Ford / Merc Radiator

FalconEddie and Falconwagon, I think this question is for you guys in particular. Is the radiator in a 56 Fairlane the same as in the 56 Merc. There's a guy on the HAMB selling a bunch of parts for a 56 Fairlane including a new radiator. I need to find out if it has a tranny cooler. The one I have doesn't and I'm sure it probably needs re-coring. Anyone have any experiance with external coolers? Is that a route to consider. I've had trucks with auxiliary coolers and it always seemed like one more oil leak.

He has lots of shiney stuff too. If you need any.

External cooler is the way to go even if it's set up with a place for tranny lines. The cool tube is just a piece that goes through the one side and straight down to the next line. It doesn't cool it very good considering it's using hot water to cool the trans line. A good external cooler will put years on that old tranny.
As for the fitment Jeff may be able to shed some light on that.

Makes sense. I guess that's why so many trucks do wind up with external coolers but every one I've been involved with connected with rubber lines and leaked. I haven't done any research. Are there ones out there that have hard connections? I have tubiing benders and flaring tools to make my own lines. I bought bulk brake line and fittings yesterday so I can start fabbing new new brake lines today.

Web site with sizes listed.
http://www.usradiator.com/radiators/ford/fairlane.html

I've got to make new lines anyway. We cut the lines with wire cutters when we pulled the engine.

Arieldouglas wrote:. Are there ones out there that have hard connections? I have tubiing benders and flaring tools to make my own lines. I bought bulk brake line and fittings yesterday so I can start fabbing new new brake lines today.

They have them but the price is a lot higher. I'm sure you can fab some stuff up. I use rubber on all mine and haven't had a problem in years. Cheap gas line after a few years will start to break down. You can buy fuel injection rubber line that is very tough and will not break down like the cheap rubber gas line. It's about 8 bucks a foot at Advance Auto.

RebStew wrote: Cheap gas line after a few years will start to break down. You can buy fuel injection rubber line that is very tough and will not break down like the cheap rubber gas line. It's about 8 bucks a foot at Advance Auto.

That's probably been the problem all along.

My old 56 Ford was an automatic but it was air cooled. It didn't have a cooler in the radiator were as the Merc had a cooler. I used an external cooler on it. I also ordered some prebent lines for it somewhere. I forget if it was a transmission shop or the Ford dealer. They weren't that expensive back then.

My 55 had a air cooled trans and now with a C-4 I put a cooler in front of the radiator and the Ford radiator should work in the merc.