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New cross flow radiator and cold air intake

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  • Cool/Heat: New cross flow radiator and cold air intake

    Here's my new set up:



    Never content to leave well enough alone, I embarked on a project to get cool outside air into my intake. My original thought was to come over the top of the radiator as sweetolbob has done with his fuel injected motor. This required that I put a cross flow radiator in. I decided to use a double pass radiator to get both the inlet and outlet over to the passenger side. I found a pretty decent radiator on EBay for $179 plus a matching shroud for $90. I attached my existing fan and it all fit perfectly.



    I priced a custom made unit that would have bolted in like the stock one, but the price was way over $1000. So to mount this one I made some U brackets from sheet metal, padded them and bolded them to the bottom of my core support.



    I then made a template from cardboard and took it over to my friend Ken where we traced the template onto 18 gauge sheet metal and he cut it out with a plasma cutter and bent it on his sheet metal brake.





    I then fit it and trimmed the corners, welded the cuts and ground them smooth. Next I painted with etching primer and filled in scratches with spot putty and then sprayed with high build primer. Over the next several weeks I plan to do some other painting and will finish this piece in red matching the car.









    My plan to come over the top and down through the latch hole did not work out as I hope. My engine sit further forward than Bob's and my raditor is in the core support instead of behind it. With my AC condenser, a pusher fan for the AC and also a trans cooler up there I just did not have enough room to do what I envisioned. If I had the engine install to do again I would have set it back further, but that's another story. Anyway I discovered some very nice cold air intake components from Spectre Performance and assembled what you see in the top picture. There is an air filter insider the aluminum cylinder. I routed it through the driver side fender.



    Believe me, taking a 4 inch hole saw to the inner fender of my nearly 60 year old classic car was just a little scary!



    After routing through the fender, I got the hole saw out again and cut a hole into the back side of the front air scoop and attached the ducting there. This should provide nice fresh air which my motor will like.



    I drove the car 170 miles to the Stude gathering in Stockton on Saturday with the new radiator, but before installing the flexible duct. Outside temp was in the low 90s and I drove with the AC on. Everything stayed cool like it should.

    Pat
    Last edited by Pat Dilling; 04-23-2012, 03:18 PM.
    Pat Dilling
    Olivehurst, CA
    Custom '53 Starlight aka STU COOL


    LS1 Engine Swap Journal: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/jour...ournalid=33611

  • #2
    I can imagine that it was scary to cut the fender well with the hole saw, but it is not like your car is all stock and this was your first modification. Looks really nice though.

    Would be really awesome to have someone make up some aluminum 4" tubing instead of that flex line. Maybe welded tubes with pre-bent elbows or find someone who can mandrel bend 4"...that might be tough though. You can buy thin wall tube and elbows on ebay and tack them together then take them somewhere to have them really nicely welded if you can not tig aluminum your self.
    Last edited by kmac530; 04-23-2012, 03:35 PM. Reason: add

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    • #3
      Posted by Pat Dilling
      Believe me, taking a 4 inch hole saw to the inner fender of my nearly 60 year old classic car was just a little scary!
      Almost as scary as a Gentlemens Chop?

      Pat

      That is a neat and creative way to install a cold air induction system on the car.

      One thing I've noticed in looking over your post is how neat and finished the engine compartment looks with the edge trim on the inner fenders and the compact wiper setup among the upgrades.

      A nice install on a nice car!

      Bob

      Comment


      • #4
        A great job, very nice fab work...
        '53 Commander
        Art Morrison chassis
        LS6 ASA/4L60E

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by kmac530 View Post
          Would be really awesome to have someone make up some aluminum 4" tubing instead of that flex line. Maybe welded tubes with pre-bent elbows or find someone who can mandrel bend 4"...that might be tough though. You can buy thin wall tube and elbows on ebay and tack them together then take them somewhere to have them really nicely welded if you can not tig aluminum your self.
          I agree with you on that. Maybe someday down the road that could happen.

          Thanks for all the good comments!

          Pat
          Pat Dilling
          Olivehurst, CA
          Custom '53 Starlight aka STU COOL


          LS1 Engine Swap Journal: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/jour...ournalid=33611

          Comment


          • #6
            What'd'ya do with your old radiator?
            Dave Nevin
            Corvallis, OR
            1953 Champion Deluxe Coupe
            Stud-e-venture blog

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by dnevin View Post
              What'd'ya do with your old radiator?
              I still have it, possibly will go into my Conestoga. But the inlet and outlet sizes were changed to match the sizes (1.25" and 1.5") on my LS1 motor so those would need to be changed back to match the Studebaker. If you know of someone putting an LS type motor into a C/K and wants an original style radiator I could be persuaded to part with it.
              Pat Dilling
              Olivehurst, CA
              Custom '53 Starlight aka STU COOL


              LS1 Engine Swap Journal: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/jour...ournalid=33611

              Comment


              • #8
                Beautiful car! I'm glad I got to see it in person and hang with you and Sdude in Pleasanton a few years ago.

                Great tech article, also. "How to's" should all be this nicely documented. It motivates us to get going on our own projects.
                Dick Steinkamp
                Bellingham, WA

                Comment


                • #9
                  Beautiful job!I'm curious on the wiper motor that you have.Could you tell a little more about it.Was it a direct bolt in?I'm looking to upgrade to 12v and just wondering about available options.Thanks. Bob

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Pat,
                    btw there is another thread about a white on rootbeer CK and I think your car is WAYYYY nicer than that one.

                    I was curious what all of the holes in the engine compartment are for? Just to vent out heat? There are like 10 holes about 2" in diameter with nothing going thru them. Size and amount may be wrong but that is my guess from the pics I can see.

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                    • #11
                      Nice fab work.
                      Once I had to drill a big hole in my freshly painted rear fender to install a reverse light. Took every nerve I had to pull the trigger on that drill.

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                      • #12
                        Looks like you are getting ready for that cross country trek from California to SB this July

                        Any particular reason for swapping radiators ?
                        Also, that one looks like a double pass style. Yes? No?

                        Joe h

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Robert View Post
                          Beautiful job!I'm curious on the wiper motor that you have.Could you tell a little more about it.Was it a direct bolt in?I'm looking to upgrade to 12v and just wondering about available options.Thanks. Bob
                          This is the wiper motor. It is designed to replace a vacuum motor but I was able to adapt it to replace an electric. On one of the wiper arms under the dash I had to shorten it slightly to remove a bend and weld a washer on to the end of it to attach to the motor. It was very simple to do. This is the same motor, several different vendors sell them.



                          Thanks again for the compliments. Dick it was great to meet you and Steve Hudson in Pleasanton, that was a nice week-end. One of these years I hope to come up your way for the CanAm meet and maybe we can do it again.

                          KMAC, yes those holes are to let hot air out, they were already there when I got the car and I have seen similar holes on others. Apparently the previous owner was having trouble cooling the SBC that was in it when I got it. There are a number of things I would do differently if I was to start a build like this from scratch. I think a good way to vent it would be to stamp louvers in some sheet metal and then cut out a rectangular hole where the stock battery sits and also on the other side then fit and weld the louvered panels in place. That would be a much cleaner way and would give hot air a place to escape.

                          I swapped the radiator and went to a double pass unit to clear out some space to route the cold air intake. The upper radiator hose used to cross in front of the motor over to the drivers side. My original plan was to go over the top of the radiator as sweetolbob did with his, but that did not work out the way I hoped so going out the side was plan B. And yes I am tweaking things getting ready for that 4,000+ mile trip this summer.

                          Pat
                          Last edited by Pat Dilling; 04-24-2012, 01:40 PM.
                          Pat Dilling
                          Olivehurst, CA
                          Custom '53 Starlight aka STU COOL


                          LS1 Engine Swap Journal: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/jour...ournalid=33611

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Looks sweet! But is that intake hose strong enough? I would think your engine would make it implode at full throttle.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Finished my painting and got it all re-installed. Declaring the project done. Until I get ambitious enough to replace the flexible air duct, I would hate to have it collapse on me



                              Pat Dilling
                              Olivehurst, CA
                              Custom '53 Starlight aka STU COOL


                              LS1 Engine Swap Journal: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/jour...ournalid=33611

                              Comment

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