Couple of questions. Working on the 62 Unibody. Previous owner (my buddy) had the stock radiator all rebuilt to work with the 350 Chev he installed (sorry Ford guys). It has a small crack on the top of the tank now that dribbles out fluids. He tried to JB weld it but that didn't work. And he had it rebuilt too long ago to take it back to the radiator shop. Should I just take it to a shop and have them braise it shut? Or can I just sand it all down real good and use a torch and solder like I do when I'm plumbing the house? Second question I have is on shroud placement. Should the fan be just outside the opening or partially in the opening? The shroud isn't the one that came with the truck, just one he gave to me when I acquired the truck from him. Thanks for insights ...
The fan should be 1/2 way into the shroud. The air needs to escape off the end of blade. .if the blade is completly in the shroud the air just bounces around in the shroud.. Go take a look at any unmodified street car or truck.. Dave Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
If you're sure on your brazing skills, do it yourself. that's what the shop will do. As for the shroud, 1/2 or 3/4 inside the shroud. Try to get the blades as close to the radiator as practical. I think 1/2" is the normal or suggested.
Yes, cleaned good and normal good solder...but, I can't see why it is cracked, unless there is some stress on the mounting of the radiator? Cracks in brass tanks are usually found on ancient cars that the brass tank had age-cracked.
Well when I got it all pulled apart this is what the water neck looked like. Im pretty sure I should flush the engine and take the radiator in to be boiled out and Ill have them fix the tank. This engine has been together a long time but has almost no running time on it. Im guessing it did this because the water/coolent has just been sitting there with no circulation. Plus I think these chrome necks are just crappy to begin with. Thanks for the answers on fan placement guys.
Looks like the water and coolant separated and the water was hard tap water and calcified. Use distilled next time.
I think it was street rod that suggested bottled drinking water, so I'm using that now. Balanced minerals was their reason. Jack
I read a book one time about how to keep a flathead cool...and the author said of the shroud.....2/3 in and 1/3 out and about an inch or so from the ends of the fan blades on the diameter....NEVER had a cooling problem with stock ford radiators and chevy engines. The shoebox had a NOS 6 cyl radiator and 200 is all the temp I saw in 8 years...the 55 f100 stayed cool but the top tank keep breaking loose. I had the rad guys put in two brass straps holding the tank ridgid on the inside....no more tank problems.
When I built my not rod, I did not know this. I built my own shroud. The hot rod does run a tad hot, so I'm hoping that altering the shroud (which I think I can pull off) will help. That being said, my '66 truck (with a later 350 in it) has the fan completely in the factory shroud & in 14 years of daily use, has never hinted at overheating. To top it off, the fan is a mile away from the radiator...I always heard that the fan should be about 3/4" away from the radiator. If these parameters are all correct (and given that the average fan blade is maybe 1-1/2" deep), that would mean that no shroud should be more than about 2" deep. Is my thinking correct?
The correct depth of a fan in a shroud is determined by the air flow the fan blows out.... It is usually 1/3 outside the shroud, this keeps the majority of the air blowing out on an angle, and the least bowing straight back.....
never have measured anything for the fan or radiator or shroud.just stck them up there and said looks good enough or that should do. funny never have had a problem with any of the ones we built.but have had a few problems with some from the factory...I admit im one lucky sob...
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