ok so im going to replace my rad, and im thking more of safley getting my rad out and the new one in.

someone told me i needed a line wrench so i dont twist the trans lines. this has me worried. i sprayed mine down with penetrating oil and will spray it again.

do i need a line wrench? how do i use one?

also how do i identify a cheap made in china rad from a good gm one?

 

Well, as long as you use a good, tight fitting open end wrench, you should be OK if you're careful.

Buy a new Modine radiator from an auto parts store. You get metal tanks, perfect fit, and a guarantee that the one that you are installing isn't going to leak like a junkyard one might.

 

Remember you'll have to use two wrenches. One to turn the outer nut on the fitting, and one to hold the central part of the fitting. You probably allready knew that, but just making sure you diddnt miss anything.


Good luck,
Max

 

What's a line wrench? Did he mean a flare-nut wrench?

Personally I hate flare nut wrenches... even though mine fit tight, the nut always seems to strip out. So my preference is to try and get a big (15 inch) open-ended adjustable wrench on a flare nut. The jaws are WIDE, and the long handle helps leverage. But that's just how I spin a wrench, lots of guys love flare-nut wrenches.

What I think is more important is that when you unhook those steel trans lines, try your hardest NOT to bend them out of the way!! If you move them too much, they won't want to go "straight" into the radiator anymore, and you might crossthread the fitting.

If you do crossthread the fitting going in, you can pick up a carb fuel line adapter such as Mr Gasket #1544, it's a 5/16" inverted flare to hose barb adapter. Then you could cut your old tube nut end off, and connect the adapter to your trans line with a short length of 5/16" inside-diameter high-temp (oil, not coolant) hose.

But the right "racecar" way to fix that would be to combine a 5/16 tube-to-6-AN adapter (such as Earl's ERL-165156ERL) with a 6-AN-to-5/16-Inverted-Flare adapter (Earl's EAR-991946ERL), and a short length of Earl's stainless steel hose. (All part #s are from summitracing.com) But that combination will cost you $30, versus $5 for just MrGasket #1544.

Oh and I like to drain a radiator without using the petcock valve- With the radiator COLD, I raise the car up and put goggles on. I'll slide under the front with a big drainpan on my stomach, and I'll loosen the lower rad hose clamp. Then I quick pull the lower hose off and aim it into the pan. The whole rad dumps out in a minute or two, instead of waiting 1/2 hour for the petcock to drain (and sometimes the petcock gets clogged with sediment and takes even LONGER)!

 

a line wrench has an open end like a flat wrench but its curved a lil more around asurring a full grip on the nut. both ends of the line wrench will look the same {open end] be carefull not to cross thred. if you do. im not sure how a tap set will work on aluminum..a tap set is a re threader

as far as the radiator fluied goes I just pop the radiator car and pull lower hose and let gravity do the rest accasionaly squezing the top hose. Then put the hose in the top where the cap came off . and force water thru washing the block out,.,.

Oh just so you dont miss nothing replacing the thermostate with a new radiator would be a good idea ..

also dissconect yer battery if you have electric fans.. befor you start...

 

you may want to consider an auto tranny fluid cooler since you gotta remove the thing anyway right?

 

its -15C out right now.. i dont need to worry about anything cooling except my **** right now.

and the stock one is good enough for me

 

ah ic ic lol

 

Ah, okay, different name (flare nut wrench) for the same tool! But line wrench/flarenut wrench, I still hate 'em. Maybe they work great on brand new tube nuts, but whenever I spin one of those line/flarenut wrenches, I do more harm than good.

 

got the old one out no prob, put a jb weld patch on the crack it held for about 30 seconds. almost wrecked the lowermost power steering line nut. found a rad from a wrecker 1h away for 50 $ gotta wait till a 0C day. also got a new lower rad hose.