Question on the routing, Does the lowest fitting / Line on the Transmission go to the bottom of the Radiator, And does the top fitting / Line go to the top of the Radiator, 70 SF block, No AC, Thanks in advance.
I asked a while back on my 70GS install. Per my thread, Looks like I did top to top and bottom to bottom. I'll double check the car in a little bit to make sure. https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/tranny-cooler-lines-how-to-connect.347075/
Thank you, That's what I thought, But wanted to make sure, The factory service manual is very hard to see.
The transmission cooling pipes have paint marks to correctly identify their respective positions. The Upper Pipe at the transmission is the Inlet Pipe (return from the radiator). It has a single yellow paint daub (actually 2) and it goes to the lower connection at the radiator. There should be a yellow paint daub a few inches from the trans connection and another at the frame - a few inches from the frame clip - towards the radiator. This pipe uses the outer part of the frame clip. The Lower Pipe at the transmission is the Outlet Pipe and goes to the upper radiator connection. The lower pipe should have two yellow paint daubs (one next to the other) down near the transmission. If you have an assembly manual there is a good drawing of this detail on page 7-8.1. Perhaps someone here will post the page.
Someone had made up lines, I replaced them with stainless from inline tube, So no markings, Is the assembly manual, Red ? If so I have one and I will check it out, Thanks
Repro's won't have the markings (paint daubs). They are for assembly purposes and you can add them for restoration purposes. The pipes are different and the one with the rise to meet the upper radiator connection will clip to the inner part of the frame clip and the lower connection on the trans.
Hey @LARRY70GS and @Matt Knutson hope all is well on your end...James and I are trying to figure out what's the correct way to connect the tranny lines. No worries either way, just want to make sure what's the correct way as this is my first restoration and a Buick, so I have no clue what's right or wrong. There are some questions around where the tranny lines are going...Not trying to point fingers, just trying to make sure what is correct so that @James R Moretz Jr knows how to set up his car Per my thread back in June 2019 (https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/tranny-cooler-lines-how-to-connect.347075/) I asked about the same question for a 70 GS 455 with TH400 and is what James is asking about as well. Now in my old thread, I showed that the thick 2 inch red book I had shows the top to the top and bottom to the bottom however the 1/2" assembly manual I ordered on ebay showed the opposite. Back in my old thread, Larry gave me advice to hook top to top and bottom to bottom, which I did 2 years ago. My car is still in restoration and has only been around the block a few times, but has run for several hours now. However, in this new thread by James, Matt instructed him to do the opposite of what I did. So James is questioning what to do. Now for me, I don't know what's right and what's wrong, that's why I asked the V8 community when I was installing and the V8 community answered top to top and bottom to bottom, so that's what I did. James had the same question recently, I said top to top, but another member came back and said opposite. Again, not pointing fingers, I just want to make sure James does what is correct as he's reached out to me to see what's what, so that's why I wrote all of this. If mines wrong, then I need to switch it at some point. Again, trying to do what's best for the V8 Buick community. Thanks, Nick
Well, the '71 assembly manual is completely wrong . I'm sorry if I caused confusion. I conveyed the info as I see it here ...
Actually - Upon doing some research - My original post and installation instruction seems to be correct. The drawing Larry posted is for big cars and the drawings I posted above is for our little A-body cars. Look carefully at the chassis service manual (s) and the assembly manuals 70, 71, & 72 and you will see that I am not mistaken. You 're welcome.
Honestly, it makes no difference if you reverse them. Function will still be the same. The flow inside the radiator cooler (if you can call it a cooler) doesn't matter. Looking at my Ron Sessions Transmission books for the 350 and 400 transmissions, identifies the return line as the top line at the transmission and the radiator (with a cross flow radiator) If you have some original cooler lines, I would think if you tried to connect them opposite to how they were originally, you would need to do some bending. I have replaced my cooler lines with push lok hose. My original lines were top to top, and that is how my hose is routed. I wonder if Duane checks this on Concourse cars he judges?
Ironically, I was just talking yesterday to @GS44667 and he happened to mention (as part of a totally unrelated story about a GS 350 4-sp but if you know John) that there's a difference between '70 & '71 transmission lines, which I never realized, & that Inline Tube only offers one of them.
