VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 '53 Radiator

I ordered a Griffin radiator from Chev's of the 40's. I told Robert that the car was all stock and that I just wanted the car to run real cool. He sent me a real nice one. I measured the width and height when I got it. Even the screw holes matched up! The only problem is that the radiator hits the fan and will not go past it. It is .75 inches deeper than an original. They sent a call tag for it . I now need a radiator as the original is starting to leak. I know I can have it redone, but I would like to get one that is better at cooling. Any ideas? Thanks! Alan

http://www.alklb.com/1953.htm

Cooling a chev 6 with a clean well maintained system has really never been a problem, if you feel you need more cooling for parades etc., then you could add an electric fan as a pusher. They do make them in 6V as well as 12.

Alan, a couple of years ago I had a 51 radiator that had several tubes crimped and soldered because they could not be repaired, the other tubes were almost plugged. A local radiator shop in Odessa Texas was able to order me a new radiator and re-attach the original 51 tanks to it for a reasonable fee. I consider an electric fan a crutch rather than a permanent repair (in a long, slow parade the original generator probably will not produce enough current to keep the battery charged and also run a pusher fan) In a parade if the coolant temp gets too high there are two thing that cause it , poor coolant flow thru the system and also poor air flow thru the radiator, I have a five bladed fan that was made for a 235 truck engine and you may consider that approach. In a bind you can turn the heater on high speed and hot and use the heater coil and fan to give some additional cooling effect. (Maybe no one will be able to see you sweat!)

I will probably take it out again and just have it redone. Chev's of the 40's told me the original replacement is back ordered 4 weeks.

I had the 52's radiator recored locally for $180.00.

Question for Mr. Mack, what size truck did that 5 blade fan come from, a pickup or larger say 1 ton?

Glyn, I am not sure what size truck it was made for. I got it on eBay along with several other 235 truck parts. I checked it out and the hub and boltholes and the length of the blade and the hub offset matched a fan from a 54 Chevrolet 1/2 ton pickup. I didn't look for a part number, maybe I should. I have a 4 bladed fan on the 261 engine on the 57 C6500 so I don't think the size truck may be the clue as to what the 5 blade fan came off of. Maybe Chevy Nut will know.

Thanks I have been looking for a little extra cooling as mostly during parade season here we have 30Wt weather and later in the year we have 5Wt weather but a little extra air flow would not hurt.