Hello all, this is my first post although I've visited your site many times while working on my 1956 F100. I apologize up front because I know this will be a long post, but if this information helps somebody later on, it will be worth it. First off, my truck: I'm the luckiest guy in the world to get a hand-me-down 1956 F100. My great-great grandfather bought it new towards the end of 56, it was built in September of 56 according to the date on the heater box. It is an "original" truck, it has never been wrecked, still retains all its original sheet metal, and is still in its original color (repainted in 1973-I have one of the empty paint cans that is dated). It has the original 272 and 3 speed column shift trans, but the rear axle is not original to the truck (out of another 56 and same gear ratio-3.73). Original style exhaust, except for a glasspack. 1957 4 barrel intake manifold from a 292 installed to run a 600 cm Holley with manual choke. Carburetor mounted backwards to align choke and throttle linkages correctly (works great!). Drop/forward front springs, rear lowering shackles, centerline 15 x 8 wheels, stock steering, stock 4 wheel drums. Drive the truck often. Runs, drives, steers, and stops great. Added seatbelts for the kids.

Original radiator finally started leaking bad enough it needed replaced. After pricing, I decided to buy an aluminum radiator, which was manufactured by KKS (China). All aluminum radiators I found were advertised to fit 53-56 F100 trucks with y block engines. I also planned to install a thermal fan clutch and new fan blade, ditching the rigid 4 blade factory fan, and replace the water pump with a new unit while I was in there. I knew some small modifications were in store due to fan spacing. I had planned to reuse the factory shroud setup, and chose the KKS brand radiator due to the die formed tanks to retain some original looks once I painted it black. I received all my parts and started mocking up the fitment.

*Disclaimer*: I already know most people would plan to install an electric fan setup when using an aluminum radiator in these trucks, and the holes pre drilled for the shroud are also used to mount the electric fan and shroud combo. This was not my plan. The radiator add did not mention that stock parts would, or would not fit.

The new radiator came with pre drilled holes for mounting in the truck, and holes to mount the shroud. The first problem I encountered was the mounting holes for the shroud were wider apart (from side to side) than the holes in the shroud. In theory, the left and right sides of the shroud would need to be stretched out about a 1/2" for all the holes to align. Not the "end of the world" type of problem. I mounted one side of the shroud to the radiator and moved on for mock up. Installed 2 bolts thru the new water pump, and installed the radiator in the truck to start checking new clutch and fan setup. Radiator mounted up to the core support without much effort, albeit there wasn't any room for play left in the bolt holes once all bolts were run down. Went to install the new fan and clutch, and that's when things turned ugly. The new fan blade (18.25" - stock is 18") bottomed out on the shroud and I wasn't close to the water pump. A measurement showed the clutch hub was about 2.25" to high, obviously keeping the clutch and fan from lining up. The upper hose (pipe) would also not touch the thermostat housing in its current state (as it would with original radiator) .Tried searching the interwebs, but couldn't find any similar situations (back to my disclaimer above). I re examined the add for the radiator and didn't find anything in the fine print there either. I know the 56 model is unique in many ways, but since the front sheet metal, including the radiator support are the same for 53-56, I still couldn't understand the problem. I finally came across some information that told me all (or most?) 53-55 trucks came with a different water pump that provides a boss for a "high mount" fan which moves the fan and shroud opening higher up in the engine compartment. The 56 model brings the fan mounting down to directly on the water pump, which brings along other exclusives for the 56 truck: the radiator, the shroud and the water pump (unsure about the fan blade itself).

The 2.25" too high brought other challenges: the lower radiator tank only had 3/4" clearance to the core support, the shroud couldn't be dropped farther down the radiator due to lower hose port and drain cock on the radiator, and the radiator mounting holes (pre drilled) were obviously going to be in the wrong locations. I looked at electric fan options, but ultimately decided to press on with my original plan. Originality is already out the window, so I pulled everything back out and got out the grinder and cut-off wheels. I cut/ground most of the rear facing channel off the core support, grinding it completely off end the lower bends so the lower radiator tank would clear when I lowered the radiator. I then cut 1.25" slits in the corners (at 45 degree angles) of the shroud so I could spread both mounting edges out to match the mounting holes in the new radiator. Took it to my good buddy that welds to have the new slits sewed back up to prevent issues from cropping up later. I also had to grind the "lip" off the very bottom of the shroud so it fit the radiator better. Also had to take a hammer to the bend around the lower hose for better fitment too. After all that, I moved on to dropping the new radiator farther down in the engine compartment. I ground plant off the core support, I then used wood shims to bring the radiator up small increments to finally perfect the alignment of the clutch and fan into the shroud. I could reuse the factory lower attachment (welded) nuts by drilling new holes in the radiator mounting flange that matched up. I had to drill new upper mounting holes in the core support to match the pre drilled holes in the radiator. I then had to use a flanged nut, as it wouldn't slip through a box end wrench when installing the upper attachment bolts. There is no way to get your hand in there without dissembling the front of the truck (too much rust and rot, not going to happen).

Another issue I came across is the new water pump actually replaces the car version water pump, and I had to shim my water pump pulley out 1/4" for proper belt alignment. I don't know if that should be normal or not, or if that issue existed before and never noticed. Either way, it's fixed.

I still don't have the truck fully assembled, we took a short trip for spring break, and i'm waiting on my heater core to get finished at the radiator shop. But when I'm finished, I will report back here with a list of all the part numbers I used, and how it turned out. I'll also try to include some pics too.

Again, so sorry for the super long post, but if it helps anybody in the future, then it's worth every word written. Please feel free to correct anything I assumed or wrote here, as I know I'm no expert on these trucks. I also know there are new replacement radiators out there for the 56, but last I saw they were in the $500 range. I havent spent that with the new radiator plus in all the other upgrades i am doing, and i wanted to see how I could incoorperate a clutch fan into the system on the cheap.

Happy motoring y'all!
Jon Bowman

Jon.  Welcome to the site.
 
For my ’55 Customline, I finally broke down and installed an aluminum radiator last year.  I’ve had the original radiator recored at least twice over the years and always struggled with the upper tank leaking around the top tank seam although using the factory rated 7 lb. radiator cap helped much in that regard.  The aluminum radiator has been in place for over a year now and with the 16 lb. cap that was supplied with it, there have been no issues whatsoever.  The radiator itself was almost a bolt in and simply had to slot two of the exiting holes sideways just a bit to finish the installation.  The car has never had a cooling issue and the engine temperature with the new radiator is the same as the old.  All is good.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Let me put in my two cents worth on radiators and possibly save someone from wasting the money that I did. When I rebuilt my 56 Victoria several years ago I had a local radiator shop in Tulsa recore the original radiator. Cost me $366.00 and lasted several months before the seam on the top tank started to split and leak. During the next year and a half I took the radiator back 3 more times to correct the same problem. The top seam continued to split  in various spots and the radiator guy told me the top tank was too big and built up too much pressure. We were just chasing the leak around the top seam . I gave up on the recore and ordered a NEW reproduction from US Radiator in California for about $450.00. I was pleased that it was a good copy of the original and fit in place with no problems. It worked great for about a year and then started to leak at the top seam. I called US Radiator and the man graciously offered to repair it at no cost if I would send it from Tulsa to California.Rather than hassle with shipping, i took it to a local shop in Tulsa that had done radiator work for decades and let him fix it. In the next year or so, I had to take it back two more times for the same problem and once again we were chasing the leak around the top seam. The old guy at the shop who was familiar with 56 Ford radiators told me that the originals had an extra bend on the flange of the top half of the top tank that helped it hold on in the solder and the aftermarket ones did not. He said he would fix it again but would not guarantee it. I really wanted to stay with the original look and considered an aluminum replacement but only saw ones on ebay that looked like street rod radiators with the top tank made of pieces of flat bar aluminum welded together. A local Ford collector refered me to Auto City Classics. They offer a direct replacement aluminum radiator that features a STAMPED top tank that is almost a carbon copy of the Tbird radiator or the ones in 312 equipped 56 Fairlanes. Better yet the price was about $240.00. It fit great, cools great and looks original minus the top side brakets that sodered to the top tank; not needed because the top seam is aluminum WELDED, not soldered. I have never looked back .

I agree with Ted and geo56, a re-core just did not seem like a viable option. Plus, where I live in southern Indiana, radiator shops are getting quite rare. I just didn't want to be going through this again in a year or two.

I want to list all the parts that I used to make this project happen. If i don't write it down somewhere, I'll forget it in short order. Radiator: KKS brand KKS5356 aluminum radiator (this is the 3 core model with die formed tanks. I painted it black so the aluminum wouldn't stand out as bad). Fan shroud: stock, with 1" slits in each corner to spread the mounting holes out enough to attach to new radiator. A buddy welded in some patches to those slits as best he could to prevent fatigue and more tearing. Fan Blade: Hayden 3618. Fan Clutch: Hayden 2710 (this is the thermal style, can use non-thermal 1710). Both versions are setup for 3/4" bore and come with 5/8" reducer bushing. Water pump: Airtex AW488 (new, but car style pump. For whatever reason I had to use a Speedway 54564035 1/4" water pump pulley spacer to align pulleys. I don't know if this was a previous issue, or happened because of using a car style water pump). To achieve the proper fan blade depth, I had to use a fan spacer. Fan Spacer: PRC 18075. I had to manufacture my own water pump studs. I cut the heads off some 5/16" fine thread bolts and threaded the blank ends to 5/16" coarse threads to attach the fan. Unfortunately, I don't remember the length of bolts I used. Trial and error will have to suffice for this part. Stock radiator hoses. Overflow Tank: Crown Royal bottle with a rusty wire saddle (bottle is tapered out as it goes up, set the wire up to catch the bottle about half way down. Took just shy of 5 gallons of coolant for total fill. I did not have any cooling issues before this upgrade, and now I can't hardly get the thermostat to fully open (70 degrees outside right now and heater valve shut off). Thermostat: Mr Gasket 4367 (180 degrees). I took internet advice and drilled one small hole for air bleeding. Shouldn't have done that, it is already setup to air bleed right out of the package. I also restricted the bypass because of internet advice. Shouldn't have done that either. I will replace with another new 4367 thermostat and remove the bypass restrictor to see if I can raise the operating temp a little bit (bet not too many people say that with these old things!). Radiator Cap: Motorad T4. It's only 4psi, I might raise that to 7 or 10 psi in the near future. I don't want to leak, that's why such low psi.

Again, this information is relevant only if you are using the above mentioned radiator, and you will need to make modifications to the factory radiator support to get the radiator to sit in the proper location to use a belt driven fan. I don't know what spacing it would take to incorporate the fan clutch to a stock radiator setup.

I also converted my stock distributor (stock Load-a-Matic) to a pertronix igniter II and flame thrower II coil (0.6 ohms). The truck always ran fine, but now the motor feels a lot "free-er" above 2000 rpms. I don't know if that has to do with going to a fan clutch setup, or the electronic ignition, or both. Whatever the reason, running about 75 mph (I live right by a 4 lane road) at 3500 rpm for many miles, truck seems to handle it with ease. Puts a smile on my face. Hope my pics load...

More pics, no order.

I've had a US Radiator for 5 years and never had a problem with it; I use a 7 psi cap, no recovery system, and the coolant 1" low in the tank. The original cooling problem I had was fixed with a smaller water pump pulley.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.