Guys I'm looking for a picture of the original radiator for a '47 Ford 1/2 ton truck. My buddy gave me a radiator out of a bigger (1 ton? maybe?) truck and I'm having a hard time envisioning how it fits in there. It seems way way tall and I can't see how it would have cleared the front sheet metal by the hood latch. TIA!
Hi Jacin, Funny you should ask this. I got two radiators with my '46 pickup of different sizes too. Both had dual necks for the flathead V8. Since my front end sheet metal has been considerably reworked neither was going to fit the horsecollar without rtework. So I just had a new aluminum radiator with trans cooler built ($350 from Superior Radiator in Mt Clemens MI - highly recommended). I'll be curious to see what others post so maybe I too can figure out which of these radiators fit a stock '42 - '47 pickup. If you need one lemme know. See you at TRP Gasser Reunion. 6re6
I had to sell because of issues in the family so I can't get anything else for you, but this is what I found in my collection. My truck is a V8, I am not sure what the assembly line truck is. Remember that the trucks could be made 6 cyl or V8 and they did use some different sheet metal. The rad for the 6 cyl would mount further to the front of the truck, I am not sure if the rad was shorter because it mounted further forward or not. I never put my 6 cyl and V8 rad next to each other.
The bigger trucks like the tonner and bigger were basically the same cab and front sheet metal. The wheel openings were cut bigger to clear the larger wheels, but the hood and all the front sheet metal was the same / same size. The radiators should be the same. In my 3rd pict with out the fenders, you can see that there is a sort of U shaped bracket around the bottom of the radiator. This bracket bolted to the frame cross member with 2 spring loaded bolts toward the center of the bracket. If you look really closely at that pict on the cross member a couple inches in front of the radiator is a pair of holes about 6-8" apart. These were the forward mounting holes for the 6 cyl radiator.
Bringing this one back from the DEAD!! I finally yanked the radiator and stuck that ginormous one my buddy gave me - holy toledo it actually fit (not sure how - I'd have bet money it wouldn't). The only snag now is the front metal piece ( I think that's what Greg was calling the horse shoe ) The one I have no longer fits. This is the part that the hood latch attaches to. I am starting to think there must be a 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder version of the front sheet metal. That or I have the V8 radiator moved forward in the 6 cylinder position making that part not fit right. In any event - I guess I can hack it up till it fits. One question - the bottom tank is on the smallish side - has anyone had these re-cored and added a trans cooler to them??? Or should I just run an aux. cooler and forget the rad trans cooler. I do tow with this truck and want it bullet proof if possible.
I would think the horseshoe that is being referred to is the horseshoe shaped bracket that runs down the sides and under the radiator. It should have 2 spring loaded bolts that hold it to the top of the front frame member in either the 6cyl holes or the 8cyl holes. I think I know what part you are thinking of though. if you look at the factory pict of the guy leaning over the truck, the black looking piece on top right in front of the radiator. That also is different between the 6cyl and 8cyl since the 8 cyl rad sits back farther it needs a deeper one to fill in the space.
Its called the CORE Support. It attached at the bottom to the frame with a loose spring connection and to the inner fenders with bolts.
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