The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Searching for a radiator

Where online is a good place to purchase a radiator. How many rows do I need. I have a 350 and hope to have a/c eventually.
Thanks Brady Eldridge

Hey, Brady

I have a 350 in my truck. It had a 2-cell radiator with no shroud, and the fan was sitting low ... I put AC in and the truck would overheat; couldn't really use the AC ... in fact, on Summer days, it would overheat if I wasn't moving, even without the AC being on.

So, I put a Walker Z-Cool, 5-cell radiator in with a 16-inch electric fan and now I never overheat.

You can see my radiator install notes Here.

Next ... I noticed my voltage gauge hitting the basement whenever the electric fan would kick in -- turns out the wiring was done poorly ... so I wound up rewiring my engine area, which made a wonderful difference! You can see that info Here ... and you can see how I wired up my electric fan (with two relays) Here.

PS -- You can buy radiators from Summit or Jegs

Brady-

Many distributors for old trucks have replacement radiators. As Alan noted, they generally will have plenty of capacity. One thought is whether you have an automatic tranny with need for a cooler. That's one option you can look for in purchasing a replacement.

These replacements run ~$250-$300. While used radiators are out there for much less, they really vary in the ability to hold pressure (I own two ebay leakers!). You can have an old one re-cored if you want old metal showing in the engine bay.

Have you checked with a local radiator shop? A lot of them will do custom work for the same price as you can buy one on the net & pay shipping.

I have 350 in my 37 pickup. I found a shop that had a new core which would fit my original top and bottom. We did have to cut out the top "neck" and replace it so I could run a modern pressure cap. All in all the shop charged me $265 and it was a job well done. I then put on an aftermarket 16" fan with a Pusher electric fan I can cut on when needed.(parades etc). It still gets a little warm at times but not much.
It sure beat a $525 aluminum from Griffin!! It also depends on what you do to the 350. Some with HP parts run a little warmer than stock so take all things into consideration. If you have the room add a shroud and you should be fine....under "normal" circumstances!

As 51PhatBoy pointed out, it's a good idea to include a tranny cooler in your purchase, as I did.

I had a side-mounted trans-cooler in my old setup and it was right next to an exhaust pipe -- worthless!

Also, be careful what kind of cap you put on the new rad ... with an old engine, you might not want more than a 7 lb. cap ... to avoid putting too much pressure and creating problems with your engine.