Okay, my cars been out of commission for the last 2 weeks cause my radiator blew up, got a new one out of an 86 camaro at a junkyard, and everything went in fine except the bottom tranny cooling line.....me and 3 other people spent about a total of an hour and a half in the freezing cold trying to get it to screw into the radiator, but it would start to go in but then pop out. figured it was a different threading with the different radiator (odd though, cause the upper one was fine...), so i got a new fitting, and cut the old one off, and turned out that the fitting wouldnt fit completly on the tube because of a bend that prevented it from going down any further....so there was no way for me to flare the line and use it like that. The amount of space on the line isnt enough to really get any grip or leverage with it, so i cant bend the line straight to get the adapter on, and my fathers on a business trip for a week meaning that i can no longer just borrow one of my parents cars to get to school or work. I need to get the bird back on the road, even though the forecast is for more snow. Hey, slow-in-the-snow transportation is better than no transportation, right?
Anyhow, is there any way to use some sort of flexible line instead of the metal cooling lines? This would be a lot easier for me to do, cause part of the problem was that we couldnt get the lines to line up properly with the radiator to screw them in. Any suggestions? Thanks,
-Chris

 

All years had the same threads, so that wasn't your problem.

I've got braided stainless lines all the way from the transmission to the cooler. Or you could just cut your hardlines at a more convenient place near the frame rail, flare them, and run a line from there to the radiator.

 

Yeah, i realized that after i cut it off.....i cleaned the old fitting off a little and it went in fine....doh!

What diamater/type of braided line do i need, and where can i buy it? how long should it be to go from the tranny to the radiator? Thanks
-Chris

 

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i ended up just using a rubber hose and clamps to connect the two lines. I'll post pics later.