I am putting a 401 into a 1950 Chevy pickup and was wondering ( I know nothing about how to size a radiator ) how would I pick a radiator for this application. Would a 2 or 3 row radiator be sufficient?
Use the biggest radiator you can fit in the factory core support. All the factory Nailhead radiators had a crossflow configuration, with the top hose on the passenger side, and the bottom hose on the driver side. Check out Summit or Jegs for a universal aluminum unit. They are inexpensive and work well.
For the radiator , check with AFCO , sold by Speedway , Summit , Jegs . Not corecct to say use 2 or 3 row anymore , use a good quality unit , most are aluminun 2 row , 15 pound pressure cap. Most important is air flow , use good input and output. So you may have to build out sheetmetal fins between grill and radiator . I use a 16 inch electric fan , used OEM fans are cheap, or many new units from various vendors . Hope this helps..... Eddy
Yep,,, Andy is right on,,, use the biggest, raunchiest, radiator that you can make work.... biggest area size, most number of rows, and a good fan system... I like the electrics,,, they are a improvement, but to me, more failure prone than the old mechanical type... well,,, not really come to think of it... you still have to have a mechanical water pump and that is what fails most of the time.... the key is a lot of real good maintinence....... :Smarty: the more you maintain a cooling system,,, the less you have failures.....:Smarty: Back in the 60's a factory service rep told me that the factory cooling system was ''was marginal at best'' from the factory.... I believed him .....
