Slick 60's

So I'm gonna go ahead and assume (I know, dangerous of me to do) that when THIS GUY needed a radiator way back when, he told them he had a '65 (just like it says in his ad )...and this is what he ended up with.

A big 'ol gap in front & the fan mighty close to the radiator. They may have even put a shorter fan spacer in there.



Now normally, I'd give the seller the benefit of the doubt & assume the truck really is a '65 & that someone probably swapped the grille sometime in the past...but in this particular case, I'm-a-thinkin' the grille is the original it was born with.

Looks like it has '65 fender badges.

cant tell if those are 65 or 66 fender badges.

rad installation as bad as the person who installed the new radiator in my 70. that guy hacked up the flanges to get it to set in the right spot.

Wow, good eye on the fender badges! I think you're right. I wish there was a better shot of those.

Ok, so that leaves me with two explanations;
1) The truck was wrecked at some point & '66 parts were put back on to fix it.
2) It really is a '65 radiator support, but there's some really long spacers between it & the radiator...can't really tell.

Good catch on the fender badges..... however, it seems to me like it's a 65 core support and a 66 radiator. My 65 core support has those tall flanges, protruding back from the support toward the engine. Those tall flanges require a radiator with the bolt flange on the rear of the radiator (65).

The 66 radiator (as I believe is shown in this photo) has the bolt holes on the front of the radiator. The 66 core support is essentially flat, and does not have those tall flanges sticking back from the support into the engine compartment. A radiator with bolt holes on the front of the radiator, installed against a flat 66 core support, places the radiator in the right spot. When you put the 66 radiator (with front flange bolt holes) up against a 65 core support (with tall mounts) it moves the entire radiator back about 4 inches, crowding everything. I'll check mine again, but having recently modified a 66 radiator to fit perfectly into my 65, this all seems pretty clear in my head.

(p.s.: With PJs on, and my slippers, I just ran out to the garage to check my truck. Confirmed my belief..... that's a 66 rad in a 65 core support).

(p.p.s.: Now it's perfectly clear to me that trying to "Make Do" with a 66 radiator in a 65 truck makes for a terrible fit)

That's what I get for posting up a subject like this from work, without looking at my truck first.
So I was thinking backwards on the years in my initial post. Thanks Dan, for straightening me out.


One thing that I got thinking is...I wonder if the radiator would cool better the way that is? It's closer to the fan, so the fan would probably pull air more effeciently...also, the fan spacer would be shorter, so the fan would be less likely to make wobbling motion on the water pump shaft at high rpm's.
Does that theory hold any water with you guys?

OK guys, take a close look at the pictures in my gallery, comparing a '65 and '66 radiator setup.
It is a '66 radiator for sure.
The brackets soldered on it are bolted onto a '65 radiator core support.

The '65 and earlier core supports have brackets spot welded onto the core support. The '65 radiator had flanges facing to the rear of the truck. The rear flange of the '65's radiator brackets bolt to the rear face of the core support brackets.

The '66 core support has a flat inside, with no additional brackets. The '66 radiator brackets have the flanges facing forward - just as you see in the picture above. The brackets soldered to the radiator are the same as for the '65, but are swapped left for right. The flange now faces to the front, and bolts directly to the inside or rear face of the core support itself.

In this case, you have a '66 radiator with the forward facing flanges, bolted to the rear face of the '65 support brackets - thus the extra space.

Just like Dan San Diego said.

Use it for an A/C condenser!

or an INTERCOOLER!

so let me see if i get this a 65 and 66 core support are not the same if thats that case what years will interchange with a 65?

fordman125 wrote:so let me see if i get this a 65 and 66 core support are not the same if thats that case what years will interchange with a 65?

Ok, now I could be wrong here, as I often seem to be on this subject. As far as I know, either one will bolt up to either truck, but you'd need to match the radiator to whichever core support you end up using.

Banjopicker's got some comparison pics here in his gallery; http://fordtruk.com/forums/album.php?user_id=48

Somebody made a thread a while back (that I can't seem to find) where they made one of the current aftermarket '64 & earlier styles to work on '65 & '66.