LUVTruck.com

Has anyone found a radiator that would fit a first generation 350 with a transmission cooler that is relatively the same size as the stock radiator on a '75 LUV? I really don't care if it's a few inches bigger than the stock radiator because I don't mind cutting more off to make it fit. I just need one that is pretty close.
Thanks for the help!

Hi,
Saw your post, I build several Luvs a year with sbc, T-350 or 700R4s, and I have several posts on here regarding my using stock 67-70 Mustang radiators in these swaps. However it does require your re-enforcing the front crossmember, it has to be trimmed so you can set the radiator directly between the two stock uprights. I also use a short aluminum water pump with a 19" fan and these cool my built 350 complete with a/c very adequately here in hot So Ca.
But several others are using aluminum smaller radiators with great success too.
Check with OldRob, he has custom made radiators with built in fans all set up for this swap too.
Meanwhile there are many, many examples of radiators through out this site, so have fun searching, I'm sure you will find what you are looking for.
Good luck,
dusty scjconv

griffin all aluminum radiator from summit 19x22 0r 19x24 $180.00

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

im gona get the 19X22

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77-luv-stock (Selling or Parting out motor blew up)

75-luv mikado-V8 350 soon

19x22 is what i am using but i wish i would have got the 19x24.
the 19x24 will fit..the 19x22 cools fine though..

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

ill get the 24 than =D speaking i live in so cal...

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77-luv-stock (Selling or Parting out motor blew up)

75-luv mikado-V8 350 soon

I am using a 15 x 28 Griffin on mine and mounted my radiator cooler at the bottom with the fan on the front. Seemsas if it will work. Mighty have to put a pic up and see what you all think.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

Just bought the 19x22 Griffin and was measuring the between the two vertical frames up front where the stock ones at now and the 19" won't fit, I'm I going to have to cut them out and reweld them because I've seen pics of others and there's seemed to fit in between them nicely.Thank's Smokey

Hi Smokey:

I think the radiator opening is narrower on '75 and older trucks. I just found a replacement for my '75 (stock) and it was a different number and size than the '76 up. Perhaps the pictures you saw of the 19" wide radiator fitting nicely was on '76 and newer trucks.

Good luck,
Eric Q.

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'75 body with '82 diesel running gear
My build thread.

The 22x19 will fit in the early as well as the late. The body mount columns are the same width. The 72-75 have a piece going from side to side just above the mounts. Cut it out. Pictures at www.photobucket.com/v8luv is a 73 body. Also instruction sheets in the technical section at www.powerbyace.com show where to cut.

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The light at the end of the tunnel, may just be a train coming!

im making 500 plus horsepower in 100 degree weather and im still on the stock radiator. just use a nice trans cooler from summit and an Oil cooler is a must when using the stock rad.

learn how to tune, it is possible to stay cool on something that small.

A.j.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

I may go with the 22x19 aluminum when I do my AC install, then it should also be sufficient if I put in a small block some day.

How do make sure not to over cool your oil with an oil cooler? Doesn't the oil have to be a certain temperature? Lastly, do you think I could get away with running an oil cooler and stock radiator (2 row) on my '72 when I do the air conditioning? Although I see that engine oil coolers actually cost the same as the aluminum radiator so I may not get ahead in cost, not to mention I don't know if any oil cooler kits will work with the stock LUV oil filter. I would probably go with a 4 blade flex fan and stock shroud, or put in the 7 blade and no shroud that Old Rob suggests with the V8 swap. That crappy 4 blade metal one doesn't flow much air at all.

On the Oil cooler subject,

You live in So Cal, minimum oil temp is not a problem. If you were a VW engine, maybe... but not the stock G180 or a SBC. Using an oil filter adapter, you could plumb in a nice oil cooler unit and im sure somebody makes one to fit the G180. And the cooler doesnt have to be all that fancy, im sure a 50 to 75 dollar unit would be way more than adequate for the stock LUV motor, but it would be worth it to invest in a premium unit for the Small block.
However, I wouldnt reccomend trying the stock radiator on a small block if your going A/C. I feel that the impeded air flow, and already heated air from the condenser would be sufficient to cause overheating. so dont try...

I have managed to stay cool by using a very clean and in the best shape possible stock HD core rad, a 55' chevy 235, 4 blade steel fan, water wetter, a shroud, and my oil cooler is a premium unit that has its own electric fan and is installed flat under the crank pulleys instead of in front of the rad.

My only reason for using the stock rad, is I prefer the un-cut look of the LUV engine bay..... very organic feeling.


A.j.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

Gimme a break.

I agree with Ben. I tried for months to keep mine cool with a stock radiator (and aluminum heads). Tried the crossflow and the down flow radiator. Iam not making 500hp and I do live in Texas and it gets well over 100*. I also ran a shroud, water wetter and ran several different fans. Got the 19x22 aluminum radiator and have never looked back. My truck wont overheat even when its to hot to ride in it...Never tried the oil cooler..but for the expense I would go aluminum radiator.....AJ I cant say I agree on your "organic" deal....but each to their own....

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Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy horsepower...and that's kind of the same thing...

Well, we're having a good conversation here anyway. I think where AJ lives it gets hot at least in the summer, so give him some cred. I too like the un-cut look, I suppose for my AC project I could go oil cooler and stock rad for the LUV 4 cyl. I can't say I'd ever go SBC but I suppose if I did, then I could put in the aluminum radiator. Who knows what I'll do, I haven't even gotten the AC compressor mounted yet.

Back to radiators and cooling, I am starting to feel a major thing that impedes cooling is getting the hot air out of the engine bay. (I think Old Rob said something about this once). But I noticed it today. I was driving back home today and my temp gauge was where it usually is, about the middle of the white region, and I stopped so me and my buddy could look at the engine running and I had the hood up for 10 min or so, and the temp went down to the bottom of the white. I know I wasn't driving just idling, but it gets the least air flow through the rad when idling, so it's almost a fair comparison. I know the hot air is supposed to go out under the truck, but it doesn't seem to. Barring putting louvers in my hood or removing the cowl seal and baking my wiper blades, I guess I'll live with it (hotness). My heater works so I think the water pump is fine. It almost seems like an interesting engineering project to have electric fans in the fenderwells or near the bottom of the firewall or something to exhaust hot air from the engine bay. I suppose I could run without fenderwells or abbreviate them in some way. Now I'm just crazy talking.

In the 70's we used a purpose built 3 row, 5/8" tubes radiators. In the 72 - 75 the lower core support crossmember was removed. 76 - 80 this crossmember is forward of the radiator. The factory realized there was a problem. The cores we had were max to the factory opening width, with special brackets to bolt them into the stock bolts. The A/C version of this radiator had 4 1/2" rows, was slightly taller, just barely clearing. To get the max length of core, tanks were special short height and a goosneck filler was utilized. The A/C coil was mounted to the side so as to restrict minimum air flow. Transmission oil cooler was installed in the bottom tank.
Time and technology marches on; the aluminum radiators now available are better choice and you do not need to butcher up the core support to install them cleanly. The radiator from a factory V8 vega / Monza is about the same size, not aluminum.
Oil temps idealy run approx 20* above water temp. Water temp should run in the 195* to 215* range. Lower and the oil may start to foam at speed and not burn off the water and acid contamination.
Oil coolers do not need a large stream of air to be effective. They do need to be mounted where the air is not stagnant. Flat on top of the front frame crossmember is good, just be sure that engine movement doesn't get the fan too close. Also have mounted them under the vehicle next to the tranny.
Headers will make the engine compartment slightly cooler as they disapate heat over a larger area and down under the vehicle. Generally tend to have better air flow thru the engine compartment.
For those that are a bit more innovative, you can use a trans cooler as your heater core, it works.
If you run the engine a litlle towards the rich side that will help it run a little cooler.

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The light at the end of the tunnel, may just be a train coming!

lol, how much oil are you moving through your oil cooler?
One of my frineds (a bit crazy) put in two stock radiators (one where it's supposed to be, and another under the bed where the spare is supposed to go) and a reserve tank that holds I think 5 gallons in the bed. He's running twin turbo's on a V-8, and it stays cool. His philosophy is that it isn't the amount of radiator surface you have, it's your coolant volume. Of course, he's a plumber, and has the whole system rigged to work based on temperature (3 different thermostats I think)
Pretty cool truck though... '75 LUV. Only thing that gives it away is the rear end out of a S-15.

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1980 4X4 LUV daily driver, as stock as can be.

im a turbo and intercooler guy,

so I can still make the power in the high heat.

the key is that 55 chevy fan, it moves a MASSIVE amount of air, probably sucks 50hp just to run. but the trick is a free wheeling fan hub from Speedway motors.

Locked, the fan runs just like normal, pull out the lock and the fan no longer is a drag on the motor. Great item for the race track. pull the pin, and make your pass... get back into the pits, and re pin your fan... allow the engine to cool back down.

The buick V6 is a rather cold blooded engine itself, and with my liquid to air intercooler i can drop intake charge temps well below ambient. I dont make 500 HP all the time so to speak, as the turbo wont boost until I am really into it..... so at a stop light and idleing maybe 100HP? but idling in traffic is where it counts. I can lower the boost if I feel it might over heat so I can protect myself but with a flick of the boost controller I am back up at full power.

Now, I am streetable..... is it practical? no not really.... but it is to me. I have an ice machine in my office at work... I can grab a 5 gallon bucket and fill my intercooler tank with ice, and roll home. And in factory form, the stock oil cooler moves a very large amount oil... again, im turbocharged so oil temp is extremly important to my cartridge bearings. I can only run 93 octane.... anything less and i have head gaskets sticking out. So on a full intercooler tank with ice, in 100* weather I have about an hour of cruising time. which to me is no concern.... stop at a gas station and spen a 1.39 for another bag of ice, and away I go.

So yes, I can say I support 500 HP on my stock rad in 100* heat.... How long I can do it? no more 20 minutes if im running full power as I will run out of ice at that heat exchange rate.... but then again, who is going to be running at full power in 100* heat anyways?

So like I said.... I still believe a mild SBC could be just fine on the stock rad, if some careful tuning attention is payed.

A.j.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

My feelings are that the air does not flow out of the engine compartment enough with a V8. The engine takes up a lot of area where air would flow... I don't ave any actual data on that..

I had a VW Corrado with the VR6 engine, it was a automatic tranny though... In coming back from Ennis dragway from a carshow, the engine oil was too hot for me. It had the factory oil cooler. I don't remember the temp anymore, but we were cursing down I 35, I was running with some other cars, (way too fast) and I slowed down. I ran Valvoline Synthetic Oil... Got a deal from the president of the club who worked for Valvoline. It was in September in South Texas... HOT. I hate that event.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.