stevengerard

According to the assembly manual if an A-body has a 455 the washer fluid container goes on the passenger side. My car and many others I have seen with AC have it on the drivers side, but I have seen a few with AC on the passenger side as well. I noticed in the inlinetube catalog they sell the replacement hoses for the bottles and they do differentiate that a 455 with AC mounts on the drivers side. I did not see anything in the assembly manual that differentiates between 455 AC and non AC cars. Does anyone know for sure? Once gain I am sure many cars could have left the factory without AC thus the bottle on the passenger side and then they installed AC at the dealer or it could have been installed on the line on the passenger side just because.

507OLDS

My non-AC cars have it on the passenger side,and my AC cars have it on the driver's side.

Blk71SX

I saw that in the assembly manual also but my 71 w/AC has no evidence of having the washer resevoir ever being mounted on the passenger side.




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joe_padavano

I was under the impression that the passenger side washer tank was only used with O.A.I. Originally this was to allow room for the O.A.I. hoses on the 68-69 cars. On the 70-72 cars I believe it was done to provide room for the larger battery.

507OLDS

I had a non-AC,non-OAI 71 442 that had it on the passenger side.From what I have owned & seen,everything with AC had it on the driver's side,OAI or not,and everything without AC had it on the passenger side.

stevengerard

Thanks folks, so I think I'll leave mine on the drivers side, I wondered about W30/OAI cars vs other 455s as well, if that made a difference. Again, I did not see anything in the assembly manual to change it from Passenger side to Drivers side to begin with. I did recently find a table in the assembly manual that listed all items for a TT coded engine (W30 automatic) to be changed when AC was added but it did not mention washer fliud container position - so I will look some more.

Blk71SX

mine has the large battery box, it goes quite a ways under the radiator support. because the negative post of the original battery is difficult to access I suspect that is why the factory cable clamp is a bolt type not a spring clamp. the group 24 battery only takes up about 75% of the box.

72xw30

My 71W30 car with A/C has the washer bottle on the passenger side.

Cheers,

Sam

Bluevista

The assembly manual says that the passenger side location is "for cars with 455 cu in engine without 35Y72 option".
The 35Y72 option is heavy duty generator and engine cooling.

507OLDS

I guess we're all messed-up.I started thinking that maybe it was a plant code thing,but probably not.Maybe they just put it where they wanted to put it.All of my W30's that I have now,all non-AC,have it on the passenger side.Who knows.

stevengerard

well, mine does have the higher amp alternator and did have a 4-core radiator, I thought all cars with AC had the 4 core radiator.... still learning.

507OLDS

After looking at that picture above,it looks like the bottle would make clutter with the AC hoses,if it was on the passenger side,but who knows.

BlackGold

I can't speak for other years, but as far as I'm concerned, if it's a 1970 big-block A-body, then the washer resevoir goes on the passenger side. That's where the assembly manual says it should be, and that's where it is on my '70 W-30 with A/C.

(One disclaimer: I haven't studied the revision dates of that page of the assembly manual.)

I won't dispute anyone who says their original car has it on the driver's side (if there's no evidence it was moved). It wouldn't surprise me if the factory screwed up this kind of thing once in a while, and it wouldn't surprise me if there's just enough room even with the bigger battery.

stevengerard

I would agree as I can't find anywhere in the assembly manual it says anything else but.... here's mine.

BlackGold

Steven, maybe you're already aware of this, but from the picture you posted above it looks like your battery is rotated 90 degrees from how it's supposed to be. If you care.

My442

My 70 442 with A/C has it on the passenger side.

stevengerard

Brian its not rotated 90 its rotated 270 yes that is just one more thing I need to look at when I detail the engine department. I don't know if it is the wrong hardware or just mounted wrong. I have always thought it must have been replaced with the wrong tray but maybe someone just mounted it incorrectly.

oldsonharmont

My '71 SX 455 has the washer bottle mounted on the passenger side, but I'll end up moving it next to the battery to make room for the optional radiator overflow set-up. (a necessity in an Arizona summer)