I have a '69 Camaro that now has a 396BB. The car originally had a SB and the BB was installed by the previous owner.

I'm not sure if the previous owner installed a BB radiator when he installed the 396.

Is there a way to determine which radiator I have?

Was a different radiator used for the BB versus the SB?

In general, what is the difference between a 3 row and 4 row radiator?

Is "rows" the same as "cores"? Sometimes radiators are described as "3 row" and sometimes by the number of cores. What's up with that?

Summit and Jeggs, for example, sell lots of aftermarket radiators from "Be Cool", "Griffin" and others. What is a good aftermarket radiator for a BB making about 375 horsepower, but maybe 450 hp in the future? Or should I buy a BB radiator from one of the Camaro parts suppliers, such as a BB radiator from NPD or Classic Industries for example?

Is an aluminum radiator worth the money?

Thanks.
Jim

The SB radiator core is 21 inches wide; the BB radiator is 23 inches wide.
My BB 4 core is about 2 5/8 inches thick. The SB core I had was about 2 inches thick.
I bought it from Rick's 1st Gen.
I have a modified 396 and it barely keeps up on the freeway above 3500 rpm. Around town and in traffic (even on hot day,) it's fine. I have the stock shroud and clutch fan setup.
Hope this helps.

joe

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69 SS396 Resti-Clone
WCA Member
Badboatdude@CS.com
69 Pics http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1506559&a=11674961

[This message has been edited by Joe G (edited 09-04-2001).]

Take off your radiator cap and look inside the radiator. You can count the number of holes from front to back of radiator. Each one represents a "row" , same as cores.

As far as aftermarket radiators, you can't go wrong with a Be Cool. The quality is great and they work excellent. They are worth the extra cash and they also fit well. Most aluminum radiators are better by design not because aluminum is more efficient, actually copper/brass radiators disapate the heat better. By using aluminum they are able to make a more efficient radiator by desiegn. Most aluminum radiators have wider tubes/cores, which allows the to transfer more heat to the fins and then to the air. Plus they just look way better (IMO).

Royce


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70 Camaro 383ci
69 Camaro 385ci
91 Camaro RS V8 (305 TBI)
Link to my 70

http://profiles.yahoo.com/camaroman7d

Thanks for the great information from everybody. Each piece of new and useful to me. This is a great site.

My 396 without A/C is also modified a little bit. My temp gauge normally stays around 190* and can climb to about 220* or thereabouts on a very hot, humid day when in slow traffic. Generally, my radiator / water pump / thermostat keeps up with my engine without overheating. I added a recovery bottle at the beginning of this year which helped a lot. Prior to adding the bottle, my radiator would overflow onto the ground after I drove the car fairly hard, like at 75 mph on the freeway or 45 minutes or so. The recovery bottle totally solved that problem.

I will check my radiator by removing the cap and counting the holes as suggested.

As a footnote, even though my water temp gauge reads about 190* after driving medium to fast for a while, with some fast starts at red lights, I notice that I get a little rattling in 1st and even 2nd when taking off from a light... after the motor is fully warmed up. This does not occur until I've been driving for a 1/2 hour or more.

I'm beginning to wonder if my motor oil is getting too hot, so I bought an oil temp gauge that I will install to check this. If so, I'll get a bigger oil pan.

But, I'm wondering, do you think my timing needs adjusting after total warmup?

Thanks. I appreciate your comments.
Jim

JMAR,

There are two types of '69 BB radiators, the "normal" straight inlet, and the "goose neck" inlet heavy duty rad. that came on BB A/C and COPO cars. I believe they both were 23"x17" 4 row cores - so other than the inlet, I can't say what the difference was. Maybe it was fin count. The neck was curved to clear the A/C compressor.

Enough on the trivia. Check out the link in my sig. for pics of my BeCool/dual fan setup. It keeps my ZZ502 at 185* even at 95* ambients! The original rad. I tried to run was a "goose neck" with the stock fan and shroud. That setup ran 210* at 55* ambirnts! was enough to cool the old "70 402, though (@375 HP).

The new rad. is a special setup, 2" wider than BeCool's normal '69 Rad. to accomadate the fans. Bolts right into the stock BB rad. location though! And you can run the stock long nose BB water pump, something you normally can't do with a big single electric fan. BECool has now made my system a production option. E-mail me at awsm502@compuserve.com if you want more details.

Hope this helps.



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Keith
'69 RS/SS 502
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/awsm502