Ron Davis radiator fitmance & clearance (1 Viewer)

[jjdeneen918]

I went off reading a few weeks back in Big Bear.
bouncing down the trail, the fan made contact with the bottom of the shroud. Shroud finally broke & sliced into my OEM radiator.

I got it towed home & ordered a Ron Davis radiator, OEM fan , shroud, hoses, & belts.

I got it all installed today. Fired up the rig & the fan is hitting the bottom of the shroud still!
It does look like I have plenty of fan to shroud clearance at the top, but not at the bottom.

does anyone else had this issue or know how to remedy this?

the only thing I can think of is shimming the motor mounts.

 

[jjdeneen918]

If I push the fan shroud down I can active cleanse on all sides. The issue is the 2 top bolts for the shroud to radiator don’t line up at all.
Im thinking of notching those holes.

 

[smritte]

first thing that comes to my mind is collapsed motor mounts. I haven't had this happen on my 80 but seen it on everything else ive owned

 

[jjdeneen918]

first thing that comes to my mind is collapsed motor mounts. I haven't had this happen on my 80 but seen it on everything else ive owned

engine & transmission mounts were replaced about 6 months ago when I did my HG & prepping for my turbo install.

 

[jjdeneen918]

Before Joey got back to me, I decided to try modifying the shroud. I I trimmed the top bolt holes to be able to drop the shroud lower.

The shroud now fits. It is still super close at the bottom. If I rev the engine or drive over a bump, it’ll slightly rub still.

Joey recommended a Landtank solution of trimming the bottom area of the fan shroud. Which is a good idea, but I’ll have to remove everything & re-install.

I have to imagine my fitment issues are specific to my rig. It had previous-to-me been involved in a front end collision, so things are probably slightly tweaked. Others have done this install with no issues.

I really don’t want to uninstall/reinstall the fan, upper hose, & shroud again.

I’m thinking I’m going to try making shims for my engine mounts first. With a plasma cutter & a floor jack, it sounds way quicker to do that.

I’ll update if this solution works.

A current picture of how the shroud is sitting with the bolt holes cut to allow it to drop down further.

 

[Marco Lau]

I had to trim the bottom bracket slightly on my RD to make fit....it was off by about 1/4" or so on both sides. Other than that...fitment was spot on! But i dont have a fancy motor to worry about tho...

 

[PeterTheBeater]

How much did that radiator run you?

 

[Marco Lau]

How much did that radiator run you?

$$$. about $1200 if i recall.

 

[2008Cruiser]

That is one DAMN SEXY radiator.

 

[jjdeneen918]

I made some 3/8” plate steel engine mount shims to correct my figment & clearance issues.

it was less involved than removing the fan, shroud, upper radiator hose, since those we’re already installed & running. Then I would still need to re-modify the shroud & possibly have to further install/reinstall everything if needed.

3/8” plate, slotted for the engine mount stud. A drill hole to accept the mount alignment nub, & a weld bead to act as an alignment tab for the frame-side of the engine mount.

pictures provided are my very generic measured ideas of an adapter plate to raise the fan for the should figment. I did make 2 additional modifications to make everything line up. But that was only because I didn’t have a motor mount, in hand, to replicate.

total install time after adjustments & changes, 15-20 minutes.

 

[Ronny Grady]

Mine fit perfectly - shim the radiator down or shroud down and you should be good?

 

[jjdeneen918]

I did lower the shroud more than factory.
I showed pictures where I drilled the upper radiator bolt holes so the shroud would drop lower.
I obviously needed more than that.