Lower Radiator Hose Clearance

[Fred A]

Radiator hoses should be about as easy as it can get, I thought. On a '40 with the revised stabilizer, the hoses really crowd the Fan, stabilizer, and front brake line. There is less than a quarter inch clearance with the fan. The stabilizer clearance is tight too. The brake line was moved aft to clear. The engine is centered to less than an eighth. The radiator is a Drake reject. I can see that the same hoses on earlier chassis would not have been as tight, pre-stabilizer. How close is too close? Don't recall the source of the hoses exactly. Not under suspicion is that the engine is a 59A, with Drake pumps. I use the Canadian heads to avoid the dumb-assed comments as my last disincentive. Good Luck: Fred A

[deuce lover]

How about a pic or 2 ?

[Kube]

Originally Posted by Fred A

Radiator hoses should be about as easy as it can get, I thought. On a '40 with the revised stabilizer, the hoses really crowd the Fan, stabilizer, and front brake line. There is less than a quarter inch clearance with the fan. The stabilizer clearance is tight too. The brake line was moved aft to clear. The engine is centered to less than an eighth. The radiator is a Drake reject. I can see that the same hoses on earlier chassis would not have been as tight, pre-stabilizer. How close is too close? Don't recall the source of the hoses exactly. Not under suspicion is that the engine is a 59A, with Drake pumps. I use the Canadian heads to avoid the dumb-assed comments as my last disincentive. Good Luck: Fred A

Fred, Did you happen to notice the hoses are not bent in a mirror image of themselves? One end is a bit longer than the other.
I trim a bit off of one end of the hose so they fit better and do not touch the stabilizer bar.

Unfortunately, the reproduction hoses were copied from a service part - not quite correct for the stabilizer bar equipped vehicle.
I have a service bulletin around here somewhere that advised the service guy to trim and how much. Don't count on me digging that out anytime soon.

[19Fordy]

Fred, If you desire to keep your 40 100% original the following info. probably won't apply.
I confronted similar problems when installing an 8BA in a 40 Ford BUT, these ideas may also help you so you might want to consider them.

Are the radiator bottom to frame bolts inserted in the correct frame holes causing the bottom of the radiator to be too far back towards the engine?

Also, if you remove the springs the radiator sits on and replace them with a rubber pad, the radiator will drop lower and may give you more "hose/fan" clearance. Doing this will require the lengthening of the two radiator support brackets (#8046).

There is also the option of making your own custom hoses out of copper tubing.

[Fred A]

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As to the mirror image hoses, the slightly longer goes to the pumps. First issue noticed was the stabilizer bar rubbing. Moved the bar aft to the limit and took another 1/4" forward from the pumps. The brake lines bent to clear, but still in the clips. The fan was at this point, interfering with the lower end of the hose. Then I trimmed a fat eighth from the lower end. The radiator shield showed that the radiator was not square. The frame holes were wider than the radiator mounts. I bet on this beautiful frame. A rat-tail file was applied. This is radiator is new from Drake, sold cheap as a blem. The radiator appears to have been constructed from new primary components and rusty original framing.
The ideal of 100% original began badly when I decided to use the existing 59A. Secondly, three of the previous six '40s I've owned were fitted with Bendix/Zephyr brakes, a reversable, family traditional option. The war against the superior cadmium plating has been another burden. Enough of the rant.
Thanks for the ideas: Fred A