I have a 1970 'S' with a 350 engine. It does not have A/C or H/D cooling. It appears at some point some jackass replaced the steel upper radiator support. Mine is 13" front (the four mounting bolts) to rear (top support for the radiator.) It mounts fine but it seems to cause the radiator to angle backwards toward the motor much more than it should, about 3" and it does not sit upright along the rubber side cushions.


Can someone tell me what the correct size steel plate should be? I'm guessing this one may be for a A/C application. Or am I imagining things?!

 

This thread has photos of different top plates. Does yours look like one of them? I can get measurements for you, but thought the first step might be to identify what you have and verify if its factory for your year or not. John

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...rs-models.html

 

I looked at the pics in the attached thread. Mine is definitely like the set of three in the second photo. I guess it's possible the upper support is correct and somebody replaced a larger radiator for a smaller thinner one? I attached a couple pics to show the odd angle and separation from the rubber side cushions.

 

Here's the pics.

 

I think you've got the factory setup for a 2 or 3 row radiator without the shroud. I didn't remember the radiator leaning inward, but the brackets look right and the saddle with the rubber bushing on top looks correct. I've seen where someone installed a 4 row radiator (rows of tubes in the core) and the saddle has to be pried open to fit a thicker radiator. It also looks like you have good clearance with the fan, which is a 4 blade non-clutch setup. If you have problems with it overheating in the summer you might change to a shroud and 6 blade clutch fan. If it doesn't have a heating problem you should be just fine.

John

 

I've seen this setup before and it's not wrong - many cars were built that way from the factory. As John says though, very likely you have a 2 core rad - easy to check. Before you start changing things, check to see whether the rad has good flow or needs to be tanked to clean it out if cooling is an issue to start with. Otherwise you should be fine.

 

I'm thinking both the radiator and the upper & lower mounts are right, just looks weird with the backwards lean. I just like things looking good. And I've never had a cooling problem so for now I'll keep the shroudless 4 blade setup. But now I'll know the fix if the cooling thing changes.

 

Thanks to both of you for responding to the newbie questions