Truckoholic
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- Colorado Springs, CO
Okay, so some of you might remember that I discovered my radiator was completely shot beyond repair. It was so badly corroded throughout all the water passages that it just could not be fixed. Well, I did not want to have to spend between $650-$1000 for a new radiator, and that's all I was finding them for. So, I live just an hour and a half from Summit Racing's Sparks Nevada store, so I decided to go there and see what kinds of universal radiators they had in stock. Ended up coming home with a 27x20 inch Afco Aluminum radiator with both the input and outputs on the passenger side to lign up with the hoses on the engine for $235.
Through the application of lots of bends, and hose reducers, and things for about $100 additional, I was able to make the connections. And since the radiator had to be mounted lower than the highest water passages in the engine, I mounted a remote coolant rervoir up high on the firewall in order to keep the system full. I made some custom radiator mounts out of some angle iron and other steel I had sitting around, and it is very firmly mounted, and looks really good.
Took it for a long test drive today, and it seems to work great! Keeps the engine within normal operating temperature even when climbing a long steep hill. The hottest it got was 190 according to the water temp guage and my thermal imaging camera.
I will have to see how it works in the long run, but so far it looks very promising and I am quite pleased with how it turned out, even if I did end up with some goofy looking hose connections. ha ha
Total cost, somewhere around $350 and a trip to Reno, and a couple more trips to my local hardware and auto parts stores, as opposed to a minimum of $650 for a stock radiator plus shipping, and having to wait weeks for it to get here!
So here are some pics.
![2012-04-23_22-28-29_474.jpg 2012-04-23_22-28-29_474.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237796-4abc5b0887aeca59dcb3cfc3c9c45ddb.jpg)
![2012-04-23_22-28-40_144.jpg 2012-04-23_22-28-40_144.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237797-05deae81672f4811bdffe21d431e2b48.jpg)
![2012-04-23_22-29-20_278.jpg 2012-04-23_22-29-20_278.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237798-9728c7fe2b9ae42df4817a851e520521.jpg)
![2012-04-24_11-09-54_733.jpg 2012-04-24_11-09-54_733.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237799-f5d5dd3fd47f8846323f7fa017f79a22.jpg)
![2012-04-24_11-09-36_72.jpg 2012-04-24_11-09-36_72.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237800-1a396c5d7450d6f8dc0e12f2c62a2478.jpg)
![2012-04-24_11-10-48_184.jpg 2012-04-24_11-10-48_184.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237801-c25954179d010770b66b048e7590fdc8.jpg)
Through the application of lots of bends, and hose reducers, and things for about $100 additional, I was able to make the connections. And since the radiator had to be mounted lower than the highest water passages in the engine, I mounted a remote coolant rervoir up high on the firewall in order to keep the system full. I made some custom radiator mounts out of some angle iron and other steel I had sitting around, and it is very firmly mounted, and looks really good.
Took it for a long test drive today, and it seems to work great! Keeps the engine within normal operating temperature even when climbing a long steep hill. The hottest it got was 190 according to the water temp guage and my thermal imaging camera.
I will have to see how it works in the long run, but so far it looks very promising and I am quite pleased with how it turned out, even if I did end up with some goofy looking hose connections. ha ha
Total cost, somewhere around $350 and a trip to Reno, and a couple more trips to my local hardware and auto parts stores, as opposed to a minimum of $650 for a stock radiator plus shipping, and having to wait weeks for it to get here!
So here are some pics.
![2012-04-23_22-28-29_474.jpg 2012-04-23_22-28-29_474.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237796-4abc5b0887aeca59dcb3cfc3c9c45ddb.jpg)
![2012-04-23_22-28-40_144.jpg 2012-04-23_22-28-40_144.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237797-05deae81672f4811bdffe21d431e2b48.jpg)
![2012-04-23_22-29-20_278.jpg 2012-04-23_22-29-20_278.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237798-9728c7fe2b9ae42df4817a851e520521.jpg)
![2012-04-24_11-09-54_733.jpg 2012-04-24_11-09-54_733.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237799-f5d5dd3fd47f8846323f7fa017f79a22.jpg)
![2012-04-24_11-09-36_72.jpg 2012-04-24_11-09-36_72.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237800-1a396c5d7450d6f8dc0e12f2c62a2478.jpg)
![2012-04-24_11-10-48_184.jpg 2012-04-24_11-10-48_184.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/237/237801-c25954179d010770b66b048e7590fdc8.jpg)
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