I'm doing this custom radiator setup in my motor swap. Right now I have the radiator hard mounted to some aluminum brackets, bolted to the toe hook mounting bolts, and the top radiator support beam. Does there need to be rubber stripping where the aluminum radiator sits in the brackets? Or is that not necessary?

 

Not sure, but I do recall that dissimilar metals in contact with each other can cause corrosion issues.



I would also be concerned with chafing, since the metal of the radiator is both soft and fairly thin.



Every rad I've ever seen in a stock configuration has ridden in rubber isolators.

 

heres my confusing answer.



no, it doenst have to be



BUT



they are for a bunch of little reasons



1. like mrt2 said, its keeps it from being chafed

2. stops any rattles

3. keeps the radiator from being a structural part of the body, ie it wont like being bent/flexing



so if you can put some rubber in there, you should, but if you cant, it shouldnt be a huge deal

 

just to add, my 20b radiator was mounted on rubber washers (i cut a peice of inner tube) for 3 years (prolly still is, which makes it what 5?) and its fine.

 

Oh, good idea. I guess I'll just find some sort of rubber sheeting or an inner tube, and cut little circles out for reach bolt involved.



I'm not worried about the thin metal thing, since the rad is sitting in a tight u-channel, the huge welds on the end tanks are primarily what's touching anything. I don't know if I'll be able to squeeze any rubber between the welds and u-channel, but I can try.

 

If it's aluminium it's more prone to fatigue too, so it'd help there.

 

Just mw $.02 worth. If it has the possiblity to vibrate around stick a bit of rubber in there so the two surfaces dont scratch each other and cause excessive wear. If you are having aluminum and steel come into contact use a piece of rubber because steel and aluminum are metalurgically compatible. There is a chance of having of having some adhesive fatigue due to cold welding between the two metals. A painted surface would stop this but vibrations will cause the paint to be scraped off..... O and also once the paint gets scraped off the steel will oxidize and then you will have a nice abrasive inbetween your steel frame and your aluminum radiator. So if you want to avoid having to worry about this just stick a bit of rubber in the joint.

 

*IF* you are sure it's ready to be installed (semi-permanently) run a coating of RTV on all surfaces that will come close to touching anything and then install it. Isn't the prettiest way to do it, but it works.