Champion radiator install

Hey guys, a quick question.  I tried to put my new 3-row Champion radiator into my truck yesterday.  I bought new insulators for the radiator to sit on.  It seems with the insulators on, the radiator sits a little too high for the hold downs on the top of the support.

With the insulators off, it's just a tad too low but much better than with the insulators installed.  I bought the new insulators from Dennis Carpenter.  The old radiator and insulators are long gone (wish I could tell my two years ago self to hang onto some stuff!) to compare with.  

I'm considering laying something under the radiator to have it not sit (yuck, don't want my shiny new radiator metal to metal) on the metal radiator support and provide some vibration dampening (that is thinner than a 1" chunk of rubber).   Has anyone else ditched the insulators and used something thinner?

I posted this originally to my project thread but I think it doesn't always get as much visibility there.  While I'm on that subject, what's your guys opinion on posting questions to the "root" of the board and not in the project thread?  Is it a no no in your eyes?  I don't want to be rude but I think things get seen more on the top page of the board.

First - definitely not frowned upon to post questions here! As you said, posts here reach a wider audience. For a question like yours I like putting them in a separate thread here and then in the project thread referencing this thread or at least hitting the highlights of it. But that's a preference thing.

I wish I could help on why those insulators aren't working but I've never paid attention to a 302 setup. I could look at one of my parts trucks next week but that may be too late. Without knowing how much interference there is, could you cut chunks out of the insulators? Or would replacing them with a few stacked squares of inner tube work?

Right, I was wondering what others did.  I try to keep to the project thread so that everything is in one place, but when asking a question on the main board, I will have to transplant the answer.  There's nothing wrong with that...

As for the inner tube, that's a good idea.  I have some left over heater hose that I could split open and run along the first few inches of the front and rear rails of each side of the radiator?

The fact that I don't remember anyone reporting this just made me suspicious that I was being "unique" and doing something dumb.  I'll wait a bit more for more feedback before I do anything rash.  

I installed a 3 row Champion in my truck a month or two ago.

Interestingly I didn’t realize the bottom isolators came off with the old radiator, everything bolted up ok.

Then I saw them and took it apart enough to install them. Made me feel much better.

I would try to make the isolators work. Maybe try a different source. Or trim as necessary, as Scott mentioned.

Edit: add text.

Thanks, I'll fool around with it more this weekend.  

I took 5/8" inch heater hose and make six pieces about 1" long, and cut them lengthways.  I then made a "U" on each side of the radiator with three pieces of hose, it had it nice give to it.

With the insulators on, the top lip of the radiator is flush with the top of the radiator support, so when you try to put the holddowns on, there is a whole lot of compression needed to make the holddowns perpendicular to the rest of the truck.

But, I agree on trying again for the isolators.  At least I have a backup plan.  I'm glad to hear yours lined up well.

Chris - it may help to add the photo you added to your project thread here.
Dane and my 86 radiators have two 'wings' on the bottom that sit in U shaped insulators like this:



Gary has some good comparisons here but I don't see a straight shot of the earlier insulators so once yours gets figured out or you find a solution, please take some good photos and he may want to add them to that page.

Ok, after seeing that picture Scott, I’m thinking it was isolators on top that I missed. Are there some on top for ours?

Man, I wish my rememberer worked better!

Edit: After looking at the illustrations, I’m sure it was those bottom u shaped isolators. Looks like the 302 and 351 take the same isolators.

Sure, here's the link to the supports for good shots of the insulators themselves.  I've tried to orient them different ways, and have tried to ensure the radiator sits "in the valley" of the insulators, but still doesn't seem to fit right.  

I've also noticed that the radiator is slightly offset to the passenger side, even when the rubber grooves in the hold down are aligned with the "fins" on the radiator that the hold downs fit onto (see previous link to the radiator on JEGS site)

And, here's the picture from my thread:

How does your radiator look at the bottom? Does the bottom flange have an angled cutout before the tanks? When you sit the radiator in, where do the raised lips on the insulator hit in regards to this cutout?

My bad, I was looking at the 85/86 illustrations. Those isolators are different for your 84.

Can you turn those isolators around? Switch sides? It maybe me, but they look backwards.

grumpin wrote

Can you turn those isolators around? Switch sides? It maybe me, but they look backwards.

At first I was thinking the same thing but .......
The radiator tanks are cut back at the core area so the raised part of the rubber would fit to the inside of the tanks and keep it from moving side to side.
Not a Champ radiator bottom but his should be the same if it is made for our trucks.


How high dose the radiator sit on them mounts?
I want to say mine did sit a little high but not to the point I was worried.
Are you sure the raised parts of the rubber is to the inside of the tanks and the tanks not sitting on them?
Any way to get a picture of the radiator in the bottom mounts and at the top on high it is sitting?

4 years plus 2 now since paint I am still holding on to old parts "just in case"!
Never throw anything out till the car / truck is on the road for at least 1 year.
Dave ----

Yep! You're right, they are and I didn't really try them that way. I'll show in the pictures I'll send shortly, but the feet on the insulators push into keyed holes in the support. The only way the feet went into the correctly oriented holes in the support was the way in the picture (backwards)...

Thanks for the reply Dave, I'll send pictures a little later today.  Hopefully it'll help everybody tell me that they don't know what the heck my problem is, and the correct way to do it.

And, you're right!  The radiator was literally the first thing I took off.  I've certainly learned my lesson since then!

Ok, so I took the insulators and just cut the feet off them that insert into the "keyed" holes.  I had already torn some of the feet off trying to force them into the holes from above using a screwdriver...

But, I think I've achieved success (just skip to the bottom pictures if you like) using the real insulators!

Here are the "keyed holes" I was referring to:





Here are the corresponding keyed holes on the bottom of the insulators:



Some pictures of the bottom of the radiator:



Showing the extra play, and how the "fins" on the bottom of the radiator sit on the insulators...  



After mounting the radiator (but before cinching the hold-downs and mounting fan shroud to radiator)

Nice work!
It looks like the raised part of the isolator should fit between the flat stock and center flange of the (the equivalent of the stock angled cutout I described above) but realize in hand they must not.
Either way, it's in with minimal modification so that's a win

That’s great! Glad you got it!

Edit: that’ll be helpful for someone in the future.

Thanks all.  It was a simple fix but I didn't want to do that until I had a sanity check from you all.  I think the jury is still out hahaha.

ckuske wrote

Thanks all.  It was a simple fix but I didn't want to do that until I had a sanity check from you all.  I think the jury is still out hahaha.

  <those two are me btw!

Well done!