Radiator Selection

[Sac77TA]

If you've done an LS/LQ swap in your 2nd gen curious to know what radiator you ran and what alterations were required.

I'll be going N/A. A few folks have recommended the "becool" radiators/fans. They are upwards of a grand if not more. Looking for something more economical.

[ryeguy2006a]

You don't "need" an LS swap radiator. I ran my stock 1976 radiator when I did my LS swap. It is nice however to get a dual pass radiator that has the outlet and inlet on the same side. Especially if you are running an 98-02 Fbody LS1 water pump.

[eroc022]

the stocker works, the biggest issue is the hose size from the LS to the factory 70s rad on the upper hose. I would recommend Cold Case or Champion, they make both stock units and LS swap units. I used Griffin before and had every single one blow the core out without explanation. you can also run the stock 4th gen F body rad for easy hookup.

[FormTA]

I used the stock radiator from the 98 TA I pulled my engine from. It fit great with little modifications to the car.

[sensei451]

I used the OEM 1981 301 turbo radiator for my LS1 swap, no issues in florida heat

Monuted electric fans on it, controlled by computer. The fans were from an 02 fbody i believe.

[TATurbo]

I used a Cold Case LS Swap 'dual pass' radiator 'kit' (fans and shroud).  It was a little costly at around $400.  But I was willing to pay a little more to know it fit 'OK' without any modification.   I was able to reuse the original stock retainers on the bottom and made the top mount from a sheet of aluminum from the hardware store.

IMG_3471 by Tom Sherer, on Flickr
IMG_3472 by Tom Sherer, on Flickr
IMG_3469 by Tom Sherer, on Flickr


Any down side? I remember being annoyed there was no provision for the LS1's 'steam vent' or whatever that small set of lines from the heads are.  Not a big deal to solve, but I expected the provision to be there. And, they did not include Pigtails for the fan wires.  The fans come with wires with a certain female terminal, but they didn't include matching male pig tail to connect up to it, which I thought was stupid. 

I also saw someone who picked up essentially the same parts, individually for almost $100 less than I paid.  So, shop around if your need to squeeze a few more bucks off.