Tucked Aluminum Radiator – 47-54 Chevy GMC Truck

Description

Need room in the engine bay of an LS-swapped 1947–1954 Chevrolet or GMC pickup, or done with imported aluminum radiators that leak and underperform? This tucked radiator package gains you substantial clearance between the fan shroud and the front drive system, and in most cases it only takes removing the front "X" brace of the core support and drilling mounting holes.

The core runs two rows of 1.25" tubes spaced 3/8" apart on center. That spacing lets us pack in more rows of tubes, fins and coolant volume, with more surface area for air to move across and carry heat away. Don't be fooled by budget radiators claiming more rows — this design has proven out as the most cooling available for the size.

Features

• 22 1/2" overall width flange to flange, 20 7/16" overall height tank to tank.
• American made two-core design with extra large 1.25" tubes.
• No epoxy — fully furnace brazed and fully TIG welded.
• LS hose fittings and placement, so no reducer or adaptor hoses: 1 1/4" upper, 1 1/2" lower.
• Integrated LS steam port fitting on the upper tank.
• Gooseneck fill with a billet machined filler neck, which hides the cap and leaves room for a custom radiator or core support cover.
• Tested with stock core supports, aftermarket core supports and Absolute Sheetmetal hotrod core supports with minimal modification.

Choose your option

• Spal brushed fan and aluminum shroud, medium duty — suits lower horsepower engine packages and cooler climates that don't ask as much of the cooling system.
• Spal brushless fan and aluminum shroud, heavy duty — more CFM than the brushed equivalent on considerably less power, with soft start and variable speed from 850 to 2500 rpm. Now includes a 500 watt brushless fan.
• Transmission cooler — leave it out for a manual transmission or an external cooler, or take the heavy duty 7 plate cooler for aggressive cams, higher stall converters, warm climates and hard driving. The heavy duty cooler can run alongside an external cooler for extreme setups.
• AC condenser — add the 12" x 14" Superflow R-134a condenser in its aluminum mounting frame, which comes out for service. Top is a #8 male insert (3/4"-16), bottom a #6 male insert (5/8"-18), so it works with Vintage Air, Old Air Products and other common brands.
• Billet radiator cap — a 16 lb polished billet cap engineered for our filler neck. It ships as a two piece kit, unassembled, so you can clock it when you install it.

Fitment notes

Previous modifications, model year and condition all affect how a custom radiator fits. We have done a lot of R&D to cover as many configurations as possible, but a custom part can still need work we cannot anticipate. Inspect and measure before ordering. Photos are for reference and may not show current revisions.

Radiators are made to order and usually ship 6–8 weeks from the order date. The radiator installation manual is available as a PDF.

Not included

• A fan and shroud, unless you choose one of the Spal packages at the top of the page.
• Radiator hoses. The fittings are LS placement and size - 1 1/4" upper, 1 1/2" lower - so no reducer or adaptor hoses are needed, but the hoses themselves are not supplied.
• Coolant.
• In most installs the front "X" brace of the core support is removed and mounting holes are drilled, so a drill is needed.