Are you running with your 302? The Genesis (?)that I purchased for my 55 has developed a leak at the bottom of the core so I am looking for a better quality replacement. It lasted a whole 800 miles. Since I built the Genesis into the 55, if that makes sense, I need to duplicate it’s size specs. It was for a 67 Mustang as the old FAQ post indicated was a good fit. So now I want a top quality unit to replace it. If Walker made a replacement for a 67 Mustang that is what I would buy, but they don’t. What do you have?
Look for Ford Fairlane radiators, you may get lucky, like a '67 to '71. I like the br*** and copper ones myself over aluminum ones, but run a Champion in my car and have about 12,000 miles on it.
okiedokie i ran a walker in my 55 have one in my 56 wagon i had both built to mount in the 6 cylinder location work fine with the 6 cyl location it moves it more to the front for more fan space
Bob I have a Champion in my 53 F100 and am satisfied so far and am tempted to buy one for the 55. However the 53 has a stock 84 302 and allows room for a CCI shrouded electric fan, the 55 has a 300hp 302 and space requires a smaller radiator and there is not room for a CCI unit. Pretty well limited to a Spal 1600 cfm fan. Jut looking for input.
I have a pretty stock 302 in mine with just a mild cam and am running a Champion radiator. We used square aluminum tubing to mount the radiator to the outside of the radiator yolk to gain as much space in the engine compartment as possible.
This the Champion with the dimensions we used in 1952-56 Ford 302 swaps this is if you also used the 1965-69 289 "short" water pump NOTE that the lower hose is on the p***enger side,1970 and later SBF's had the "long" water pump and matching long harmonic balancer. https://www.ebay.com/itm/CHAMPION-3...AOxyNmZTj3tE:sc:FedExHomeDelivery!85037!US!-1 In case you missed it in the "Sticky FAQ" this is the article I wrote many moons ago see post #5 https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/sbf-short-water-pump-pulleys.303600/
okiedokie they make one far the 55 56 the side mounting brackets are put on one way for 6 cyl an the 8 cyl the other way the 8 cyl ones fit in the stock place an the 6cyl brackets move it to the front radiators are the same just the mounting brackets are switched around hope that makes since
This would be a good choice for an "All in One" combo having a shroud is a nice plus: https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Row-RS-R...638429?hash=item4d6f1cc5dd:g:mZUAAOSwLJ9Z93k0 ( as a note the Six cylinder radiators with the same 20" core have the lower hose on the drivers side.)
Jeff, the Champion radiators in your Ebay links are both identical to the Genesis I have that has failed. The Champion Dos Cisco’s has is different. I saw no reference to radiators in the FAQ post #5. Slicks I did not see that Walker had 55/56 radiators, but I need the Mustang type anyway. Thanks for you input all.
The article was in reference to the water pumps,balancers and pulleys if the water pump outlet does match the radiators lower hose outlet that is going to be a problem,right ?
This is the one I went with from Champion https://www.championradiators.com/3-row-Ford-Car-radiator-1954-1956 note that it is made for the 54-56 Ford car and is rated for up to 600hp. Also has the lower hose on driver side and upper on p***enger with transmission cooler for the AOD. Might be time to update the FAQ
Of course that is right Jeff. Since I already have all that sorted out I am just looking for the best replacement for this cheap piece of junk Genisis.
Thanks for that info, although I have had no problems with the Champion I put in my F100 I would like to buy an American made radiator if I can find one. I may have no choice as the Dewitts company appears to not make the one that I need. Although theirs is twice as much they have great reviews and are made in America.
Probably won't use that one as an update in the FAQ, reason is if you are still running a y-block it is a good choice but if you do a 302/351 swap in a 52-56 that came with a V8 not so much as you will in most cases have a radiator to fan clearance issue because of the SBF's longer length especially if you run a 302/351 from 1970 and up with the "long" water pump. I have helped a lot of guys over the years through the SBF swaps here and on several facebook groups and that clearance issue has raised it's ugly head many times. Check out the pictures here from Post # 122-125 https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/faq-sticky.897329/page-5
Look at the Illustration below in the bottom right corner it shows the sheet metal 1952-56 in Six cylinder cars that moves the radiator mounting forward.
Fair enough. My car was originally an I6 car and I am running the serpentine setup with electric fan so it works for me.
About 5 years ago I installed a CC4348CH Champion with some modifications required: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/champion-rad-cc4348ch.995470/#post-11219159 No problems so far.
I have been running the Champion in my 56 with the stroked 351W (427 CI) and it has performed great. I bought it for just over $200 from Jegs 4 yrs ago and the only thing I did was change the radiator cap. I called Champion twice to make sure it would work on my motor and they said it would cool a 600 hp motor without a fan. I took and chance on it and my car doesn't run a degree over 180.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1949-56-ford-sbf-swap-radiator.1100441/#post-12489210 Here is a link that I shared about my radiator installation in my 54. Hope it can shed some light. Still works great in Florida mid 90 heat and AC. This electric fan is also the key as it fits the radiator great and gets max air flow.
This is very strange, a couple of evenings ago I replied to this thread, but it does not show. Also Nalakaya had replied to cka7's last post and it doesn't show either. I don't think I was dreaming.
Well I will try this again. It turned out that it was not the radiator leaking but I am ashamed to say it was the lower hose leaking on the bottom and blowing against the core making it seem as the core was leaking. After removing it and pressure testing I could plainly see it was not the radiator. The lower hose was one that I had cut down to fit and it was being kissed by the serpentine belt so I had loosened it and moved it out a tad. Proved to be a tad too much. Anyway, I got another hose and cut it a little longer which allowed the clearance I needed. One of the problems when this happened was the engine getting quite warm while I was charging the A/C. I was not happy with the electric fan I had installed and knew I had a bit of a problem. The fan was one I bought from Ledfoot Racing, the company you get Champion radiators from, you know the ones who include the religious info on the boxes. He promised me that it was a 2500 cfm fan. Having 2200cfm fans on my 40 and 53 I was a little suspect after running it a bit. He lied. I purchased a Spal 1600 cfm [the thickest I have room for] and boy does it **** a LOT harder. Ledfoot had originally sent me a Spal fan he said was 2400 cfm but I just happened to look up the Spal number and they consider it 1000 cfm. When I complained he had it picked up and sent this Chinese piece of **** and lied about it. I did a couple of videos illustrating the difference but can't find them to post. Anyway, don't buy fans from Ledfoot Racing.
He may not have lied but was actually misinformed as to how the CFM is determined companies do tend to rate things in their favor. Flex-A-Lite has a lot of detailed information on their site https://www.flex-a-lite.com/electric-fans/12-volt-electric-fans.html One thing that several sites do mention is having a shroud can increase the efficiency of the fan 25-40% but picking a fan can be a **** shoot.
He first said the Spal he sent me was 2400 CFM but Spal shows it to be 1000 cfm, then he sent the Chinese piece saying it for sure was 2500 cfm. Now maybe he might be foolish enough to trust the Chinese, but the Spal was easy to verify. Imagine how many folks have bought the Spal from him and then what a piece of **** it is when it won't cool, thinking that they have a 2200 cfm fan. I do have a shroud.
save yourself a ton of headache and put a cooling components fan on! I used a 54/56HD radiator from champion in my 55 and it cools my 521 ci BBF with zero issues, and that is with no engine driven fan. Cooling Components 1720 they are super thin, make almost no noise, and move a ton of air
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