The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Griffin Radiator (1950 Chevy Pickup)

Hey guys,

I just picked up a 1950 Chevy Pickup with a 454 engine and a bunch of goodies (350 turbo trans, vintage AC, door poppers, electric windows, digital dash, etc.).

It's been chopped, shaved and channelled (still don't know what all that means -- I know what chopped is though - grin).

I have the privilege of trying to put all this stuff back together after his ground up restore. The first thing I want to do is get the hood to close. With the radiator in it now, it won't.

The former owner said to buy a custom griffin and cut part off the top area near the hood latch so that the hood would close.

Has anyone done something like this? Is Griffin the radiator of choice?

Any help would be appreciated and I'm learning from scratch.

Thanks!

Steve

Recoil,
Are you saying that your radiator is too tall causing the interference? Is the hood hitting the radiator? Or is it a front to rear radiator location the problem. I don't know anything about the name Griffin but just visited their site.

http://griffinrad.com/start.php

I'd be careful about cutting away the support at the front of the hood. I just removed mine so that I can restore the hood and it is real flimsy without that brace.

I will take some pictures and upload them. I don't want to do anything wrong.

The previous owner said that putting in a 454 didn't allow him to use the radiator that was there. He mentioned getting a custom Griffin and cutting.

I thought I'd ask if there were other options since I don't really want to cut anything if I don't have to.

This is a great forum by the way.

Thanks guys!
Steve

Sounds to me like the previous owner pie cut the hood. The "Pie Cut" takes a section off the side of the hood and makes for a lower side profile. This would make the hood closer to the radiator. I'll wait for the pictures to see how high the radiator is above the radiator support.

I haven't had time to take close-ups, but these are the pics that were shot of the truck before I owned it. I thought I'd post them for now.

http://www.eleanorclub.com/photo/showgallery.php?cat=506&password=

Steve

the radiator dosent look any higher than normal are you shure there is not a problem somwer else, like latch out of alingment? or bent hood?
just checking because I have seen lots of all stock trucks that the hood would not close properly

CAR!? %#^$###%$&$%(*!!!

:p

So, about how long is that bed there, recoil? It looks longer than the 6 feet plus one...

-W

Woogeroo
apperntly some people ar not aqainted whith the sin of calling Stovebolts "car's" :p

Ack.

You know. I went to edit my post the day I wrote it but didn't see the edit button (I was pretty tired).

I haven't measured the bed. I didn't think the prev owner did anything there.

This is my first truck fellas!

Steve

Just a few comments on the entire package. The bed is a long bed, which on Chevy came only with the 3/4 ton (3600 series) trucks. Shaving means removing exterior appliances such as door handles and filling in indentions and holes. Channeling means closing up the C section of the frame by welding sheet across it, or replacing the frame with rectangular tube. If these answers aren't correct, call Shirley MacLaine.

On your radiator, I can't tell from the photos just what has been done. It appears the housing has been raised, but I'm not sure. Also, I can't tell from the photos if the hood has been chopped, but I don't think so. A true side shot of the hood would allow comparison. I'm assuming you're going with an electric fan, which should give you more room for a deeper core. I would check into having a radiator built for the truck, a good local shop can help here. You might also check with some of the hi-performance dealers and see what has been done by others, not to many here have stuffed anything this big into an AD truck.

Fred,

Thanks for the information! I'm slowly learning some of this. I am going to take more pictures when I am back from vacation.

I was thinking about going with an electric one -- or the Griffin (if that's what people usually do with these trucks).

Question: What constitutes an AD truck?

Thanks guys - this forum is awesome.

Steve

Shirley just called and asked me to do some channeling for her:

Channeling is lowering the body on the frame. In the pictures this truck doesn't look channeled to me. The floor appears to be in the stock location, which would almost have to change if it where channeled.

Closing up the frame is called 'boxing' the frame.

In this case AD stands for Advance Design and is applied to the first post-war truck design which became available during 1947. With some changes the AD trucks continued to be available into early 1955.

I've always found it a little amusing that the '41 to '47 trucks were called Art Deco and could also be called AD...

Automobile Collector Magazine has a great article about these trucks in an issue I picked up in an airport a couple weeks ago.

Thanks for contacting Shirley. My brain took a vacation due to overload with two nephews from hell at Christmas. I need to medicate it with some beer to get things working properly again.

I've got beer in the fridge if you want to stop by.

Hmmm, and I've always thought "boxing" a frame was closing up the C channel or replacing with tubing. Placing a sheet across it was always called tunneling...

OH SHIRLEY>>>>...

BTW, which one of you guys has her number?
(no beer, but I did get a hell of a nice bottle of single malt for Christmas) :p