31" radiators thread - battery relocation mandatory.

[70vert]

This came out of my experience with a Summit/Northern radiator that will NOT work on a '70 (or any pre-69-70 year, I assume there is less hood clearance up front due to the flatter hood rather than the curved '69-70 hood? The issue is that a 31" radiator is too wide to sit on the strut rod brace and must sit on the frame rails.

Whatever your reason for wanting a 31" radiator, if you're interested in one, this should be a good thread for you. Hot stroker motor, turbos, hot weather - whatever. I know some will chime in with the opinion that a radiator wider than the core opening is useless, but I feel that the extra space is still bringing in cooler air than the heat of the water it's trying to cool, so it should help. And some might want to widen their core support or create extra openings for a wider radiator to suck in outside air.

What I found is that a 31" radiator that is 19" tall with a filler neck on the side, the Summit 380463, won't fit because the filler neck hits the hood when the radiator is sitting on the frame rail, even with no padding:

Summit Racing SUM-380463 - Summit Racing® Direct Fit Aluminum Radiators - Overview - SummitRacing.com

It looks like it's better to look for radiators with different filler neck locations, or simply shorter radiators like this Ron Davis fan and crossflow radiator combo that is 16" tall, the 1A-31163F-2 , with passenger's side upper inlet and driver's side lower outlet that's correct for a '70:

Off-Road Radiators from Ron Davis Racing Products

The Ron Davis has a monster dual SPAL fan unit that looks great at 3440cfm, I would just wonder about clearance, but others could chime in. The whole unit is 7.5" thick with fan.

This Griffin unit looks pretty nice and all the specs are the same as the Ron Davis unit with fan above - 26" core width, 1.5" inlet, 1.75" outlet, 1" tubes, dual-row:

Griffin Thermal Products 1-26272-X - Griffin Aluminum Pro Series Radiators - Overview - SummitRacing.com

If anybody else has any comments or recommendations, this is the thread . . . :SNSign:

 

[10secgoal]

I have a 31x19, but had to trim a little in the frame. With the rad I used, the tanks at the bottom slope in a little, so the notch isn't huge. I did take the filler neck of to fit it under the hood. The dual fan with shroud covers the entire rad, pulls 4000 CFm and total depth on the fans and shroud are 3in. I made this one fit because of the fans cfm and dimensions. On top of it staying cool, I needed to clear two 3.5 down pipes and all the acc's. And this fan fit the cores of this rad perfect. Kinda. It was about 1/32 too wide. The dimensions aren't 100% as they call it.

 

[70vert]

I had to take off the outer edge of the fan shroud gasket

on the 26.125" flex-a-lite fan and move it inboard slightly - it's just wider than the 26" core. It would be nice if these things were a little more standardized, especially when you're ordering them from the same reseller.

I'm thinking that removing the filler neck on the Summit 19" and doing an inline filler on the upper hose might be a good idea too, but I'm not totally sold on having a filler that's not at the top of the radiator - are you filling the engine first or the radiator? Does the water pump stop water from going down into the engine first, or does it even matter since you'll fill the engine anyway? Is "burping" this kind of system less efficient than when the cap is right on top of the tank? Just don't have any experience with inline filler necks, that's all.

 

[10secgoal]

Keep the fill the highest point to make it easiest. Otherwise the system could never be filled completely. Have had to jack up cars from the front and one side sometimes to completely top them off.
If you just lower yours a bit, tilting the car would work fine for that. Or the put the fill back farther under the hood where it can be higher the radiator since the under hood slants up as it goes back.

 

[70vert]

This was an interesting mod/interesting radiator

this is from Maxum96 from vintage-mustang.com. (see attachment) Either he modded his radiator, or Be Cool (IIRC) did something custom to his radiator to put the filler behind the radiator. I could do something similar to the Summit I bought.

 

[70vert]

It's the Summit BCI-60187 - they really seem to do their fit homework

It looks like Be Cool really does their homework. Although you don't see it from the photo on the site, this one has the rearward filler neck you see in the photo above. Very trick.

Be Cool 60187 - Be Cool Custom-Fit Aluminum Radiators - Overview - SummitRacing.com

 

[NasaGT]

$674!!!! Ouch!!!

 

[10secgoal]

That be cool pic is how I cut mine off. Just like that angle. I'm just not sure if I'll be putting it back there. I don't want to cut the core support any more and make is flimsy. But even like that, you'll have a hard time getting it completely filled. You'll need to really tilt the car to once side.
The first pic is a good one though. Moved it back where the hood is higher. Think it could make a little more integrated than that. But does the job

 

[70vert]

I ended up deciding on a Griffin radiator, 31" wide by 16" tall, with the 26" wide core I need - only $180 plus shipping, and it does indeed have a petcock unlike the description below!

Griffin Thermal Products 1-25271-X - Griffin Aluminum Pro Series Radiators - Overview - SummitRacing.com

It fits perfectly with this fan, like they were made for each other, but I'll have to fab up some mounting to the thin upper flange on the radiator, or to the bracket I mount the radiator to:

Flex-a-lite 210 - Flex-a-lite Low Profile Electric Fans - Overview - SummitRacing.com

I'm sure Flex-a-Lite is making something similar to this, in a different part number perhaps. I did a quick search and you could make either a 25.5" or a 26.25" fan work for this application:

Flex-a-lite - Fans, Electric - SummitRacing.com

So, there you go, here's a radiator and fan combo that works if you want something as wide as 31" that sits on top of the frame rails. A little over $500.

Pics to follow . . .

 

[68stang351]

Edit: I posted something here, but it doesn't really pertain to this as I didn't realize my radiator is 24" not a 31. So this post is just taking up space. Sorry, lol.

 

[70vert]

nothing to see here, move along . . .