Posted by George (in Houston) on Thursday, December 02, 2004 at 7:15AM :
In Reply to: Jonas - 251 Swap from last forum... posted by George (in Houston) on Wednesday, December 01, 2004 at 7:39AM :
The aluminum radiator I had made was from Griffin Thermal Products, 864-845-5000. Order #71170, Customer #15651. It was made small enough to fit between the original core support, and be moveable anywhere from right behind the grill to as close to the engine as you want it. Pleanty of room for the 251 with 230 style water pump and fan. It has 1" square aluminum channel down each side so that you can drill holes for easy mounting. I used 2" wide x 16" flat steel to create brackets for each side. Bolted to the front holes on the core support and corresponding holes on the channel. Not even any bending to do. Just had to drill the holes. Then I took my old radiator cap, drilled out the center rivet and put a carriage bolt through the center. Had it powder coated, and with a wing nut and 4" piece of scap, I have a fake radiator cap where it used to come through the front sheet metal. Used a rubber fuel neck gasket (where the filer neck goes through the bed side on later trucks) from Roberts Motor Parts to line the hole and support the cap so it would stand up and off the sheet metal.
Let me know if you need any info and I'll be glad to help.