Well, I just came across this message board but so far (from what I have read), I'm pretty impressed.
While I am not a mechanic by trade, I do pride myself in do most (if not all) my own work. With that being said, I need some expert opinions on some things.

I have a 1948 Chevy truck that was given to me about 20 years ago by my Granddad. This was his Fuel truck for his construction business and he has owned it since around 1950. The truck is in pretty rough condition but this is the truck that I want to build (and have wanted to for 20 years).

I currently have the cab sitting on an 82 3/4 4x4 Suburban frame with an 87 6.2L / 400 Turbo transmission and 208 transfercase.

I have moved over most of the newer Chevy parts (brake pedal, steering column, gas pedal.... and I have even had it running (with the huge Suburban radiator sitting out front.

I have some pictures that I can post up if anyone is interested in checking it out.

I have a found a radiator for the 48 Chevy (remember how narrow the nose is on those trucks). The guy has a 4 core that he says should cool it fine. But here are my questions.

The radiator that I took out had a place to put the water coming from the heater core back into the radiator. This one doesn't currently have it (and I am not 100% sure that there is room). If I can't get it, where can I dump that water back into or any suggestions on how to make this work?

I will have to go with an electric fan. Is there any advantage of pushing or pulling the air? I may have to push it due to a lack of clearance between the water pump pulley and the radiator (about 2 or 2 1/2 inches).

Next, transcooler. I can get a transcooler built onto this radiator for no extra charge but all that I have read talked about adding a heavy duty transcooler (like 24,000 gvw) and plugging up the factory one. One of the reasons was because if you ever get a leak it will fill your transmission with antifreeze. Not really worried about that, I just want the best senerio for cooling. Plus the one that I was looking at even had it's own fan.

Now here is the question for the diesel people. How much does this 6.2 engine depend on the external oil cooler? This is not going to be work horse but at the same time, I don't want to be stuck on the side of the road in the middle of the summer.

I have seen several oil coolers that mount underneath the vehicle and consist of an aluminum tank with heat sinks. This would probably be awesome to save space but I wasn't sure how great it would work. I also looked at the traditional oil coolers mounted up from (with and without it's own fan) but that's just that much more heat up around the radiator area and it's kind of getting crowded.

Any help will be appreciated. This is a project so I'm not in a huge hurry to finish BUT I would like to get this finished so (1) I can hear it run and (2) I can actually move the truck around it I need to while working on other things (like rusty panels).

Thanks for your help.
Eric

This is weird. I have a CJ7 and I am working on a 58. I just mounted a 454 4 core radiator with stock tranny cooler. I think the stock tranny coolers are good enough unless you are towing. I needed to go with an electric fan as there was no room for stock fan, hadnt done it yet. I want to go with a duel taurus fan as they can move some serious air. Gotta have it so its a puller as a pusher is not as efficient. Not sure how important it is to have a good oil cooler but I would think that anything is better than nothing. I am just using 1/2" tubing oil cooler that I found. Just mounted it to the front of the radiator.
I just started with the wiring of this beast. Routed the wires to the rear and the front and the engine compartment as well as mounted the fuse block. Most gauges are going to be aftermarket so that will be easier. Also put heat shielding and carpet in so now I will need to look into doors. Got them, just need to put them back together and on the truck. Lots of little things.

i would definitely get an oil cooler, keeping the oil temp down makes the oil hold up better, and the engine will live longer.. i am running a 18,000lb GVWR external cooler on my ramcharger with the stock ramcharger 3 core radiator , and its never been hotter than 190F even when i am pushing it hard. but i do plan on putting a bigger dodge w350 440 max cooling 4 core radiator in it later on just because the thing will hold almost 3 gallons by itself!

Thanks for the replies. This truck won't be used a lot. In fact, the truck that this will be replacing was driven 200 miles last year (but used around the farm most every weekend). But if this turns out as cool as I think it will be, I will drive it much much more.

I have an used oil cooler that I may go with. This entire project was suppose to be to see how cheap I could build a truck buying/selling/trading used parts and doing all the work myself.

So far, I have a running truck (if you count having the radiator sitting out in front of the grille held on with a tie down strap), good running 6.2, 400 turbo trans with a new "diesel" torque converter, 3/4 axles, aluminum wheels (tires are pretty worn), racing bucket seats (off craigslist for $10) and lots of new parts (new brakes, filters, belts, hoses...) and I have a grand total of $425 in it (until I spend $500 on a radiator).

At the same time, I have put so many hours into this thing, I don't want it to overheat (neither the engine or transmission) as soon as I get it on the road.

Keep the comments and suggestions coming.

Thanks,
Eric

Oil cooler is a must...diesels are a lot harder on oil than a gasser. If you decide to add an aftermarket tranny cooler, I would not plug off the one in the radiator, run the aftermarket in series with the one in the radiator. The intermixing of coolant and tranny fluid is not a common thing and the tranny will have an outstanding cooling system. If the radiator is being custom built, which I assume it is, it will be a higher quality unit than those for oem replacements which means the likelihood of intermixing fluids thru the radiator approaches nil and if it is aluminum, everything that is cooled thru it will have a happier, longer life. I would rather see the engine oil cooled thru the radiator than the tranny, if I had to chose which.

When looking into radiators, check on the size of the opening in the front of the truck. I just ran into this problem. I had the original diesel radiator but couldnt use it as I would have to hack on quite a bit just to get it to fit and I ran into the problem of placing it. 1 side had the gear box. The radiator I have in there now is the heavy duty 454 4 core which should be enough as long as Im not towing 10k lbs., which I dont think I will. I also ended up using the smaller one as the front of the truck prevents air flow to quite a bit of the larger radiator and other than holding more water its not as effective as it should. The smaller one I had has more rows and is newer.
Just something to think about. If you have a throw away or spare try mounting it once the front clip is in so you know where it needs to go and if there is enough room and how you can mount it to clear everything as well as clearing fenders, hood, inner fender, steering and front radiator support.