Has anyone ever fitted a crossflow radiator in a 57 pickup or have any design ideas for mounting panels/ brackets? I found a couple random pictures on the web, but not sure how the insulators stay in place or if I should use aluminum or steel. I would like to have flat metal on the top to cover up the top of the core with some kind of rubber underneath to hold it. Also unsure what the bracket(s) should look like for the bottom.
might start with something that Chevy used to mount them in later trucks. https://www.lmctruck.com/1967-72-chevy-gmc/cb-1967-72-radiator-grille-and-components I was considering putting a cross flow in my 59 truck, one big enough to cool the 454 well...but I'd have to cut into the inner fenders, etc, as well as making the mounts you're talking about. I decided instead to put the 396 back in the truck, it cooled OK with the stock style radiator. I'll get around to that this year, I hope.
I welded aluminum flat stock to the tanks, the radiator I bought happened to be the same dimension as the steps in the core support. I even used the existing holes in the core support.
I put a crossflow out of a '93 Mustang in my '54 Customline. Maybe this'll give you some ideas. Here's how it originally looked with the rad sitting behind the core support. I needed to move the rad forward about 2" so I wound up removing the core support and cutting a couple of inches off of each side. Built some lower mounts off the crossmember then used 1" flatbar to fab an upper mount that tied both sides together. Made some sheet metal covers for the rad tanks. Had to notch the front pan a bit. Actually came out alright. Pretty simple really.
I wouldn't do a cross flow conversion, unless it was a practical way to get a significantly larger radiator into the car. Which can be needed with a big engine. The normal top tank radiator looks much more at home in old cars and trucks.
I put a 427 in it so it needs as much cooling as it can and like how crossflows look. I like all the ideas, I was thinking about welding aluminum plate on the sides too, but was thinking I should insulate it and cover the top of the core at the same time. Maybe I weld plates on the sides to hold it and make a flat cover for the top is the best idea. The radiator I have is out of a 75 c10, the stock hold down plate isn't completely flat and pushes the radiator closer down to the power steering box.
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