ZR1 Radiator

[Ronald D, Rains]

The alluminum radiator on my car gave up and I purchased a replacement. The manufactur said I should remove the date tag from the top of the old one and install it on the new one. The tag was a 70D, inder the tag was a 69B, the same as my L88. It appears that the radiator was a left over 69. Anyone know if this is correct?
thanks Ronnie

[Jack H.]

Re: ZR1 Radiator

It was factory practice for aluminum radiators that failed final test to be set aside in a 'repair evaluation area'. When the inventory of failed radiators reached a 'critical' level, Harrison assigned repair techs to review and attempt repair. Those that were sucessfully repaired, received a new mfgr date stamped onto a plate that was welded over the original date stamped into the upper rad surface.

Those I've played with showed, at most, a couple of months between original factory fabrication and final production shipment. Your deviation is over 12-months which seems a bit far fetched for a factory original....

BUT, use of the 'big' Harrison aluminum radiator on factory production cars was pretty limited in terms of volume by 69-70 (NOT the hey day of consumption seen during the '65 production run of 396 cars), so who knows? By the time your radiator was made, my gut tells me the lion's share of production from Harrison was supplying across-the-counter service spare requirements vs. Chevy factory production needs.

[Joe L.]

Re: ZR1 Radiator

Jack and Ronald-----

I'd say so. From 1967 through 1972 (a full SIX model years) only 281 GM #3007436 HD aluminum radiators were used in PRODUCTION.

[Ronald D, Rains]

Re: ZR1 Radiator

Thanks guys, this car has had only one driver. I would be very surprised if it is not original but was a little taken back with the 69B date.
thanks again
Ronnie