is this radiator worth using?

ok, so when I got my truck I also got the stock radiator and then when I cleaned the cab out, I found this big aluminum griffen radiator. The griffen one is meant to lay on its side, but when I stand it up and hold it where it should go, it will fit with just a minor amount of t******* on the shell.

My question is that the griffen rad. has 4 water ports on it, all of which are on the same side of the radiator, so if I stand it up to put it in, the inlet and outlet would both be at the top, along with the heater lines. Additionally, it has no provision for a cap, but i've seen fittings that can be spliced in to solve that problem. If I can get the stupid picture to work, you can see for yourself. I really want to make this fit in there, but I don't know if its wise to try and set it up. I'm running a small block chevy motor, with plans for an electric fan, my concern is whether the lower hose can make it up to the top of the rad. without too much restriction. I just want others opinions on this before I start hacking up the radiator and the radiator shell.

[image]http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/younggun50chevy/detail?.dir=/e4a9&.dnm=3e9e.jpg[/image]

i figure the image above isn't gonna work so, here is a link to it.

 

I can't figgure out how that would work in any position. Is the top tank devided so the water has to go accross the radiator twice? I would turn it 180 from as shown and put a fitting an the other end. Does it have a Filler? Where?

 

That top tank DOES look su****iously divided. Mabe you could run a welding rod or coathanger in there to see. (Just be careful not to damage any of the openings to the veins! They are EXTREMELY fragile! Think "tin foil") That would be the only way to make it useable, AFAIK. It looks like you'd still want to run it horizontally, tho. The radiator supports in most early 50's vehicles are usually fairly easy to modify for a horizontal radiator. Just remember to keep it stout enuff that your front fenders don't bang and flop.

The other 2 ports on that thing look like they are threaded. If so, these are probably for a built-in trans fluid cooler.

If you know a welder that is REALLY good at aluminum, you can usually have one port or another moved to the other tank.

 

It's not the top tank. It's the side tank because it's a cross flow. Must be divided like a heater core is. To check it turn it the other way up and stand it diagonally on one corner and put about a pint of water in the high neck and see if it comes out the low neck. It shouldn't because it should have to go up hill to the other end tank and back down.
That would probly fit great in a Camaro!

 

it's called a "serpentine p***" radiator.
yes,the "end" tanks have a divider in them.

 

the upper tank does have a weld accross the center of it so I guess the divider is located right there. I'm just curious if it would be worth using due to the location of the ports, the little ports aren't for a ****** cooler since they had water coming out just like the other two when I flushed it with water. I wonder if it would be better to sell the rad. to a camaro guy (like DrJ hinted at) and use the money to buy a rad that fits my truck better. or make this one work, I mean, I really want to use this thing, its huge, thick, lightweight... but I don't want to destroy the Radiator trying to make it work.