Universal Radiator Installation

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MB43

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I've got a brandy new Summit universal radiator, one of these:

sum-380425_w.jpg


Now, the big question... how do I mount it? Has anybody else installed one of these? Got some pictures of how you did it?

I also got a Summit universal radiator mounting kit:

sum-380100.jpg


but I can't make heads or tails of that.

Help!
 
mikelbeck said:
I've got a brandy new Summit universal radiator, one of these:

sum-380425_w.jpg


Now, the big question... how do I mount it? Has anybody else installed one of these? Got some pictures of how you did it?

I also got a Summit universal radiator mounting kit:

sum-380100.jpg


but I can't make heads or tails of that.

Help!
Click to expand...


I put one of those in my 1970, I purchased mine on ebay from a vendor (looks identical to yours) and used there 90 degree angle brackets. I welded them to the sides of the rad and bolted it up to the car. Super Simple job! The brackets i used also matched the radiator and gave it a real clean look. I will see if I can find those brackets and post a pic as well....Hang on..BRB

Aaron

19.JPG
 
thats the same brackets that I got from FBO. Good stuff. Don has a great price as well.
 
Yeah, it's made by Northern, says so right on the side.

The bad part is I have no welding skills. :-(

So I guess the other brackets I have are useless?
 
mikelbeck said:
Yeah, it's made by Northern, says so right on the side.

The bad part is I have no welding skills. :-(

So I guess the other brackets I have are useless?
Click to expand...

Useless??...Well, thats up to you. If you can find a way to make them work. Personally, I prefer the other brackets. They are "cleaner looking" and hidden out of the way. You can always have them tig welded on for you at just about any machine shop. Just make sure they know what they are doing as welding aluminum can sometimes be tricky. You dont want to blow right through them (Ive seen it happen) so be careful! Oh, these are good rads, they dont use any epoxy to hold the tanks on (which tend to break up and leak from heating up and cooling down over and over again). All welded construction. Can you tell I was impressed by them??...LOL
 
I've used those brackets before. You can bolt the two "L" shaped ones to the existing radiator mount holes on the bottom, but you'll have to figure something out for the top. I drilled a couple holes in the top of the core support and in the top flange of the radiator. If I had to do it over again (I will when I do my Charger) I would get some aluminum angle and get it tig'd onto the tanks so that I could bolt it to the frame rails. Then run maybe a stabilizer bracket on top just to make sure it doesn't wiggle around.
 
I just put a Crossflow rad from a 91 chev half ton into my 65 valiant, I used a piece of channel iron wide enough to drop the rad into, and slipped some windlace style steel reinforced weatherstrip on the allum rad middle section to insulate from the steel.. no welding required.. the lower channel is supported by adjustable redi rod supports, bolted down to the belly pan.. the upper channel is supported to the front with a couple
of braces. No shroud yet, but I made an alluminum fan shield
Looks good and is working well.
 
Would anyone happen to have the summit part number for this radiator, and also how does it do at cooling a big block?
 
That one is sum-380425. I don't know about how it'd do with a big block, I'm still working on getting it going for my small block.
 
Aren't those brackets really heavy?

Looks like that thing won't ever move, though...
 
I didn't weigh them but I think with the lightweight alum rad as compared to original, It's not much of a difference if any.. And I'm not racing it either.
 
Ok I'll probably get beat up for this one, but why not head over to Home Depot... get some 2"x2'x 1/16 flat metal stock Maybe1/8"???. Cut some 6" legnths. Put those suckers in a vise one at a time. Get frustrations out with hammer..lol Make 3 "J" or fishhook looking pieces for the bottom. Then make two Z looking pieces with 90 corners and mount horizontally on side up top. That's what I'd do....

Tools: Ruler, Marker, Hammer, Vise, Hacksaw and Drill

Cost: Probably $5 in material

Ingenuity: Floridian redneck, Do it yourselfer...hehe


I'll be fabbing up bumper brackets for my Fiberglass bumpers soon. I'll See what I come up with n post pics of course.

As Allways, I hope this helps, Eric
 
Ken, thanks for the photos. I never even thought about putting a 1/2 ton rad in my 66, but now I'll have to go a-lookin'. My old rad is getting pretty worn and tattered after all these years. :)

Also, you should put some pics of your car in your Garage. That's a nice looking machine you have there.
 
Eric_S68 said:
Ok I'll probably get beat up for this one, but why not head over to Home Depot... get some 2"x2'x 1/16 flat metal stock Maybe1/8"???. Cut some 6" legnths. Put those suckers in a vise one at a time. Get frustrations out with hammer..lol Make 3 "J" or fishhook looking pieces for the bottom. Then make two Z looking pieces with 90 corners and mount horizontally on side up top. That's what I'd do....

Tools: Ruler, Marker, Hammer, Vise, Hacksaw and Drill

Cost: Probably $5 in material

Ingenuity: Floridian redneck, Do it yourselfer...hehe


I'll be fabbing up bumper brackets for my Fiberglass bumpers soon. I'll See what I come up with n post pics of course.

As Allways, I hope this helps, Eric
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did with my Jeg's Universal Radiator.....I used 1/8" aluminum and bent it myself and bolted it in. Even made my own electric fan brackets:

radfan.JPG
 
Will do OldVart !! ( re the pics) I have to take some new exterior shots.. the rad I put in cost 40 dollars at the wreckers.. fittings,
and parts anout 50 $.
 
ken5124 said:
Will do OldVart !! ( re the pics) I have to take some new exterior shots.. the rad I put in cost 40 dollars at the wreckers.. fittings,
and parts anout 50 $.
Click to expand...

We'll wait for the new pics. :) Did you have any problems with the large top and bottom hoses fitting and was your bottom one heading in the right direction for your water pump outlet? I should have looked more closely at your photos. :scratch:
 
I was able to use the same bottom hose, the rad I found had the right
inlet and outlets.water pump fitting on passenger side. the upper hose I found a little longer hose with one end
slightly smaller at Parts Source.. auto trans cooler fittings are now on the
passenger side.. Hope that helps!!
 
Eric_S68 said:
Ok I'll probably get beat up for this one, but why not head over to Home Depot... get some 2"x2'x 1/16 flat metal stock Maybe1/8"???. Cut some 6" legnths. Put those suckers in a vise one at a time. Get frustrations out with hammer..lol Make 3 "J" or fishhook looking pieces for the bottom. Then make two Z looking pieces with 90 corners and mount horizontally on side up top. That's what I'd do....

Tools: Ruler, Marker, Hammer, Vise, Hacksaw and Drill

Cost: Probably $5 in material

Ingenuity: Floridian redneck, Do it yourselfer...hehe
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, that's exactly what I did!

Pics to follow... maybe tomorrow.
 
Ken5124,nice setup, what are the dimenions of your radiator? I need one for 5.7 truck hemi and it looks like the water outlets on your radiator are in the same spot as a 5.7 truck hemi.
 
Suregrip391 said:
I put one of those in my 1970, I purchased mine on ebay from a vendor (looks identical to yours) and used there 90 degree angle brackets. I welded them to the sides of the rad and bolted it up to the car. Super Simple job! The brackets i used also matched the radiator and gave it a real clean look. I will see if I can find those brackets and post a pic as well....Hang on..BRB

Aaron
Click to expand...

seems like welding to the tanks would be a no-no. vibration would eventually crack them? how thick is the alumium?
 
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