Well, two flops and two cracked radiators has be looking at the core support. The stock inner fenders/core supports just move too much. In both of my flops, the front fender got pushed in and caused the core support to flex on the body bushing and cracking the radiator tank where the flange is soldered on.

I know I've seen sever pics on here of different ideas people have used to rework or eliminate the stock core supports, but they're in random threads of varying topics. I want to bring those ideas together in a single thread. If you've got some pics of different core support ideas, let's see them.

You need one of these...

You can get these from Jegs....:flipoff2:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/tdogamadog/RadiatorSupport.jpg

That's terrible~ :laughing:

You can get these from Jegs....:flipoff2:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/tdogamadog/RadiatorSupport.jpg
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

First, stop flopping it!

Second..

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/PlainGallery/DevilRolloverRepairsFeb2005/DCP_0003.sized.jpg
http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/PlainGallery/DevilRolloverRepairsFeb2005/DCP_0005.sized.jpg
http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/PlainGallery/DevilRolloverRepairsFeb2005/dcp_0023_002.sized.jpg
http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/PlainGallery/DevilRolloverRepairsFeb2005/dcp_0020_002.sized.jpg

And a later revision

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/PlainGallery/2006DevilWinterOverHaul/DCP_0040_001.sized.jpg
http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/PlainGallery/2006DevilWinterOverHaul/IMG_5457_001.sized.jpg

Just a reminder - I hate the Ford radiator. I found another Scout unit hiding in storage and had it cleaned up, and it's going in this winter before the next event.

Back to the core-support..

Mine is 2" tube. I welded some short lengths of channel to the ends with a nut welded inside, and the whole setup mounts to the stock body bushings, with a pair of rear diagonals bolting to the shock hoops to brace it some.

There's a problem with the 2" hoop, though. I had to lower the radiator. Seemed fine at the time, but the draglink starting cutting the lower hose when the passenger side was flexed up.

I went back and cut the inside corners of the hoop and raised the radiator up, and drilled a hole in the outside of the hoop to let me get to the radiator neck to fill it. That moved it up enough that the draglink stopped wasting lower hoses.

It still fit under the hood, and I had enough room for a Taurus fan (barely).

You could try angling the support to the rear a bit, and go up and over the upper hose, but you'll still have a height problem with the radiator, but you could do a better job of squeezing it all in there than I did (duh).

That said.. I have some thoughts on "when I have to do this again"

I wanted to keep the whole thing removable (along with the front clip) to make engine/trans R&R easier.

Next time I'm thinking of making two "sides" that are fixed position. They'd run back near the firewall and incorporate shock hoops along with coming forward to act as the sides of the core support.

Then put a removable crossbar in near the front, but maybe move it back a touch and put it either over the upper hose, or over the thermostat housing (that's where my current shock cross bar is at the moment).

It would add a bunch of strength to the core support that I don't really have.

The desert racers find a way to get an "X" in front of the radiator inside their core support structure, but on a SII that means moving the engine back, or not having a grille.

I was thinking of something sort of like what you did there, Tom. I have access to 2" and 1.25" dies. The 1.25" die has a 4.5" CLR... I'm thinking it should be plenty strong enough for a core support and the smaller diameter and tighter bend radius should allow for easier "packaging".

I was thinking of something sort of like what you did there, Tom. I have access to 2" and 1.25" dies. The 1.25" die has a 4.5" CLR... I'm thinking it should be plenty strong enough for a core support and the smaller diameter and tighter bend radius should allow for easier "packaging".

If you JUST want a new core-support for "flops" (not a roll-over-protect-my-radiator setup) then the 1.25 would be fine. I only had a 2" die at the time.

I didn't really aim for making it "rollover proof" but I wasn't against the idea. :D

A buddy in the club is building an Exploder with a pinched nose and a 302, and used the 1.5"/4.5r die to follow his radiator and build his core support.

BTW, my "radiator mount" is very low-tech.. some 2" exhaust clamps to the "core support" and then some 1x1/8 flat strap (or 1x1x1/8 angle) runs over to the stock mounting holes in the radiator.

It allowed me to adjust just where the radiator wound up, and then just tighten down the clamps. when I was happy, I tack welded the clamps in place for insurance against 'em sliding - and when I moved the radiator up, I just ground the tacks, slid everything up, and re-tightened.

Not the prettiest approach, but muffler clamps are $1 each, uncoated mild steel ready to weld..