GOLDMYN
Senior Member
Hi, wondering where you purchased the brackets that are attached to the radiator, I have the shroud just can't find the brackets. thanks
How to Install Fan Shroud Bracket Cage Nuts
- Thread starter 67_300_Convertible
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Gerald Morris
Senior Member
IDK about where folks who can afford a "restoration mechanic" get their parts, but it appears that the brackets on his shroud came attached to it. Even with my 1965 shroud, meant for the 2524984 3 row radiator, 22", the steel shroud bolts to its brackets, which are bolted into the side of the radiator via 1/4"-20 bolts with suitable "cage nuts" placed inside the soldered on frame about the core. The pics provided above by SGVert show SUPERB work, with what look to be plastic anchors inserted into the radiator frame in place of cage nuts.
I MADE A NEW SET OF BRACKETS OUT OF 2" X 2" X 1/16" THICK ANGLE ALUMINUM, which were needed for the US Radiator 4 row radiator I purchased this past spring, anticipating the very record heat we got. I carefully measured exactly where to bolt the aluminum onto the shroud, as the old heavy stamped steel brackets were, and consequently got a more airtight fit for my shroud. Gertrude NEVER got warmer than 200 Fahrenheit this summer, which is the exact temperature I set the pusher fan to kick in for cooling things down to just ~196 degrees.
I removed my 7 blade salad chopper two weeks ago, and will leave it off until late May. If you want to see the way I put the angle aluminum on to secure my shroud, I'll post a pic or 2.
3175375
Senior Member
Pictures of your custom shroud brackets, please.
@GOLDMYN
The brackets are hard to find as originals - they are C Body specific if I recall. However, their design isn't rocket science, so you can easily make a set up that will work with some sturdy sheet metal, a sawzall, a vice and a BFH then a driller for the holes. I made a set years ago because I was in the same boat - shroud, rad, no brackets. I since found a set of brackets, so those went in the scrap bin.
I think I made templates out of ducting metal, then transferred their shape over to the sturdier stuff.
It's completely do-able.
The brackets are hard to find as originals - they are C Body specific if I recall. However, their design isn't rocket science, so you can easily make a set up that will work with some sturdy sheet metal, a sawzall, a vice and a BFH then a driller for the holes. I made a set years ago because I was in the same boat - shroud, rad, no brackets. I since found a set of brackets, so those went in the scrap bin.
I think I made templates out of ducting metal, then transferred their shape over to the sturdier stuff.
It's completely do-able.
GOLDMYN
Senior Member
I appreciate the comments.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
As per your request. Attend to the following caveats now: 1) This shroud came with the 2524984 radiator off a 1965 Plymouth Fury. I happily own a pair of these treasures which I'll NEVER SELL, this side of the Kingdom to Come. Owing to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, I replaced my venerable treasure with a modern made OER vended radiator made by USA Radiator. THIS is made with a simple flange well adapted for Shade-cactus mechanics, and not at all for OEM shrouds.
Note how easily the old 1/4-20 cage nuts may be placed when that radiator frame is de-soldered at the joint beneath the bottom! Serendipity again instructs us all! I certainly never PLANNED to pop that frame loose, but careless work from a local-yokel putative-puto mechanic* made this Lesson possible. ANYWAAAAYY....
2. Unless you provide a frame for a core, expect nothing to fit your OEM shroud bracket. I've purchased 2 beer-can radiators before getting the USA Radiator copper one, which cost a little more than both of the aluminum ones. All 3 came with a generic "L" flange off the back sides of the radiators to facilitate chumps armed with screw-guns screwing cheap THIN FLAT sheet-metal onto the backside of the radiator with one or more electric fans shrouded by the sheet-metal. I provide a good example below: 22" Mopar BIG BLOCK HD Aluminum Radiator - Dual Fans And Aluminum Shro
FWIW, ECP makes a decent product and the dude welds his stuff together in Chicago, not Eastasia.
Now, for MY adaptation of Old Gold (OK, American sheet steel) to the 21st Century....
See the angle aluminum on the right? I admit some minimal daylight through the bottom of the shroud and the top, owing to how this shroud was made to admit MORE daylight in its original factory configuration. Now, let's look at how I fashioned the < Al for the old shroud....
See how I just dut a little dip into the aluminum for the battery tray? The bottom 1/4-20 carriage bolt into the radiator flange can be seen also. Another is on the top corner.
I cut a short bit of the angle for the inside adapter, to attach to the 2 holes in the back of the shroud, visible from the outside in the previous pic. I secured THIS through the 2 old holes for the original sheet-metal bracket as seen by the 2 nuts in the pic here, and you can just see the flat head of each carriage bolt securing the other face of this short angle bracket to the rear of the shroud. Neat, eh? Just required a vise, a drill, a hacksaw, a speed square, a Sharpie and some carpentry skill to fabricate this stuff. Note how my shroud edge touches the radiator, unlike the OEM design. To wit, I get better draw through my radiator when the 7 blade salad chopper is bolted onto the water pump for the HOT Season here in Tucson. This radiator cools so well that I shan't need that mech fan until May next year.
The passenger side bolts on through the side, not the back of the shroud, as there isn't enough width to permit the same arrangement as on the driver side. I have one bolt holding it to the angle aluminum now, but will stick the second through the holes tomorrow morning. IDK WHY I neglected to do this when I put this stuff together at first, but I hate leaving a job I meant to complete undone, so I will finish it. Note how I use a nut as a stand-off spacer to make everything nice here. The tedium of running the other bolt through likely pissed me off when I did this some months ago, so I had best attend to this in the morning, while my methadone is at peak effect for the patience. Old junkies get short tempered late in the day....
Note the little patch of aluminum tape stuck on to seal the shroud. This shroud was eroded, top and bottom, which hardly surprises me given how it spent 58 years in Florida, where the salty air erodes steel. Well, it should last as long as my corpus. My wife plans to entomb my carcase behind the wheel of this car when I cease breathing for good, dressed in my "Eastwood serape" with Wayfarers on to cover my empty sockets, Lucky Strike dangling from my lips. A bit of natron under the serape and denim should abet preservation, so I can be seen cruising Old Gertrude into Eternity....
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