LS swap - using original radiator

[derekf]

I have been trying to use as much as possible from the 4th gen donor car, but I've come to the radiator and it just seems tiny (and it'd require extra fabrication to mount, and and and).

Is there any technical reason I can't just use the old 69 El Camino radiator instead? I'd have to hook in the steam lines somewhere and it'd move me from a closed system to a not-closed system (which is fine by me), are there other reasons to move to the Camaro setup?



(yeah, I'm sure this question has been asked before - or similar - but I didn't find it)

[dhutton]

How much horsepower does your LS produce relative to the original engine? I would get a nice aluminum radiator with two rows of 1” or larger tubes, especially if the original is an old brass core radiator with small tubes.

Don

[derekf]

400ish, give or take? Not an extreme build, cam/mild port/headers only.

I don't think there's budget for new radiator; choices are the 69 small block radiator (which probably is a brass core, it's at least 30 years old) or the LS radiator from the donor Camaro.

[130fe]

If the budget doesn’t allow it for now, I would just make some brackets and use the donor radiator and fans over using the stock 30 year old radiator.

[dhutton]

The stock radiator is not going to cut it imho.

Don

[dhutton]

Cold Case has some reasonably priced aluminum radiators with twin 1.25” tubes.

Don

[derekf]

So the issue with the stock 69 radiator is just efficiency - that it couldn't hack the cooling requirements?

[dhutton]

So the issue with the stock 69 radiator is just efficiency - that it couldn't hack the cooling requirements?

Yep. Not even close imho.

Don

[andrewb70]

I used a universal aluminum radiator from Speedway for my Cougar build. I bet you can find one that is close to the Chevelle radiator dimensions.

Andrew

[derekf]

It appears that the donor radiator is damaged and unusable.

Given a limited budget, is there a technical reason to go with the LS-style closed system with the external reservoir rather than the A-body style?

[andrewb70]

No reason at all. I have used a c4 Corvette radiator in the past on my RX7. Works awesome, even with the limited airflow of a second gen rx7.