harder to find: 65 radiator or unicorn?

[redstone65]

Anybody know a source for a '65 radiator that doesn't cost $600? Do they exist at anything close to a reasonable price? I only found one, from US radiator, and I've bought cars cheaper than what they want for it.

[Lowell]

i had a radiator shop recore my old radiator for a little over $300 a few years ago.

[redstone65]

i had a radiator shop recore my old radiator for a little over $300 a few years ago.

My local shop wanted $450 for a re-core. I think the clogged one in my truck now is actually a '66 but it fits fine. Other than the top port being on the other side I can't tell the difference between a 65 and 66 radiator. If that's the only difference then I don't mind sticking with a '66 model. I can get those new for $250.

[slixtyfive]

The difference between '65 and '66 radiators is the location (front to rear) of the mounting flange. The '65 radiator support has a bracket that extends rearward for the radiator to mount to so the flange on the radiator is toward the rear(toward the engine). The '66 radiator support does not have that same additional bracket so the radiator mounts directly to the main vertical panel of the support, thus requiring the radiator mounting flange to be toward the 'front' side (away from the engine)

Hose connections likely vary depending on engine - I6 or V8. I have not specifically compared those so I can't give you more details on that aspect.

[6166 Junkyard Dog]

look into this,,,,,,,,, take the 66 flanges and reverse them from side to side and see how that works

[redstone65]

Ok, from what I can tell so far I actually have a '66 radiator in there now, not a '65. If you are standing in front of the truck, facing the grill, the top outlet is on your right and the bottom outlet is on the left. I think the '65 radiator for a 6-cyl has both top and bottom outlets on the left. If that's the case then the '66 6-cyl radiator will fit. That's good because they are readily available from NAPA in the $250 range.

The '65 radiator support has a bracket that extends rearward for the radiator to mount to so the flange on the radiator is toward the rear(toward the engine).

Yep, mine has those. But the top hose connection is on the wrong side. Maybe the PO just used the '65 reverse brackets on a '66 radiator.

[Toyz]

O' Reilly's parts house has a radiator for the bumpsides that has bolted on flanges, easily reversed for the '65 core. It's well under $200.00.

[DanSanDiego2000]

Although a lot of these answers sound similar, I wanted to share the solution I used.
I have a '65, purchased a new '66 radiator, de-soldered the brackets off of my '65, soldered them onto my new '66 radiator......
Perfection.

It's been a number of years since I did it, and had all the photos at the time...... but I think the Bucket ate them all.

The radiator came from Napa, and all the inlet locations, sizes, core dimensions were spelled out on their website.

With just a little digging, I found what I needed, and Viola!!

[66camperspecial]

A 77 F350 460 radiator will bolt in but they are huge,my 66 needed a core support and since I had a 460 with its radiator from a 77 I got a 65 core support.