Radiator suggestions

I have read through most of the threads on here that pertain to radiators. Still at a loss for what I should do for a radiator. Up to this point I had been running the stock N/A radiator with my 4.6 liter ford engine. I am in the process of repainting and basically rebuilding the entire car including the engine and transmission. The engine is now a 4.6 liter DOHC stroked to a 5.0. So I am expecting to see some increase in HP and would like to increase the cooling capacity even though I wasnt really having issues before. There were things I did not like about the previouse setup even though it did cool OK. I never really worked it hard for long periods of time either.

The biggest issue I have with the current setup is the location of the radiator inlet and outlet. specifically the outlet (lower radiator hookup). It is on the passenger side and my ford engine has the block inlet on the driver side so I had some half *** hose running across behinde the radiator dangerously close to the front damper pulley. The top radiator hookup really could go either side for me but I am thinking passenger side would be preferred. Looking through the hundreds of radiators on Summit has still left me wondering which one to use. Since my front end is apart for paint, I have not been able to come up with a definate number on maximum height... anyone know the limit? I am not opposed to cutting out the sheet metal in front of the hood latch as seen in this thread here

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I will have a turbo nose on the car and NO A/C to worry about so I think that should open up some flexibility. I would not have been opposed to going with the turbo radiator but that still leaves my radiator hookups in the wrong spot. I have never gotten a definate answer on what the actual size difference is between them either... anyone know that answer for me?

I am open to suggestions of any sort unless it is "stick with what you have" or "put a chevy motor in it" so feel free to suggest. Any good sources for radiators? does anyone know of a company that will basically build you a radiator to your specs (ie. inlet and outlet locations, width, height and thickness) for a reasonable price?

Thanks guys

I'm not sure how the ford water pump plumbing is set-up, but if it is like the LS pumps you can simply pull the T-stat and get better flow/cooling. My 5.3L cannot get the temps over 192* with just the NA radiator and fans minus the T-stat. And that was a couple of straight days where ambient temp was over 100* stop and go traffic. But I did find these radiators....Chevy or Ford that will work if you get rid of the hood latch arch, or reweld the fill bung for the reservior. I've had to recrimp my plastic tanks because the car sat for a long time and the rubber seals hardened between the tanks and alloy, but I may just pull the trigger on the Chevy radiator at this price.....
CHEVY>>>>>
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FORD>>>>>
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The Turbo/S2 radiators, to my understanding, are much better than the n/a radiators and you can get one in good shape for around $100. I've got one, i make 350-400hp, and it does very well.

Also, running an engine without a thermostat is a bad idea. If you want a lower temperature, buy a cooler thermostat!

The issue with running without a thermostat is two-fold. The first
part is that the thermostat provides drag on the water flow. This
drag increases the backpressure the water pump and all of the engine
sees. This additional pressure, over and above the nominal 15 psi
static pressure the radiator cap sets, raises the boiling point of
the coolant. The reason this is important is that it suppresses
localized film boiling at hot spots such as around the exhaust
port. The transition from nucleatic boiling (bubbles of steam
originating from irregularities on the surface) to film boiling
(where the hot surface is coated with a film of steam) is called
Departure from Nucleatic Boiling or DNB. DNB is very bad, for steam
is a very good insulator compared to water. Once DNB occurs, the
area under the steam gets hotter because the steam doesn't remove
very much heat, adjacent metal which is still wetted heats from
conduction. DNB happens there. The process spreads until
substantially all the coolant-wetted surfaces are insulated by a
film of steam. The engine overheats. In addition, the buildup in
steam pressure forces the radiator cap open, bleeding coolant,
therefore making the situation worse.

The second issue is that of water pump cavitation and surge. If the
pump is operated at high RPM with insufficient head pressure
(provided by the frictional losses in the coolant passages and the
thermostat), there is a great likelihood that the pump will either
cavitate (localized boiling and/or degassing on the impeller) or
surge (an unstable flow regime). Either phenomena is destructive.
Cavitation's collapsing bubbles act like little sand blaster,
eroding away impeller material. Surge can do the same thing and in
addition, can vibration stress the impeller enough to break it.
Many times what looks like corrosion damage to the impeller,
especially when the housing is damage-free, is actually cavitation
damage.

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You don't have to worry about me running without a thermostat... I understand they have a purpose. At any rate it is just a way to keep from having to solve the real problem if it does work. I will be running with an electric water pump as well so I should get continuous flow all of the time regardless of idling or high RPM.

The turbo and S2 radiator still does not take care of my ports being in the wrong location. The "ford" option that xschop suggested looks pretty good except for the radiator cap. I could possibly get it and cut it off and weld a plate over it. The radiator I need really is the simplest kind out there. My thermostat housing is made to have the overflow line come right off of it. So all I need on the radiator is the inlet and outlet, nothing else.

That's what I have done in the past, is to just cut off the cap bung and put a plate over it. Works great.

LOL, i missed the part about how mixed up the ports were on the stock radiators, sorry!

You should get some pics up sometime, i don't think i ever saw any of the car actually running and driving!

summit racing selling griffin aluminum circle track racing radiators. Good for up to 600HP.

the one Im looking at is chevy style 1-85201-h

There is a ford style one i THINK it is 1-28201-x

They dont have the filler cap like the stock one requiring a remote fill.

Check it out.