fbody radiator install. My trans lines look different?

[m3x1c0]

Hey all. I'm looking to drop in an fbody radiator to my car. Im afraid that my trans lines wont come near to fitting since it appears they've been hacked up to add an external cooler. If you look closely at the upper hose you'll see this fitting is going to some flexible hose. I hate the way it looks but I suppose it works:

Then the lower hose has some sort of brass fitting and it loops up front to the aux cooler. I'm just wondering if anyone has pics of their fbody install or even stock rad. I just want to see what its supposed to look like.

 

[pacecarta]

the oe rad has lines to get to the cooler at back of the rad , remove those from the main cooler lines at the couplers when you pull the radiator
looks like you have an external cooler already installed using the OE rad cooler as well and it doesnt look hacked thats how it should be , that makes install easier

now what you need is a couple 5/16 inv flare to hose barb fittings for the new rad (or a couple short 5/16 steel lines you can bend ( use the ones from the old rad or pick up at parts store premade and also get some trans cooler hose ( a foot or so ) and some clamps

install the short lines or hose fittings into the f body and using a piece of trans hose run from the bottom of rad to the existing lower steel line from transmission similar to how your cooler is connected now . just push back the nut ,slide over the flared end and clamp ... lower connection is done
for the upper just take the hose coming from the external cooler and run to the top of the radiator .. done

 

[m3x1c0]

Barb fittings will be ok on lower and upper? I have no idea how much pressure runs through these. Still a noob.

 

[Coelacanth]

I did the F-body rad swap last summer and reconnecting the tranny cooler lines was the only tricky part. I have a tube bending tool and flaring tool and managed to cut and bend the existing lines enough to get them to reconnect to the F-body rad's existing tranny cooler connections. I hope the picture helps.

The two short lines & couplers you see coming out of the rad tranny cooler holes are the original lines that I re-used and modded somewhat to be able to re-route the lines. A lot of careful measuring was done before cutting & bending/flaring.

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/threads/coelacanths-86-gn.415173/

 

[pacecarta]

Barb fittings will be ok on lower and upper? I have no idea how much pressure runs through these. Still a noob.

yes ...they're holding now on your current setup with single clamp

 

[m3x1c0]

Got the radiator in (in as in in my house in a box in) and searching for good hose fittings/ figuring out how to run hard lines if possible. Next hurdle is that my PTE Turbosaver oil lines are juuuuuust long enough to reach the adapter while its extended via the oil cooler adapter. Once I remove that the lines will have to re!ch about another half inch and not sure they will clear. The GN is currently my daily so trying to gather everything I will need to do it in one evening. Damn mustang is waiting on parts... I need a toyota lol.

 

[bigballsbilly]

Like pacecarta said there are two short hard lines that are bent to go around to the front of the radiator to thw trans cooler. Disconnect the short hard line fittings, now bend the hard lines to line up with the radiators trans cooler. The fittings are the correct size and screw right into the radiator.

Eventually you could do what I plan to do next winter and run braided line directly from the trans to the radiator.

 

[natedog910]

Out of what car does this fbody radiator come from,am trying order one here at autozone and these young kids behind the computer don't know what I'm talking about....

 

[m3x1c0]

87-92 Camaro should do it.

 

[m3x1c0]

Part # 432399

 

[ITSAV6]

Rock Auto has good prices on the F body rad and I got one off Ebay for $60 shipped.

 

[FASTV6HENRY]

Yup you cant beat the autozone fbody rad with a lifetime warrantee. I live in hot ass Florida and it stays around 175 in the middle of summer in traffic...oh yeah and its only $100.

 

[Royal-T-Ltd]

FBody radiator does work real good… just keep an eye on the cap that covers the heater outlet…. over time they will get brittle and leak. Its a good idea to keep a spare or two in the car…Just in case.


aaron

 

[natedog910]

Does this radiator from autozone have transmission lines and oil cooler lines installed ,or we eliminated the oil cooler ? can I do that

 

[Coelacanth]

The F-body rads don't have any lines installed, but already have inlet/outlet holes for an integrated transmission cooler. You need to add your own external engine oil cooler. I mostly followed this topic on the F-body radiator swap, which explains just about everything:

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/airconditioning/fbodyrad.html

The one thing that requires some modification is the re-routing of tranny cooler lines, as the 2 holes in the F-body rad aren't in quite the same position as the stock rad. I was able to resolve that with the existing stock fittings on the OEM rad and some minor (but careful) bending & flaring of the existing tranny cooler lines. My link and picture near the top of this page documents my particular solution, which looks tidy and works well.

 

[m3x1c0]

Does this radiator from autozone have transmission lines and oil cooler lines installed ,or we eliminated the oil cooler ? can I do that

The oil cooler thing is hotly (haha punny) debated. I've gotten word from people I HIGHLY respect that it wont be an issue. Just be sure that tranny has a cooler. I have an auxillary cooler running into the radiator and then back to the tranny.

 

[m3x1c0]

BTW I haven't done the swap yet. I bought a rad from advance that was about 60 bucks and one from autozone that was 80 and the difference in quality is astounding! I'll post some pics soon.

 

[TurboTnZ06]

On my FBody radiator I skipped using the tranny cooler in it and just added a separate aux 12x12 bar and plate tranny cooler in front of the radiator. I don't run an oil cooler. I do run a front mount PTE turbo saver/remote oil filter location kit.

 

[natedog910]

Well finally installed the radiator, not hard at all but I use a 90 box chevy rad part#431216

 

[Steve V]

The oil cooler thing is hotly (haha punny) debated. I've gotten word from people I HIGHLY respect that it wont be an issue. Just be sure that tranny has a cooler. I have an auxillary cooler running into the radiator and then back to the tranny.

Trans fluid needs to go to the rad cooler first, then to aux then back to tranny. Just want to be clear.