I am working on mounting the aluminum radiator in my project. The mounting arrangement that I have come up with will use several 3/4" thick pads that fit into the downward facing "c" channel on the bottom of the radiator core. Originally I was planning to use rubber, but all of the strips I can find on McMaster Carr are either too large/expensive or don't have a high enough temperature range or both. I noticed some wood strips under my work bench that got me thinking. Any reason it wouldn't work? Does anyone have any other material ideas? The pads will be 2" long and 1" plus or minus wide.
Thanks
I'm sure it would work for some time, but I can't imagine it being a very forgiving environment for wood. I bet it would rot very quickly if it were being asked to rise up to the temperature of the radiator tanks multiple times a day. I would be looking for an alternate material myself.
I see there is a 3/4" x 2" rubber strip available from grainger in a variety of hardnesses, some of which are good for 225*F. Probably not enough headroom for what you are looking for. Part# 1DWU3 is intriguing.
I keep thinking of cheap anti-fatigue mats. We have a couple at work that are around 3/4" and are way too stiff to do any good. Probably about 60A. Might be something to look into/ set of fire in the name of SCIENCE!
If you're not dead set in your proposed mounting scheme, the Rabbit radiator mounts are about 3/4" tall as well. They are just a small rubber isolator with a M6 stud poking out either end.
Depends on the wood and the car, will it be driven in bad weather?
wood is a better material than most people give it credit for. Some hardwoods (like teak) are all but maintenance free as long as you do not care how they look
Why are you mounting the radiator by the core?
Cut up a few hockey pucks?
Could you find a failed truck tire retread on the side of the highway and cut what you need out of that? That could probably take a pretty high temp and be more forgiving than wood. I do think that wood could work though.
Thanks for the suggestions, keep 'em coming. This is for my Midlana project, so fair weather driving only.
I didn't know that mounting the radiator by the core wasn't kosher. I know it's not the strongest part of the radiator, but (I perhaps wrongly) assumed that it would be ok if it was well supported in several locations. I was planning on a support every 6 to 7 inches. If this is not sufficient I can re-evaluate the bottom mounts, however the bottom corners of the end tanks are a fairly tight fit to the fiberglass nose.
I looked for a hockey puck at the local sports store, but they seem to have poor availability around here. I also thought of a tire carcass, but would somehow need to laminate several layers together and any stray steel fibers might ware through the aluminum.
I wouldn't mount it by the core either. The factory radiator mountings I have seen all have the mounting done on the tanks. Either directly on the tanks or on a metal plate spanning between the tanks along the core. I have a feeling the core wouldn't last long if you mount it by the core. Since none of the factories did it that way (that I know of), there must be a good reason.
Ok, I have a revised mounting plan. A 2" wide strip of wood or other material will span the full length of the bottom of the radiator to give support to the end tanks. The c channel on the core will still be used to locate the radiator fore/aft, but any forces in that direction should be very minor.
I have oak, birch and pine on hand. Wich would be best, or should I find another material? 
I would look at mahogany. Cut to size and the soak in a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and terpentine for a day. Then wipe dry and install. You may smell the linseed oil for a while but it should be virtually indestructible.
Cast some pads in place out of silicone. A couple small rubber spacers to set the height/thickness, a little plastic shrink film on the rad to prevent sticking to it.
I went with the oak for mock up purposes. The piece ended up a bit more complex than anticipated with reliefs for the core to end tank welds and the part under the core needed to be 1/16" thinner than the ends to alow the tanks to be positively supported. I'll put some speed holes in the final piece.
Slather the finished piece with deck sealer and it should last a very long time.
That or coat it in epoxy. Once coated, it should last just about forever.
epoxy is the way to go there. It is think enough to soak into the wood some and hard enough to protect it once dry.
Have you considered adding some 'glass to the epoxy to make it a truly hard and near maintenance free piece?
The epoxy paint is a really good idea.
Is epoxy paint softer than aluminum? This piece is intended to support and pad the radiator, and should take the wear from any vibration.
not epoxy paint.. I mean real epoxy
Westsystem
bgkast wrote:
I went with the oak for mock up purposes. The piece ended up a bit more complex than anticipated with reliefs for the core to end tank welds and the part under the core needed to be 1/16" thinner than the ends to alow the tanks to be positively supported. I'll put some speed holes in the final piece.
looks to me like the brackets that are supporting the wood in the pic are right under where the tanks are welded to the core- which is the strongest part of the radiator and where every oem manufacturer supports the bottom of the radiator with just a couple of pieces of rubber.. i guess what i'm saying is that the board is just dead weight- get rid of it and just set the radiator down onto the metal brackets with a rubber pad isolating it from the brackets... then hold the whole thing in place with brackets on the top of the radiator pushing down.. for reference, look at engine bay pics of Fox body Mustangs to see how they held the top of the rad in place:
The middle of the wood doesn't provide any vertical support, but it does keep the bottom of the radiator from moving forward and backward by fitting into the channel on the bottom of the core, similar to the pin and grommet arrangement used by many OEMs. I plan on taking a hole saw to the center to lessen the dead weight.
still just dead weight... look at some factory radiator mount cushions: they wrap around the bottom of the tank seam, and sit inside brackets that keep them from moving fore and aft, with the same thing being done at the top... if you look closely at the Mustang engine bay pic i put in my last post, you can kind of see how everything wraps around the radiator to keep it in place..
here is a radiator mounting cushion that i found on the Summit website with a quick google search:
one other thing to notice is the little nipple sticking off the back side: that fits into a small (1/4" or so) hole drilled into the mounting bracket to keep the cushion in place even when you pull the radiator out and to keep it from drifting around in use if they didn't put little bent up tabs in there to locate the bushings.. pretty much every American rwd- and most fwd- cars and trucks with crossflow radiators built from the late 60's up to at least the early '00's mounted the radiators with something similar to this.
With the way the radiator sits and the fiberglass nose piece fits I don't have clearance for something like the pad pictured unfortunately. The radiator is almost tight to the inside of the nose on the bottom back corners. Further difficulties are that the chassis is only as wide as the core where the radiator mounts. The brackets in my picture are attached as far out as they can be. This mount isn't ideal, and can certainly use some "added lightness", but it will work.
Why not just solid mount it to the chassis? I know there is all sorts of backwoods wisdom that says it'll ruin the radiator but every Z car made from 70-89 had a solid mounted radiator.
