Chevy Radiators

Well if you could get it running and up to temp , take the rad cap off and see if its circulating okay, If it blows out of the cap it can either be plugged or bad head gasket ( making air) . I mean if you have to pull the radiator anyway to change it , Id make sure that was the problem before I'd go thru the trouble of riggin up a different one in there. without knowing the history, its a guess, If they had stuck the rad in , I have run into stuff like mice making a mess in them and no one bothered to check the rad first. pop the rad and turn it upside down and stick a garden hose in it. its a cheap look see.

those are fantastic suggestions. thank you sir..

gonna try to pick her up this week or next. if i get my hands on her, i'll post photos for you guys to see.

raditator related...is this a L6 0r 8 shroud? 1st or 2nd gen?

Dont think Ive ever seen a shroud onna 1st gen.
I want to add something ,, take the cap off the radiator before you bring it up to temp, that way if its blowing bubbles right away ya know its a head gasket or something like that and it wont blow coolant all over you. sometimes I am sure Im half brain dead.

Naw,not mine.I found these for sale,did'nt know what motor or gen it was for.My van don't have one,was just curious.
Don...the number, CT5520a,what is that? core num for rad shop to order?I know my 2nd gen leaks,water hits me up side of the head.1st gens rad. is laying in the back.no tellin whats up with it.
Just tryin to do a prevention thing,before problems occur.

Scott, I had great performace increase when Iinstalled a banks package on my motorhome!! they use a fresh air intake. This is something I'm sorting out now I'm installing a 454 in my 67 I'm sure the motor will benifit from this!!

I'm a little way away from it, but am thinking about adapting the setup from a 98 S-10 Style Blazer. I used to have that model and it seems like it would be easy to adapt.

Just make sure you run some kind of rain seprater. I have good luck with k+n I know there pricey but there washable and preform well!!

Depending on which way your air scoop faces, with that setup you probily won't need a separator. I'm not sure where my fresh air will come from,The banks pkg. has separ. mounted to inside of grill. and lrg. tube straight in to carb. I'll let you know how it works out. It will be a little bit.

I had a leak in my 2nd gen L6,pulled it out last week,carried it to a reputable ( i thought) shop.Gotta call today told me bad news.They fixed leak up top,then started leakin other places. 'We can recore it' Then started talkin like $400.Is he pullin my chain or what?
I went on line found a couple that listed mine,for about half,but I don't know the right measurement.They are showing 26x17x2.Dont sound right to me.
Don't get me wrong,I don't mind spending a lil on a good radiator.But have I been out of the loop too long on todays prices?
Input somebody?

I paid $190 to have mine re-cored here in Fort Worth..

Thanks to Donivan, heres the measurments you asked about..

donivan65 wrote:You will probably not find too many people that know about our vans,,,,,,,The 2nd Gens came with 2 different types of radiators, downflow in the 6 cylinders, and crossflow for the V8's. The most important part is airflow through the radiator. So on the 2nd Gens, they raised the floor and put the crossflow radiator real low in the doghouse to increase the air flow. And since the fan don't like to pull the air through the radiator fins, they put a shroud around it so it don't have a choice. And that low radiator traps air in the engine so they put a surge tank on top of it so you get a place to fill the system up completely and purge the air out. The REAL 2nd Gen V8 crossflow radiator HAS NO PLACE for a radiator cap. It just uses like a heater hose to get its coolant from the surge tank. Corvettes might use this radiator set up. And if you are not moving, you are not cooling,,,,especially in hot weather. You should put an electric fan on top of the bellypan, to force air
towards the radiator. If the temp gauge goes up, turn on the fan until it goes down. I have a 60 minute wind up house timer that I turn on to cool down my engine for 15 minutes so I don't have the fumes and carb loading up when I get back in it.

$400.00....go somewhere else!!! I have been to a few websites that would build a completely new custom radiator to your specs for $400.

Thats what I was thinkin too Mo.When I go back and get mine from him,think I'll tell him to he needs to put his crack pipe down.Then I'll can get something done.Man,I'm ready to get this road worthy.Y'all are killin me.