Stovebolters; Please see enclosed 2 pictures. I am building a 52 3100 on an Art Morrison frame with LS3 and T56. I am struggling to find a combination of cooling system and serpentine system that will fit between stock radiator frame and whatever serpentine system I wind up selecting. Example: One vendor's "accessory system" (serpentine system) protrudes 6.902 inches from the engine block at max. One vendor's radiator, shroud and fan requires 7 inches. The LS3 radiator has to be 3 inches of that 7 inches. The rest of the 7 inches is shroud and fan. I only have 10.25 inches between the flat front of the engine block and the start of the radiator frame side rail. Compounding this, the condenser and dryer has to go in front of the radiator. Before you say "you are cooked son", I know that there are instances of 47-53 Chevy 3100's with AME frames and LS3 engines. I will seek out some examples when I go to NSRA Nationals in August. In the meantime, if any of you have wisdom to share on this topic, I am all ears. I have researched fans and can save 1.5 inches by going to the slimmest electric fan, but that is not recommended for 525 HP configuration. I can gain an inch by mounting the radiator INSIDE of the radiator frame on say 1 inch spacers, rather than the usual place of mounting the radiator on the back of the radiator frame. Bottom line... I can easily see my way to 11.5 inches but as I said, there is only 10.25 inches to play with. Another option is to change motor mounts to move LS3 back a bit more. So... the problem is solvable but I am hoping that there is someone out there who has the experience to tell me what to do rather than having me make 23 mistakes before I settle on a solution. Thank you all for caring to help me think this through.
