Harrison Radiator Applications & Identification for A-Bodies

SS is listed in 71 assembly. I’m guessing SS was added to revisions of 70 assembly manuals that have never been printed for sale. What is odd is why are same tanks used with different coded tags??

 

There were at least 3 different radiator “letter codes” that used the same tanks with different core sizes.

The Rad Code Letters are for the Entire Assembly, not just the tanks.

I remember the SB & SJ rads use the same tanks, but the SB is I believe a 2-core while the SJ is a 3-core.
Duane

 

What the assembly manual shows is a good start but if we could add three columns for what tanks made up each radiator code & # of cores and also fill in the missing/superceded lines, etc. I think we could have a pretty definitive guide.

I have a couple originals here of known origin.

 

Brett,
You have that backwards.

When the radiators hit the Assembly Plants they ALL had plugs in them. That is how they were shipped, so no foreign materials could get in the radiators.

For the cars with AC lines the plugs were removed at final assembly.
Duane

 

PS Guys,
If you look at the radiator tags they list all 3 codes that make up a radiator,
ie. the left & right tank codes (letters) and the code for the center core, which is usually a number.

All that info is right on the tag.


Your “SS” tag pic shows that but I can’t read the core code.
Duane

 

Your other question about the “SS” tag not being in the assembly manual.

You are correct it was probably in a revision that we don’t have, or it never made it to the assembly manuals. They were changing things all the time, and a lot of that info never made it into the manuals.

The most often thing they changed was tires. There was no way they could have kept up with that amount of changes with manufacturers etc. That is why they sometimes listed 4 different manufactures for some of the tire sizes. That way they didn’t have to keep updating the sheet.

This is also part of the reason we have trouble with figuring out the radiator changes.

The other thing you need to remember is they were creating the 71 assembly manual before the 70 production year was over. They had to do this so the book was ready when the 71 production year started.

Quite often, towards the end of a production year, the changes showed up on the new year’s book, and the old book was not revised.

That is most likely why there is no “SS” in the 70’s book.

The other thing you need to remember, and this is very important, is the assembly manuals were developed for the Flint plant, which was run by Buick. The other plants were run by GMAD (the General Motors assembly division).

GMAD had final say over what they did in their plants, and substituted the parts they had/wanted to use. They could care less what Buick wanted them to use.

Different jurisdictions, different parts.

Different threads for bolts on the front clip (GMAD National Coarse), (Flint, with an even larger thread size), different rear emergency brake cables (GMAD braided wire housings, (Flint banded metal housings), the differences go on and on and on.
Duane

 

It is tough to get your hand down there and get a shot of tag with transmission lines and hoses. Not sure when I’ll get another shot of it.

 

Here is a better pic of an SS tag.

 

“SB” Radiator Tag

IA/CF/45

Out of my old 71 350 auto GSX.
Duane

 

...number at bottom of tag is part#, other number above is core code...
...got pretty far into this topic mid 2019, but ran into trouble when Duane pointed out GMAD/FLINT differences and missing manual page revisions. Ultimately need build sheet to know what's in given car, which many of us don't have. Otherwise, best we can do is say what "should" be there, based on available manual revisions. I had been working on that, but didn't have enough documentation to finish...

 

The last number stamped onto the bottom of the tag is the year.

I forget if it is the year of production or the model year.

The pic of the tag James posted is an “8”, so that would be 1968.

Maybe James can let us know what car it came from.
Duane

 

I don’t remember for sure which car this came out of but I think it was a 71 Cutlass.

 

Now we can discuss the proper way to pronounce RADIATOR. For most of us it’s RAY-DIATOR. Or for us New England guys it’s RAY-DIATUH. For you New Jersey Eastern PA guys it’s RADD-IATOR right Duane?