The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Stock Radiator W/V-8 motor

ok i know the older engines ran hotter than modern ones, i know i could put a inline 250 in and cooling wouldn't be an issue but what about a 350 engine? is the stock radiator out of my 37 going to be enough, lol frankly if not its cheaper just to go with a inline "as aftermarket prices are on the silly side"

I have a stock radiator in my 53 with a 350 engine and so far have had no problems cooling it. I also run an electric fan. Just be sure your radiator is in good shape. Like you said-- the aftermarket prices were outrageous. I had mine re-cored at an old school radiator shop for about $225.

i also had mine recored...cost was $216.00......dave

Have the stock rad in my '40, running a 327. I do have an electric pusher fan as well. She would definitely overheat without the extra fan. I had the rad flushed / reconditioned when I built the truck.

have 37 with 350 and ran it for years on the original radiator with a 13" pusher fan as extra. Ran good but would "heat up" in parades.
I have a 52 panel with 305 and have a 4 core orignal style radiator in it and its ran cool sitting idling in the shop for long periods.

There has been mamy threads on here about radiators and the upward cost of them....how ever I've noticed several guys have found good bargains, even with Aluminum, if you check around.
Several here on the bolt have done it. Good luck.

I bought a aftermarket aluminum radiator for my 250 powered '37. It fit reasonably well but not a direct bolt in replacement. My stock radiator cooled OK, even in 100 degree weather it never go hot enough to really worry about. I changed due to the top tank always leaking. The brass was so thin, about once a year the seam would crack due to heating cycles. I finally got tired of pulling it out and repairing it. The new one cools really well, it never gets over thermostat temp, ever!

If yours is in good shape, it will cool just fine as long as you are not running a super high horsepower engine. Stock engines are just fine with old style radiators. You should have it converted to a pressure system and run no more then 4 psi cap. The old cores and brass ends don't like to much more then that. With a open system like stock '37, the coolant that gets pushed out when hot, never gets drawn back in, and over time you can start to run low.

With either a 350 or 250, the radiator and or fan will need some work. Mine has the crank in the same place as the 216 was so the fan blades hung lower then the bottom tank. I have lowered the radiator as much as possible and moved it forward as much as possible and still only have about 1/2" clearance and the blades still go past the core about 1" . Be sure to have the radiator installed and mounted when placing the engine and trans in the frame. I suspect the 350 water pump will also set lower then the 216. If you set the engine high and back, the radiator problems are a lot better, but you end up with a hugh transmission tunnel in the cab, and you really don't want that. The throttle pedal starts to close in on the steering column and brake pedal, ask me how I know that!

E-mail me if you want some pictures of my cooling system or engine locations. Maybe I can help you where I messed up!

Joe

I have the original radiator with a 283. Manual flex fan, burp can and never had any problems. I am running a cap with 14lbs of pressure, so now after Joe H's post I may change it out.

fwiw,,champion raditor in southeren ca.sells a bolt in aluminim.raditor,3 row for less than 300.00for a chev,my truck is a junker gmc,with a 250 6 cyl.they moved the fill tube from the top ,to the front.total 315.00 down side,,no room for stock fan.i am using a 15inch elect....my message for the day bro..

wow joe love the homemade triple carb and exhaust on that wish you could make me a set lol

One other thing, the aluminum Afco I bought was thicker, so even less room, but with a longer lower radiator hose, my coolant system got about 1 gallon bigger. My old radiator had a new core, but this one combined with longer hose held way more coolant.

Joe

Wow,where and when did you have it recored?? Around here it is running around $350.00 since the price of copper went up. And there is only one shop that still dores it. There were 3 others but they don't do it anymore because of the price of copper now and they say it isn't worth it because there isn;t enough business recoring copper radiators. I have one that came out of a 50 3100 truck project laying in the garage. I have been holding on to it hoping that the price of copper will come down and I might get it recored one day, wishful thinking I guess. If not I guess I could always scrap it.

I replaced mine with an aftermarket aluminum unit from Monster Cooling for under $200. They also sell them on Ebay all the time.

It's been 3 or 4 years ago since I had my radiator re-cored. It was not easy to find a shop that still did it. Most shops have no idea how to do it and only sell new units.