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| − | ==Oil coolers==
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| − | Some cars will have an engine oil cooler installed in the radiator. In the writers opinion this is an extremely bad idea as (1) Regarding cooling, one has all ones eggs in one basket. (2) There is the risk of oil getting into the water or vice-versa. Note that an oil-to-air heat exchanger is extremely difficult to boil and it is a reliable method of getting rid of waste heat.
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| − | Regarding combined coolers, allegedly a £57,000 German car uses a transmission cooler in the radiator for its fancy six speed gearbox. For some reason (allegedly the transmission fluid attacking the pipe) leaks occur. When this happens, the pressurized engine coolant fills the gearbox which then explodes! The owner of the car has had this happen twice in two years and he describes the car as "Fifty seven thousand pounds-worth of c#@p" (however he needs it for his business). My own British made car has six heat exchangers and NONE of them are combined. This gives better reliability even though it is old and only cost about one percent of the price of the German limo.
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| − | ==Miscellaneous==
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| − | ===400 SBC engines===
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| − | The 400 SBC is a special case. The cylinder barrels are siamesed in the block so that no cooling water can pass between them. This creates hot spots or "steam pockets" in the block at lower engine rpm which conceivably could create a spot at the top of the cylinder that is hot enough to create pre-ignition. As rpm increase, there is enough turbulence in the cooling system to wash these steam pockets away. GM engineers cured the problem by drilling holes into the cylinder heads to relieve this pressure and allow water to flow from the block up into the heads. That's all fine and dandy if you are using a 400 head on a 400 block because the heads are drilled. But, when using any other kind of head on the 400 block, there are usually no steam holes in the heads unless you are buying new heads and specify to the manufacturer of the heads that you want steam holes drilled into them before delivery. Alternately, if you already have the heads, you can have your machine shop drill the holes or you can drill them yourself if you have proper equipment. See: http://www.gregsengine.com/350to400.htm.
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| − | ====Cadillac radiator swap====
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| − | Any of the Fleetwood or Eldorado Caddy’s from '70 to '76 with a 472 or 500 will work.
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| − | ===Examples of donor vehicles===
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| − | *1976 Cadillac Fleetwood or Eldorado. For example: [http://www.radiatorexpress.com/product.asp?part=1976+CADILLAC+FLEETWOOD++%2D+8%2E2+liter+V8+RADIATOR+Name+Brand+Replacement&part_id=1357&aaia_id=1026582 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood 8.2 liter V8 radiator].
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| − | *Mid-70's Chevrolet truck with a 454. For example: [http://www.radiatorexpress.com/product.asp?part=1975+CHEVROLET+C20+PICKUP++%2D+7%2E4+liter+V8+RADIATOR+Name+Brand+4%2DRow+Capacity+Upgrade+%2828%22x19%22%29&part_id=39583&aaia_id=1031971 1975 Chevrolet C20 Pickup - 7.4 liter V8 radiator, 4-row capacity upgrade] (and, same radiator in aluminum: [http://www.radiatorexpress.com/product.asp?part=1975+CHEVROLET+C20+PICKUP++%2D+7%2E4+liter+V8+RADIATOR+All+Aluminum+4%2DRow+Capacity+%2828%22X19%22%29&part_id=218171&aaia_id=1031971 here]).
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| − | ===Swap procedure===
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| − | Call around and find a boneyard that still has the fan, shroud and core support. You'll be using a new radiator and viscous drive fan clutch to bulletproof your installation. Make yourself a memo of the exact year and model the pieces came from so you can match up the parts.
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| − | You may or may not have to alter the fan clutch hub where it bolts to the water pump/pulley. Usually, the holes are slotted so you can make it work. If not, some minor surgery on the hub with a rat-tail file will do the trick. With the motor in the vehicle and finalized for position, bolt the fan clutch and fan to the water pump. Mount the Cadillac radiator and shroud to the Cadillac core support.
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| − | The Cadillac core support will probably be longer side to side than the stock one in the recipient vehicle. Retain the outer pieces of the recipient vehicle support where it bolts into the body and cut the middle part of the recipient vehicle support out with a reciprocating saw, leaving a few inches on each side. Then, measure the opening between the two stubs that are still bolted to the recipient vehicle and cut the Cadillac support to fit into this opening. It's better to leave a little more sheet metal on the Cadillac support until you determine the correct position of the fan where it engages the shroud opening.
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| − | Then, position the Cadillac support with radiator and shroud attached up to the fan, equalizing the distance between the fan blade tips and the inner circumference of the shroud all around. Move the shroud around the fan until you have the fan blades halfway in and halfway out of the shroud opening. Normally, you'll have to tilt the top of the radiator/shroud back a little at the top to match the fan angle because the motor sits in the recipient vehicle with a rearward tilt. If you need a little more front to rear clearance for mounting the support, you can position the fan blades a little further in, as long as the fan clutch is at least 1" from the radiator core material. A little further out should be avoided if possible.
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| − | With that accomplished, simply attach the middle piece of the Cadillac support to the stubs of the recipient vehicle support. Use whatever pieces of sheet metal or whatever that you have to in order to make the connection. The Cadillac support may end up sitting forward of the stubs or a little behind them or it might fall exactly into place and you'll have very little welding to do to stitch the Cad support and the stubs together. Just use your head and figure out how to connect the sheet metal, then MIG it in place.
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| − | Now, you will have a radiator that will cool anything and you still have the stock attachment of the stubs to the recipient vehicle so you can use simple hand tools to disassemble it later if you have to; it'll all come out as one piece.
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| − | This swap may not be for everyone, you will have to judge that for yourself. Consideration should be given to the weight of the system when at full capacity, this could mean as much as 25 to 50 extra pounds on the front end. This swap does give you valuable information on limits of fan installation and mounting of core.
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