Radiator rebuild

[Lori H]

Anyone have any tips or tricks to loan before we decide to remove our radiator on our 76 Dodge 440 for a rebuild?  We plan on replacing the hoses and installing a Milodon high volume water pump and themostat while we are at it.  It seems like the grill and possible the core support has to come out first, is that right?

Any recommendations on a prefered cooling fan?  We have spent some time at the drag strip and seems like most folks from the Mopar camp like the factory viscous van for less drag on the engine-what do you think?

From past experience (like removing the oil pan) it seems that work on a van is much more involved than a car or truck!!!

[Lori H]

I couldn't belive how easy the radiator was to remove!  Turns out after removing all of the bolts for the core support, overflow tank, washer bottle, solenoid, etc...the radiator just drops out of the bottom!  If I would have known that I wouldn't have had to remove all of the previously mentioned items, oh well, more parts to clean and paint I guess!  Even if I did get the core support out, wouldn't have done me much good without breaking open the a/c lines to remove the condenser coil.