I have 2 radiator supports one of them has a mounting tab at the bottom, for the lower fan shroud mount. The other just has a hole. Is this unusual?

 

 

My other support don’t have these..?

 

no it's not unusual at all ,the radiator support with the shroud mounting tabs is a support from a car that had a factory shroud installed and the one without the mount tabs didn't have a shroud from the factory , not an A\C or heavy duty cooling equipped car.

 

I’m pretty sure that the cars with a 4 core radiator from the factory came with tabs for the shroud. The cars without a 4 core radiator did not come with the tabs and just mounted by the holes.

 

My 4 core (built 04/68) has the tabs.

 

And according to the 1972 Cutlass Assembly manual the shroud is held in place by 2 tabs welded to the bottom of the rad support. A clip is attached to both lower screw positions of the shroud through which a small bolt is threaded through the holes in those tabs to secure the lower part of the shroud. The top of the shroud is held only by 1 bolt. Is this the original rad support for the car?

The lower radiator mounting tabs look like this (from the web; not to scale) Used by Y72 cooling


EDIT: Never mind. My bad - I saw your screen name and forgot to read the "68' part of the thread title. Sorry bout that.

 

Thank you all for the information, this forum is the best !

 

well I haven't found any 68 's with a factory shroud without the mount tabs and not all 4 core cars or I would have more 4 core top plates and I have owned many both drivers and parts cars.with the extra large hole in the support without the mount tabs now just how do you now mount the shroud? I have a core support with the shroud mount tabs and a 4 core Radiator without a shroud and 28,000 miles and no apparent evidence of a shroud ever being installed on a H\O. I also have seen the mount tabs with an oval or elongated hole and others with just a round hole. I don't buy that only 4 core radiator cars got the mount tabs.

 

So I should still be able to mount a shroud without the tabs?

 

If you have a 2 or 3 core you use the holes in the core support to mount the 2 bottem tabs. Will not work with a 4 core. You need the tabs for a 4 core.

 

you could mount a shroud without the mount tabs but that doesn't mean it will be mounted correctly or that the fan won't rub on the shroud. and this is exactly why the shroud mount tabs get broken,do you install the j nuts on the shroud or the core support? either way with the extra large hole on the core support and you tighten the bolts a little too much.........................

 

The J nuts mount on the shroud. All '68 Cutlass' came with a shroud, even the six cylinder cars (different shroud). two and three row rads have no tab, only the four row rads used the tab (A/C or heavy duty cooling).

 

I know the j nuts go on the shroud and there again I disagree ,not all 68 cutlass's came with a shroud and there were 2 versions of heavy duty cooling. I just went and looked at another 68 yesterday ,Dec 67 Lansing built ,and the radiator support has differences from the supports in my other Lansing built 68 cars. of 4 68 core supports none are identical ,each has some differences from the others. one is a 4 core support [has 4 core rad saddles] with no shroud mount tabs. 2 other 4 core supports ,one with small oval holes where it mounts to the frame and small round holes in the shroud mount tabs ,the other with larger round holes where it mounts to the frame and oval holes in the shroud mount tabs like 72cutlass408's support and another 3 core support w\ A\C and no shroud mount tabs with oval holes where the shroud would mount that are horizontal instead of vertical like on the 4 core shroud mount tabs. and I scrapped a 3 core support with no shroud mount tabs and larger round holes where the shroud would mount . no rhyme or reason for all the differences

 

How does j nuts look and where can I get them? Thanks everyone I’m learning.