1978 Radiator replacement issues *need help*

[78SilvAnniv]

We have just received my 78 back from the mechanic's where it spent 15 (Ugh!) months. She came back with the repairs made, but some other issues...one of which was a pin-hole leak in the radiator. My husband tried to repair it with a braze weld but cautioned me he would either fix it or ruin it.
Well...he tried, but it isn't fixed and the metal had seperated.

Now we need ;help

I contacted a local radiator shop and drove my old radiator over there to show them, first to see if they could repair it (no) and then to inquire about a replacement. I was given a quote of $200 for a drop-in replacement (brass?) and picked up the new radiator a few days later. When we pulled it out of the box, my husband was confuzzled after comparing the two radiators, and this is where we need the help.

;help
Please pardon me, because I may not be wording this correctly at all.

When Kenny pulled it out of the box, it looked very nice and I was quite pleased. I did notice that we would have to get fittings for the tranny cooler hoses to connect to the radiator. Taped over the two holes for those cooling lines, was a long sticker advising us that stripping these threads would void the radiator warranty.
Upon looking closely at the two radiators, one old, one new...Kenny noticed a difference and he is unsure he wishes to use this radiator and this is where my question comes to you, the CAC membership:

Kenny advised me my old radiator had a sort of flat-ish, round, pancake sort of looking thing inside the side reservoir of the radiator to help cool my tranny fluid by providing a large surface area to exchange temps. He says the new one only appears to have a tube. Kenny is unsure if this will be sufficient to cool the automatic tranny fluid and is reluctant to install it until he has some reassurances that this will work and is sufficient/correct to use. He has also mentioned installing a secondary tranny oil cooler, though I have no idea where we would mount the darn thing, there isn't much room under the hood, as you all know.

Is this new radiator with the different configuration for the tranny cooling lines sufficient and acceptable?

Thanks for any ideas/advice you can give us. Very anxious to be back on the road in my favorite machine, but I want it to work well, be reliable and not have any future problems.
Heidi

 

[TimAT]

The cooler in your original radiator is a pancake- kind of a stack of little tanks that are all interconnected. A single tube will not have the capacity of that original unless there is something going on in there you can't see.

There are several places to get radiators. Lots of Forum vendors out there. As far as fit and finish, I've seen several DeWitt's radiators that look great. All aluminum. If you're looking for "original" appearance, any of the big parts vendors will have what you're looking for.

 

[gmjunkie]

Kenny advised me my old radiator had a sort of flat-ish, round, pancake sort of looking thing inside the side reservoir of the radiator to help cool my tranny fluid by providing a large surface area to exchange temps. He says the new one only appears to have a tube. Kenny is unsure if this will be sufficient to cool the automatic tranny fluid and is reluctant to install it until he has some reassurances that this will work and is sufficient/correct to use. He has also mentioned installing a secondary tranny oil cooler, though I have no idea where we would mount the darn thing, there isn't much room under the hood, as you all know.

There is No need for It!!
Unless your going to tow Kennys Jeep around behind it on a trailer!!:L:L:L

Is this new radiator with the different configuration for the tranny cooling lines sufficient and acceptable?

It will cool your Corvette Transmission just fine, because coolant flows on the outside and through the middle it actually has more heat transfer surface!!!
It's built a little different,will cool the transmission better,has less transmission fluid flow restriction,less coolant flow restriction,less seams for less chance of leaking and actually is allot easier to flush any transmission deb-re out if it's ever needed!!

Thanks for any ideas/advice you can give us. Very anxious to be back on the road in my favorite machine, but I want it to work well, be reliable and not have any future problems.
Heidi

No "Thanks" is necessary, Lets "Getter Done"!!

Heidi,Glad to see you back!!

 

[78SilvAnniv]

Wow! Thank you for the replies, they are much appreciated. Today I plan to call around to different radiator shops and suppliers to ask some questions about radiators and specifically how they cool the trannies. Overall, it seems we may be able to work with this one just fine but I'll still make some calls to become better educated about how this works.
Heidi

(thanks for the shout-out, Junk)

 

[73shark]

Surprised that they couldn't repair a "pinhole leak". Brass radiators have their tanks soldered on, so a pinhole could be soldered over unless it was on one of the tubes. In that case, they can remove the end tanks like they do when they "rod" it out and simply close off the tube that's leaking.

Just a thought.

 

[78SilvAnniv]

Surprised that they couldn't repair a "pinhole leak".
Just a thought.

Thanks, but it was my husband who attempted the repair. He tried.
Also, after we pulled it out of the car we observed it had some other issues, like badly bent fins and another discolored (green) area in the fins from a leak. It was time for a new radiator so I don't mind the cost of replacing it, I am just anxious at the delay of driving; I have to wait until my husband has time and the desire to install it. I'm hoping for an evening after work, but I may need to wait until Saturday, as it is unfair of me to push him to do this on a day when he has already put in a full day of work at the power plant.
h