I recently got an 87 Firebird with a V6 and I need to get a new radiator. I am planning on replacing the V6 currently in it with a V8, and I'd rather just buy the radiator once. Since the radiator hoses are preformed, and the entry and exit holes in the radiator are on opposite sides on the radiators meant for V6 and V8, can I buy the V8 hoses and have them work with the V6, or do I need to get someone to custom make some for the hoses to connect properly? Thanks in advance for any help on this.

 

In case anyone was wondering, the hoses on the 2.8 liter V6 will not work with the V8 radiator as the connections are on different sides of the radiator. However, if you get the hoses for the 3.1 liter V6 that was available for later Firebirds will work as this is what I have done. Just thought I'd post this in case anyone else needs the information.

 

To add to that, you can pick these parts of at Auto Zone. When shopping for the hoses, simply give the store clerk looking for your parts a model year of 1990-1992 Firebird and tell them the car has a 3.1L V6 in it. This will yield the correct hose parts to connect a V8 radiator to your older 2.8L V6 based Firebird or Camaro.

 

i was also looking at this, what is the difference between a 3.1 v6 radiator and a 5.0 v8 radiator? will they work?

 

The radiator I purchased from Summit was a direct fit according to the labeling, and it was. The radiator I purchased was longer than the one that I pulled, as evidenced by the fact that the upper radiator doesn't cover the full radiator any longer, but that's not a huge deal. Other than that physical sizing, and the fact that the connections for the radiator hoses were reversed from my 2.8L V6 radiator, I don't know of any other difference between them. The following link is to the one I bought, in case you want to get the measurements for it to compare to the one in your car.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PLI-433918/

 

Sorry, just realized I never quite answered your question. I believe the 3.1L V6 came with the same radiator that both V8 versions had. If anyone knows differently, please correct me on that.

 

Yes, they will work.

 

Technically if you get into the nitty gritty details, the 3.1L radiator is not the same as the V8 radiators. However, the inlets, outlets, etc are all in the same place. They're very close, close enough that a person could probably get away with it, but the part number and some of the specifics are different.

 

On Jerry8169's car we dropped in a V8 radiator and of course the hoses from his original 2.8L setup didn't work. We got the hoses for a 3.1L V6 from 1990 and they fit perfectly. The hard lines all matched up perfectly as well. What is interesting is that the V8 radiator is wider than the stock radiator. The radiator shroud is also shorter. It all bolts up fine though.

 

Back when I had my 3.1L 91 Firebird, I had planned to V8 swap it. I parked the Formula next to the Firebird and compared the radiators and everything looked the same. I looked up both radiators in the Northern Radiator catalog and noticed several differences, none of which were external. Of course this is 91 to 91, since that's what I was working with. I'd assume 90-92 were all the same way. 89 on down is anyones guess since that wasn't what I was researching.

In general original radiators are a liability anyway at this point. The plastic end tanks get brittle and stress crack with age. I replaced three of them in my cars one summer. I'd recommend buying a new replacement if there's any question.

 

so a 5.0 v8 radiator will work in my 3.1 v6? just to get this correct before i spend the money out for this radiator

 

It should... Just compare old to new before you start installing the replacement. If it's not gonna work, return it.

 

It should work just fine. If you can snap a picture of your engine bay around the radiator, and give me a shot of the hoses, I'll tell you if it would.