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59 Chevy / Cummins-9

2K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  KennyP 
#1 ·
Both fender support brackets are finished and bolted in place.
The angle iron crossbar is also mounted in-between the two fender support brackets.
There is a piece of steel angled down from the center of the cross bar.
This is to support the bottom of the hood latch.


The top front edge of the hood latch is bolted to the upper lip on the sheet metal for the grille opening.


The underside of the crossbar has a bunch of holes drilled in it so air is not blocked on any part of the radiator.


A formed sheet metal panel fits over the crossbar and fastens down to the front sheet metal to make sure that all the air that passes thru the grille goes thru the radiator.
This panel will not be bolted down until after the radiator is mounted in place.


I set the radiator in place to check the clearance and it looks good.


The radiator mounting brackets are on the engine side instead of on the grille side so I made up two angle support brackets to fasten to them.
These have a bolt welded to the top mounting hole to make it easier to set the radiator in place without having to try and hold the radiator up while I try to get a bolt threaded in place.
The rest of the mounting holes have nuts welded to them so the mounting bolts can be thread in.


These angle brackets bolt to the back side of the radiator brackets and will then be welded to the fender support brackets in the truck.


It looks like I'm going to be able to use the stock Dodge radiator fan shroud.
The radiator fastens in place with two of the mounting bolts on each side and then the shroud is fastened on with the other two mounting bolts.



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http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/13304-59-chevy-cummins/

-1 http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/13395-59-chevy-cummins-1/

-2 http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/13700-59-chevy-cummins-2/

-3 http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/13805-59-chevy-cummins-3/

-4 http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/13863-59-chevy-cummins-4/

-5 http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/14009-59-chevy-cummins-5/

-6 http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/14147-59-chevycummins-6/

-7 http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/14275-59-chevy-cummins-7/

-8 http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/14418-59-chevy-cummins-8/

 
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#2 ·
When you previously mentioned you had a 1/2" of clearance, with the fan blades even farther back, I couldn't picture it. Thanks for the pic. The factory shroud working out has to somewhat of a relief, that should lessen the worries of cooling.

Does the grille surface area on the '59 come close the Dodge, in square inches? Is air volume going to be a factor?

Once again, top notch work, Ray!
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
Does the grille surface area on the '59 come close the Dodge, in square inches? Is air volume going to be a factor?
I haven't measured the two to compare but there is a lot of open space up there so I don't think there will be any problem.

I never seemed to have any airflow problem with the 6.2 and from what I've been told, these Cummins engines cool easier than the 6.2 engines did.
 
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#3 ·
Now would be a good time to have the radiator cleaned and tested.
 
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#7 ·
You do fantastic work Ray! I'm glad that all the little details are working out for you. Did you form or have formed the piece that covers the top of the radiator and directs the air flow or was that an original part of the truck?
 
#8 ·
Did you form or have formed the piece that covers the top of the radiator and directs the air flow or was that an original part of the truck?
That is part of the original sheet metal for the truck.
 
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#9 ·
The radiator support brackets are welded to the fender supports and the radiator is mounted in place.
The top radiator tank will be setting just above the front sheet metal panel that fits up over the crossbar.



This is how it looks with the shroud in place.
With the radiator seting where it is, I can use the stock factory radiator hoses.

 
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#13 ·
Most automatic transmissions use a "cooler" that is built into the radiator but the Cummins system is a little different.
It has a tank on the side of the engine that has a transmission cooler inside of it and engine coolant flows thru the tank to cool the transmission fluid.
The transmission coolant lines were 5/16 inch diameter on the Chevy transmission and the lines on this Cummins are 1/2 inch diameter.
It also uses this transmission cooler that was mounted in front of the radiator.



I drilled holes in the radiator support for the coolant tubes to stick thru.



The cooler is bolted to the radiator support and the hood latch fits in front of it.



Here you can see how the tubes extend back thru the radiator support.
This makes them easy to reach and to tighten the hose clamps.



The stock Cummins transmission coolant lines fit without any modifications.



Once the front panel is put on you won't be able to see the transmission cooler.



Next on the list is to mount this condenser for the air conditioner.



The mounting brackets that came with this condenser are thin strips of flat steel so I decided to make my own mounting brackets.
These are made out of heavy strap steel that is 1-1/2 inch wide and 80-thousands thick.



Here's how they look mounted on the condenser.



The mounting straps fit up behind the transmission cooler and are welded to the cross bar.



The mounting straps stick out under the transmission cooler so it is easy to reach the mounting screws.



The bottom of the condenser has two short pieces of mounting strap that fastens to the lower grille pan.
This makes a nice strong mount for the condenser.

 
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#16 · (Edited by Moderator)
Ray your doing great!

Its not 100% yet but with all the stuff you have to show off I just hope I have room to show my stuff to at buckley.
 
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#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
Its not 100% yet but but with all the stuff you have to show off I just hope I have room to show my stuff to.
Don't think that will be any problem, Jerome.
Because of the tractors that I've added , I resurved more space this year so we can still fit you in.
 
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#19 ·
Nice 'engineering' of the trans cooler and condenser! Everything looks like is was always there! Great job!
 
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