Frame question

[Von]

Those diagonal struts going from the frame rails to the front... how important are those?

I'm guessing they are fairly important or they wouldn't be there.

The stock radiator wasn't cutting the mustard for my 350 so I ordered an aluminum 3 row 67 Chevelle radiator from radiators4less. $210 on ebay.

Beautiful rad.... very nice. Opened it up and cut the rear flanges off. Cut the electric fan and trans cooler loose, yanked the old rad out... then noticed the new one is a bit taller than the old one. Same core size, bigger tanks.

Went ahead and installed it... since I'd already chopped it up. Closed the hood and the port side hood support hits the rad tank. Need about an inch and a half for the hood to close. If I remove or move the support it looks like the hood might still hit the radiator cap.

If I cut those struts loose I can lower the radiator enough to clear... but it'd probably be a good idea to do some extra bracing to compensate... ?

I haven't done any serious measuring yet.... After I got the rad in I put the fan and cooler back in with new ties, scrounged the Autozone racks for a lower hose and started it up.... Electric fan wouldn't come on.

has voltage all the way to the fan, good ground, I didn't abuse it when i took it off...

After that and then noticing the hood hitting the rad, I just threw my tools in the truck and walked away...

[Mikel]

I would rather get another radiator than cut those.

But if you must, you may be able to recreate those braces under the frame, not over as they are currently.

[67smith]

can't go under or lower on the braces(steering linkage etc)

I would go install a small body lift, like 2 inches max.

I should think that would get you pretty close

OR in addition to a small body lift, move the supports so they are just even with the top of the frames

[osut362]

Right or wrong......I cut mine out about 5 years ago and have not suffered any ill effects. Your truck, your call..........al

[spgirard30]

I cut mine out for rad clearance.

[moose3d]

I used my 10 lb BFH to bend it down to lower the radiator enough to close the hood.

[Von]

I've already cut that radiator up so i can't return it... and it's just sooo pretty..

Body lift, hadn't thought of that. I didn't pull the cab but the front clip just had about a half inch of cut up tire tread under the front mounting pads. So I'm guessing the body may be a bit saggy anyways... How thick are the rubber bits that are supposed to be in there? Right now 2.5 inch pucks would get me clear.

LOL, moose...

I don't plan on doing any rock crawling or bus jumping any time soon. I may go ahead and cut them loose for now. (although the other day I did tell the youngest boy that if he bumper bumped my Pontiac again with his pickup I was going to push his POS down the street sideways...)

Now I need to look into the body mount bushings.... that's bugging me now.

the guy that welded up my motor mounts is bugging me to "let" him build a bumper and winch mount. We'll incorporate beefing the frame back up into that project.

Cool, got a plan and an extra project. thanks guys.

[militarypotts]

Hope it works out for you.

[Mikel]

Doing a body lift because a relatively cheap radiator is too tall looks like an awful lot of work.

Summit sells a line of Howe aluminum radiators that is very inexpensive. I bet you can find something that fits the truck without extra work.

[Don Cavey]

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I found a local radiator shop here in Jacksonville, FL and got mine re-cored. Since they are huge and three-core radiators, I don't suspect any problems and ... it fits perfectly along with the radiator shroud. But that's just me.

Pictures would be nice, when you get a chance of course