hey guys,

I was wondering why the camaro has a filler cap on the radiator itself, whereas the other LT1 inspired cars had header tanks? Similarly, is there a camaro radiator (with the little tabs for the fans/condenser) that exists without a filler neck?

I'm doing a bit of a conversion, and it would be much easier to just have the camaro radiator with the tabs (for my AC/fans) and use a filler tank/expansion tank.

Any illuminating advice would be most appreciated... right now i am using a corvette radiator, which does not have the tabs.

 

They do....

the tank is located on the passenger side under the battery right behind the turn signal.

 

I think he's comparing it to the Corvette LT1 cooling system. It has a surge tank with a fill cap ABOVE the level of the radiator, and a system to automatically purge air from the system. If GM had used the same system on the F-Body LT1 that they used on the Corvette, I suspect many of the overheating and air purge problems would not have occurred.

 

yeah, thats what i'm referring to.. the camaro radiator has a filler neck, whereas the corvette/b bodies do not... are there any reasons for why GM did this? also, are there any other radiators out there that have the tabs for the AC/Fans? the vette radiator i'm using right now is all aluminum, so i don't know if i can weld the little tabs onto the filler tanks without popping the radiator... i have modified a camaro condenser so that it can fit flush to the radiator, but the space is very tight.

 

GM made a huge production out of the innovations in the reverse-flow cooling system design in the LT1. They did a paper and a presentation to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) on the novelty, and advantages of the design. The paper ("New Generation Small Block V8 Engine," SAE #920673) explains their logic in designing the system. I have a copy of it, but haven't looked at it for a while.

Then they went ahead and built the F-Body LT1 cooling system without a lot of the features they were boasting about on the Corvette system.

 

weird -- especially in one of their flagship cars. the impala/caprice got the same treatment as the corvette in this regard. i guess the corvette system i have going right now will have to do. as for mounting the AC/Fans... well that will have to be added the project :-)