days I will be modifying the mounts to pull it as far forward as I can and make it so it is a bolt in unit. I am running a fairly healthy 351W with EFI and hope this will do the trick. My flex plate and converter will be in in the morning so I can pull the motor and get those parts in as well then start working on the fuel system so I can fire it up in the next few weeks depending on customer builds.

Sorry for the long winded post but I was stoked when I found this tonight and it would not have happened it I did not have this board for info.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

<a href="http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p74/calorchard/f100/?action=view&current=PICT0039.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p74/calorchard/f100/PICT0039.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Mine out of a 72 Plymouth ... not a truck but close and cheap.

 

I have several roadrunner b body mopar radiators from my 6pac days. So these will bolt right in to a 53-56 f100? NEVER KNEW THAT?

 

I wish the F1's were that easy of a bolt in but that would not leave any fan room. I am going to cut the stock mounting flanges off this morning and relocate them towards the front of the radiator support for an extra 1.5" of space. I will take some pics along the way.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

I have some pitcures of what I did to my 49 support posted in my gallery that might be of help to you

 

I'm running a 75 Dodge truck radiator in my 48 F-1 with a long water pump SBC and even have room for a mechanical clutch fan. It's a three row and was originally used with a 360 Dodge V8 so it does a great job of cooling.

 

Well I just finished with the mods to the radiator support and once the paint dries I will get a few pics. I hope to have enough room for a mech fan as well but we will see. I have a 351W with a 5.0L serp set up on it so that may push me farther forward then a V belt set up I really don't know. I have always ran elect fans with this motor when it was my my early Bronco but would rather have a mech with a nice shroud for simplicity.

Here is a link to the rest of the build so far.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Well it went in real easy but I may want to slide it down about 2.5" and that means cutting into the bottom of the radiator mount. Right now I have 6" from center of my water pump to the bottom of the core and I would like to have 8"+ in order to use a 18" mech fan and shroud. The set up now is perfect for an elect fan but think I will mod it for a good old fashion mech unit. I only have 3.475" from the water pump snub to the core and about 1/2" from the snub back to my accessories so I think a clutch fan is out (unless you guys know of one that will work on a reverse rotation pump and that space) and a flex fan may be the ticket.

On to the mod, I just ground out the 6 rivets that hold the radiator mounts and then bolted them to the radiator. I then laid the radiator support over the radiator and market were I needed to cut. After I cut the mounts the radiator fit nice and flush with the front of the support and this gave me another 1.650" of fan clearance. I welded the mounts back onto the support and drilled the 2 center mounting holes in the radiator side mounts so all 6 are being used and added some fresh rattle can paint to the whole thing and called it good for now until I decide on the fan set up.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

Projection before chop.
[IMG][/IMG]

stock mount
[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

New projection
[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

 

I have the same Dodge radiator in my 49 with a 383 Chxxy (note that I will spell out Dodge but not chxxy!). I use the truck V8 mount holes, a Zips water pump setup which raises the Centerline of the pump/fan 5" such that I run a well centered 18" mechanical fan with a thermal clutch and my SS shroud. You can see it all in my gallery. The sbc engines are generally an easier fit in our trucks imho. Does Snow White make a raised pump setup for the SBF?

Edit: I checked Snow Whites website. They make a water pump risor for a SBC but only make a shortie pump for a SBF.

 

It would be nice if they made an offset water pump. But right now I have more time then money I decided to re-mod my first mount set up and get the radiator centered and forward so I can run an 18" fan and thermo clutch as well. I have it half way done and I will post pics later with it all mounted up and ready to start the shroud. I just was not happy with it being so close to working with a mech fan that I had to change things up a bit. So my local Napa had the fan and clutch so I now have that for mock up and I hope to end up with at least 1" between the fan and radiator then my shroud will be about 2/3rds out over the fan.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

Well I have the new mounting done for the Radiator so I have 1"+ between the fan and core. What I did was added support to the outer lower corners of the radiator support then started shaving things down until I had the radiator as low as it could go. I am now 8.5" from center of water pump to the lower edge of the core so I gained 2.5" and now I will have 17.5" of the 18" fan directly over the core. I then had to make new radiator mounts that pushed the radiator another 1.5" forward of were I had moved it before. I started on the fan shroud tonight and will finish it up in the monday. The fan and Thermo clutch are for a 92 5.0L with reverse rotation pumps and I feel this will really pull a lot of air for this motor. Here are a few pics and if you have any questions just ask.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[IMG][/IMG]

I also smoothed and plated the rest of the inside corners but did not get a pic for some reason. I will take one during the shroud build pics. I did not leave it this ugly

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

 

Your conversion looks good. I'm going with a 283 Chevy in my '50. As Willard stated the engine/fan configuration sits low in relation to the radiator. I hope I can modify similar to yours so I don't have to use a fan riser.
Can anyone provide a number for the Dodge 3 row radiator? All I can find is a 2 row!
Tim

 

If you want to run a sbc with a mechanical fan I would use the Zip's waterpump risor. With the risor the fan is essentially dead center on the dodge truck radiator meaning that the stock sbc fan will be 5 inches below the center of the radiator (unless you are running a stock radiator in which case you will be almost 7 inches below center-stock radiator is taller than the Dodge-unless you want to raise the engine way up-not a good idea imho).
You may do a acceptable job of cooling the coldest water (bottom half) of the radiator but not the top where the warmest water is. I think that it is pick your poison, buy the Zips housing or put in an electric fan. That is where I came out. All that said, a stock 283 power output and heat output should be quite a bit less than my 383 stroker sbc.
From the pics above it looks like the 351W fan centerline is significantly higher than the sbc. Score one for Ford!

 

Ok the shroud is finished until it is time to paint! I like how it turned out and kind of has that old feel to it.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

 

Last 3 pics.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]