My old radiator leaked and I took it to a radiator shop to see if it could be repaired. Turned out it couldn't after they pressure tested it. They sold me a plastic replacement that seemed to fit, had the right connections, etc. when I installed it and filled it the lower house connection kept leaking. I finally pulled the hose off and was going to replace it when I noticed that the hose seemed to be too large for the lower radiator port. I measured it and the OD is 1/4" smaller than the hose ID. Sooooo....

Do I look for a hose that has a smaller ID for the radiator (and still a large enough ID for the engine connection) or did I get the wrong radiator???

 

Wasn't there a year they swapped water pumps that require difference size hose on both ends? You can get adapter sleeves from Summit meant for the Stainless hoses but will work for what you need. I am going with the Griffin Dominator all aluminum, dual 1 1/4 cores US made if the stock radiator doesn't keep up. Unfortunately with these cheap oversea rads, radiator shops are nearly a thing of the past.

 

Why wouldn't you take it back and have the shop put the correct radiator in? All radiators are listed with the inlet and outlet size. They have the responsibility to make sure it fit, not you.

 

What I read here is that you need to find a radiator shop that has a clue, since this one clearly doesn't. First, any shop that puts in a "replacement" radiator that has the wrong hose barb sizes clearly doesn't know what they are doing. Second, unless the end tanks are completely corroded through or cracked, ANY original radiator can be repaired. The repair is done by soldering a brand new core to the old tanks. More likely is that such a process is too labor intensive for your radiator shop and they can make a much higher profit by sticking you with a generic Chinesium radiator.

I suspect that your old radiator is long gone? See, the shop not only gets to stick you with the cheap plastic, they also make a few bucks scrapping the valuable brass and copper old radiators. Take that one back, make a stink, and get a real radiator that is the correct one for your car.

 

I agree with Joe, most shops don't bother reparing radiators anymore. I am glad to see mine has been recored at some point, coolant looks really fresh and doesn't leak a drop, just need an over flow for it.

 

Yes, that was 1971. The 1970 and older vehicles have a larger water pump inlet and radiator outlet. It is likely the shop used a radiator for a 71-up vehicle.

 

It's more likely that the shop used a generic one-size-fits-none replacement. You can buy a radiator hose adapter for exactly this purpose. Of course, it is yet another potential leak source.



http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aa...FQEmhgodh7IMTg

 

Totally agree with what has been said, get them to fix the problem! If they balk, get in their face........works for me.

I dropped one of those in my '67 and sleeved it to make it work. Seems the stock rad tank wasn't properly repaired before and the tank started to leak. Still have it and will teach myself how to repair it and put it back in.