Is anyone familiar with the tag that is attached to the passenger side radiator tank on a 70 GS Skylark BB car? If so, what is the correct tag (SW?) for a car with the heavy duty cooling/Stage 1 option? Is it the same as a car with A/C. I'm trying to locate the correct radiator and was wondering what other models in the 70 year might have the same radiator such as a LeSabre/Wildcat/Rivera. Thanks for any information. Philip
Radiator Philip; The SW code radiator is shown as the correct one in the 1970 Assembly Instruction manual(page 11-4.3.) From the L6 through the 455, it's the one. I stripped a '70 Skylark with a 350-2bbl and it had the SW radiator. Hope that helps. Art
This is true guys. I was just stating that the Stage 1 had the 3 core radiator as standard equipment. On the other models,the 3 core was optional,but it was available.
Carl, I hate to tell you this, but in 70 a 350 with AC or HD cooling came standard with the same "SJ" radiator as a 455 without AC. There were other years that also came stock with 3-cores. If you guys look at your assembly manuals it lists them. Duane
Here's a pick of my tag. Excuse the rust, it's the only thing rusty on the radiator. I'll have to clean it and paint it. Anyway, it looks like the three stacked letters say "IA", "XS", "69". In big letters is "SW". If ther "69" means 1969, then maybe this isn't the original radiator. I know it came out to be repaired long ago, but I didn't think it was ever replaced.
Here's another pic, better on some letters, more blurry on others. between the two you get the picture.
No problem at all,Duane. It's interesting that whatever publication you read,they state that the Stage 1 was exclusive to this type of radiator. I guess it isn't as special as I thought. Thanks for posting a picture of your radiator tag,Ken. Ok,so now that is out of the way,does anyone here have a tag they can sell me?
Carl, The Stage 1's with or without AC, all GSX's, and the 455 cars with AC did come with a special radiator. It was a thicker 3-core and for 70 had the "SW" code. I would have to check if the codes remained the same for the other years. I also had a 71 GSX 350 non-AC car that had the original 2-core radiator, so I know some things did change for the 71-72 cars. Duane
Detail of an original radiator tag Carl, In the past almost every radiator tag that we find still attached is slightly to heavily covered in surface rust. But occasionally we have run across tags that are on low mileage cars and you can see that the code for the radiator was actually hi-lighted with paint to make the code more visible from a distance. This is a detail that I have only seen one other person duplicate (Scott Teimann, noted Pontiac Restoration expect). If you do ever find a correct tag for your car, first paint it black then hi-light the code with white paint. In the past I never thought to photograph the few "good" ones but I just bought a '72 Skylark a week ago that only had 10,000 miles on it in 1999 and currently shows 25k miles that can serve as an example for you. The radiator tag (code CF for this car- 350 2-bbl with A/C) is beginning to rust (like many parts of this car - but it's a car from Chicago) but it's still good enough that you can see what I'm talking about. It is hard for me to photograph due to the location of the tag. If you really want to go overboard with the detail you will notice that the paint was actualy applied with a flat "square" object and when it was stamped the edge of the object left the outline of its shape where the bottom edge touched the tag.
Other tag colors Carl, I'm no expert about radiator tags, but I have also seen some tags that were obviously not painted black like the radiator and appeared to be phosphate gray or perhaps even just plain stamped steel. This would also explain why sometimes I see radiators that are still nicely painted but the ID tag is VERY rusty. Here is a photo of the tag that was on a Ram Air IV 1969 GTO Judge Restored by Scott Teiman that took home Best of Show at the 2004 GTO Nats. without a doubt one of the nicest restored cars we have ever seen. He had pictures of this car showing that it was a really nice low mileage car prior to restoration and the tag was not painted on this car so he phosphate plated it, and hi-lighted the letters just it was when new.
That's interesting Gary.I appreciate your information on this subject, and when I do get a tag,I'll know how to paint it. Thanks Gary!
Jim- Below are more pics of my radiator per your request. It's an original '71 455 non-stage Flint car radiator. It has been recored, but the tanks are original. Let me know if you need anything else.
