angled radiator questions....

[peej410]

i just picked up an afco aluminum radiator it measures 24 wide by 19 tall, id like to mount it where the old one was mounted (custom mount) but it ends up really low, at the bottom, should i look into mounting it at an angle or will i not have the space? ive seen some rads mounted like this on other Z's any opinions?

[blueovalz]

What ever it takes. Some designs in the smaller racecars mount the radiators completely horizontal, so mount it in whatever position fits. Mine is about 45 degrees to the horizon (or to the vertical, either way). The further you tilt it though, the more the position of the radiator cap becomes an issued. On mine, the cap on top of the radiator was positioned so that I would not be able to get all the air out of the system with the radiator tilted like I had it, so I installed a 2nd filler cap in-line between the engine and the radiator, at the high point to eliminate this problem.

[peej410]

i was just playing around and i started to fab up the lower brackets mine looks to be about 20 degrees from vertical, is there any downside to using aluminum tubes like the ones you have for the radiator hoses?

[blueovalz]

The only down side is enough rubber radiator hose must be used at each end of the tubes to allow the normal amount of engine movement when one uses stock rubber motor mounts. My engine is solidly mounted to the chassis, so this was not a concern. Other concerns were the cost of the tubes, and the welding, plus the time and patience to cut them correctly. The plus side is a neat, sanitary job that looks great. Below is an example of the work needed to get the angles correct and in place prior to welding the lower tube's segments together. In the photo below, two of the segments had to be done twice to get it just right.