Radiator upgrade to a Volvo cross flow:

This was a fairly easy upgrade and should ensure it won't overheat in slow traffic.  The radiator has a thicker core and tanks so the stock engine driven fan was very close.  I decided to try running without the engine driven fan, relying on the aux electric fan for cooling when stopped or moving very slowly.  So far it seems to work well, I sat idling at the local Arbys drive-in in 95 deg. heat and the aux fan kept the temp to just over the center mark. You can see a splice in the center of the upper hose (Dayco #71267), I soldered a fitting in a 1" (1.25" od) copper tubing coupling to mount a thermostatic switch (Standard #TS87, from an early '80s Chrysler).  The lower hose is stock with one elbow cut off.  The upper mounts were made with aluminum and padded with rubber.  The lower mount is made with some angle steel and bolted to the stock lower mounts on the body after a little trimming.  Volvo uses some nice rubber pads that fit the ridges in the tanks for mounting so I made the lower mount to fit a pair of those pads.  I heard the Aux fan will bolt in after the A/C condenser is removed if you rotate it 90 deg.  My radiator support had been cut by a PO so I had to fab some brackets out of aluminum.  Volvo radiators do not have a fill opening and you must use a Volvo reservoir and fill hose, you can see the hose attachment at the lower right of the picture. I mounted the reservoir to the right of the radiator on the radiator support sheet metal.  It must be mounted as high as possible but not so high that the hood hits it when closed.  I saw 2 different shape reservoir in the junk yard, a flat rectangular reservoir and a round , horizontal cylinder shaped reservoir.  I chose the round shape but I don't think it really matters, pick the one you think will fit your engine compartment and location best.

Volvo radiator

Another view of the installation

second view of radiator install

Aux. electric fan mounting:  The object is to get it as close to the radiator as possible so the air must go through the radiator instead of around it.  A 1/2" gap will greatly reduce the air flow through the radiator.  If you need more air, the e30 or e28 aux. electric fan is larger.

Aux. electric fan mounting


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