My SE's radiator was slowly filling with crap and failing, so I purchased this rad from ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-1984-19...ht_5096wt_1270

I have it mounted in the car atm, and the lower rad hose outlet is running directly into the motor mount and has about 2" clearance from the water pump pulley.

I also recently purchased a "stock" replacement from Autozone, and had the same exact issue. These rads bottom outlets are NOT like the stocker that I removed.

Im trying to get pics atm, so bear with me.

Any advice or experience on this subject would be appreciated. I have searched and only found hints on this issue, no real solutions.


edit: somehow managed to post this in the non technical forum!

 

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=14d0f1w&s=6

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=1pc8eg&s=6

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=35d53l1&s=6

These are some pics of the aluminum rad. I already returned the "stock" replacement, as I figured it might have been for a 12a car... or something.

Please somebody help me install my radiator, I wanna drive my SE again

 

well i think you can take that spacer off the pulley and get some clearance there, and as for the rest of it why don't you try drilling new mounting holes?

 

Electric fan will fix it, have to maneuver the radiator with some spacers some. Been there......... -_-

-nick-

 

Turns out I have to modify the lower neck myself, so I have to cut it off now and tig weld the appropriate angle and length. False advertised as "Direct fit"

As for the E-fan, theres still only room for a 2.5" wide fan. Not sure if theres any fan out there pushing the kind of air I need thats only 2 inches wide.

 

you could take the spacer off the waterpump pulley? give you over and extra inch

 

You can get a slim e-fan that will flow 2500cfm and fit fine on there, that's what I'm running. Can't remember the brand but I got it on ebay. Or like Keeble said, remove/modify the fan spacer that's on there. The 83 and earlier ones are a much smaller part, you might be able to make one of them work.

As for that lower hose fitting, you might get away with just shortening the pipe a bit and finding a hose from another car with a sharper bend in it or something.

I was running an ebay aluminum rad for a while (similar to yours but not exactly the same) and had to go searching through the store room at the local auto parts store to find a lower hose that would work... Was kinda a pain and the rad started leaking after less than a year. I got it warrantied and then that one also failed after a year lol. I scrapped it and went back to stock...
Anyway, good luck!

 

Welp, I found out the reason it didnt fit. My car is totaled. Has been for 11 years. its 1/2 inch shorter on that side of the engine bay than the other. I can plainly see the slant now. Theres some heavy dmg to the "framing" of the unibody in that area, quote to "fix" it from a few mechanics was Six thousand dollars. With a donor.

Bought it here on the forums as a "no accident car".

 

Damn. Sorry to hear that man