79 Radiator Hoses

[Ken S.]

Have not been here in a long time. Web site now is much more user friendly! Will now come back much more often.

I have a 79 L82 4-speed coupe that I ordered new in 1978. Drive it occasionally, such that it now has 23K orig miles.

When we came out of the Club Corvette of CT show today at Moroso, I found I had a coolant leak. Turns out my original 79 upper rad hose had split open. I was able to get by when I cut off 2 inches at the end where the split occurred, and then reattached the hose to the radiator. This allowed us to make the 1+ hour trip back home without any more problems.

I now want to replace the radiator hoses, and perhaps some more coolant hoses. I want them to be factory correct. My original upper hose has these markings - full stripe, 371443 (p/n), 9A03C (date code), GM AU.

In forum searches, I see that Paragon and Doc Rebuild offer up hoses for other years. Can anyone advise on where I can get the correct hoses for my 79?

Thanks, Ken

[John H.]

Re: 79 Radiator Hoses

Have not been here in a long time. Web site now is much more user friendly! Will now come back much more often.

I have a 79 L82 4-speed coupe that I ordered new in 1978. Drive it occasionally, such that it now has 23K orig miles.

When we came out of the Club Corvette of CT show today at Moroso, I found I had a coolant leak. Turns out my original 79 upper rad hose had split open. I was able to get by when I cut off 2 inches at the end where the split occurred, and then reattached the hose to the radiator. This allowed us to make the 1+ hour trip back home without any more problems.

I now want to replace the radiator hoses, and perhaps some more coolant hoses. I want them to be factory correct. My original upper hose has these markings - full stripe, 371443 (p/n), 9A03C (date code), GM AU.

In forum searches, I see that Paragon and Doc Rebuild offer up hoses for other years. Can anyone advise on where I can get the correct hoses for my 79?

Thanks, Ken

Ken -

Paragon has your #371443 upper hose - their #2254.

[Joe L.]

Re: 79 Radiator Hoses

Have not been here in a long time. Web site now is much more user friendly! Will now come back much more often.

I have a 79 L82 4-speed coupe that I ordered new in 1978. Drive it occasionally, such that it now has 23K orig miles.

When we came out of the Club Corvette of CT show today at Moroso, I found I had a coolant leak. Turns out my original 79 upper rad hose had split open. I was able to get by when I cut off 2 inches at the end where the split occurred, and then reattached the hose to the radiator. This allowed us to make the 1+ hour trip back home without any more problems.

I now want to replace the radiator hoses, and perhaps some more coolant hoses. I want them to be factory correct. My original upper hose has these markings - full stripe, 371443 (p/n), 9A03C (date code), GM AU.

In forum searches, I see that Paragon and Doc Rebuild offer up hoses for other years. Can anyone advise on where I can get the correct hoses for my 79?

Thanks, Ken

Ken-----


My recollection is that these hoses are still available from GM. However, I am not where I can confirm the part numbers.

[Ken S.]

Re: 79 Radiator Hoses

John and Joe - thank you for your replies - much appreciated. However, I do need a bit more guidance now that I've dug thru a bunch of catalogs, visited vendor websites, and talked to my chevy parts counter guys.

The 78-79 TIM&JG says I should have upper rad 371443 AU and lower rad 379933 JJ. I agree that is what is on my car - it's an E79 with a 1 1/2 upper inlet. Some of the vendor catalogs and/or websites agree. However, some of the vendor catalogs and my local chevy parts counter do not agree on both. I'm going to assume the aftermarket vendors are wrong, at least in my case, as my hoses are original and date coded. Over the years we've all seen lots of discrepancies such as this in the catalogs.

From Paragon, and a few other vendors, I can get the correct part numbered repro upper and lower hoses.

From my chevy dealer, I can get the correct part numbered lower hose (#379933). But, my dealer says the correct upper hose now (1 1/2 inlet) is 3970124. Both 379933 and 3970124 are available from GM.

Since I'm a novice when it comes to points and judging, my question is - should I get the repro parts with the correct numbers, should I get the GM parts with only one part number actually matching my original hoses, or is there some other approach I should consider?

Thanks, Ken

[John H.]

Re: 79 Radiator Hoses

From Paragon, and a few other vendors, I can get the correct part numbered repro upper and lower hoses.

From my chevy dealer, I can get the correct part numbered lower hose (#379933). But, my dealer says the correct upper hose now (1 1/2 inlet) is 3970124. Both 379933 and 3970124 are available from GM.

Since I'm a novice when it comes to points and judging, my question is - should I get the repro parts with the correct numbers, should I get the GM parts with only one part number actually matching my original hoses, or is there some other approach I should consider?

Thanks, Ken

Ken -

The upper hose (3970124) listed by your dealer is most likely a supercessive number for a later functional replacement for the original #371443; the service replacement will get a deduction in judging.

[Tom R.]

Re: 79 Radiator Hoses

The 78-79 TIM&JG says I should have upper rad 371443 AU and lower rad 379933 JJ. I agree that is what is on my car - it's an E79 with a 1 1/2 upper inlet. Some of the vendor catalogs and/or websites agree. However, some of the vendor catalogs and my local chevy parts counter do not agree on both. I'm going to assume the aftermarket vendors are wrong, at least in my case, as my hoses are original and date coded. Over the years we've all seen lots of discrepancies such as this in the catalogs.

From Paragon, and a few other vendors, I can get the correct part numbered repro upper and lower hoses.

From my chevy dealer, I can get the correct part numbered lower hose (#379933). But, my dealer says the correct upper hose now (1 1/2 inlet) is 3970124. Both 379933 and 3970124 are available from GM.

Since I'm a novice when it comes to points and judging, my question is - should I get the repro parts with the correct numbers, should I get the GM parts with only one part number actually matching my original hoses, or is there some other approach I should consider?

Ken, I ordered and received both the upper 371443 AU and lower rad 379933 JJ hoses for my 1978 from Paragon August 2011...and they came as expected with correct markings. The Paragon # was 2527 for the lower and the description was 76L-82.
If in doubt, order the upper from the dealer and the lower from Paragon. John is correct that in judging a deduction will be earned for an atypical part number.

[Ken S.]

Re: 79 Radiator Hoses

Thanks Tom. My parts are on the way from Paragon.

[Ken S.]

Re: 79 Radiator Hoses

Upper and lower radiator hoses were successfully replaced over the weekend. Also did the T-stat as long as I was in there. And, that's when I noticed that my ORIGINAL YELLOW PCV valve was cracked! Now we know why they are oh, so hard to find - their unusual construction results in age related cracking.

If anyone is interested in my original, date coded, 371443 & 379933 hoses from my 02/79 car, they can be found on eBay - # 261072184113. I just can't add more bulky items to my long term garage storage, so this kind of stuff has got to go!