I bought a summit brand universal radiator about a month ago. I'm having a lot of things done to my '68 that I couldn't do myself so I had them install the radiator as well. Anyway, the guy at the shop called me today and said this radiator will not work because the distance between the outlet of the radiator and the inlet to the engine (it's a 390) is too short and he cannot fit a hose. He's tried calling around town to see if anyone can modify it to make it work but says everyone said no. What are my options? I don't mind sending it back to summit, but I don't want to spend $500 for a custom aluminum radiator. Any ideas?

 

we need to see picture of what it look like in there. idealy you fab up what you need from a wire hanger and take it down to the parts store and dig something up. napa let me search through all of thier hoses till i found one i could cut and make work.

 

another option is to bend a 1 1/2" metal tube and cut to length, then use rubber couplings to attach.

 

thanks guys

 

The radiator outlet to the engine inlet is 1 3/4". That is the bottom of the radiator to the suction side of the wp. I would love to see pictures as it seems strange he can't make it work.

 

The car is at the shop right now so I can't provide a picture at the moment. I'll take a couple either tomorrow or thursday to let you guys see what's going on.

 

thanks thats gunna help me buy my new radiator, hope u get it figured out nvrsumr

 

you can also use the "cool flex" hose(stainless) or do what somebody else said and us e a piece of tubing/pipe with couplers

 

Ok here's the pictures I took today. I can see now why the guy said a flexible hose will not work. It might be possible if the right person does it, but the it would be a really tight fit.







I couldn't get a good picture of it because of the tight space, but they are just about horizontal of eachother.

 

An 18" flex hose looks like it will fit from the front of the car, install it on the radiator, bend it down 90 degrees, and then up to the left 180 degrees. Unless the pictures are deceiving, it should fit fine.