[michaeld]

I had a manual that said it was the "1966-76 Shop Manual" that was nowhere near as complete as the 73 shop manual.

I can either buy a book or a cd for half the price that also has the Fisher body manual. I'm debating which to buy (I'd buy both if I could get the book at a good enough price).

Question: I'm going to have to pull the radiator, and am debating on whether I should have the present unit re-cored, or whether I should buy a new unit.

Any ideas? And any good mail order sites should I opt for new?

Particular unit for a '73 Granville w/ AC?

[jrainieri]

The cd shop manuals are great because you can search the documents. You can also print up a page on the part or system you are working on to bring to your garage and not worry about spilling crap on it.

IMO-If you radiator is the original Harrison unit---recore. If it was replaced somewhere along the line then replace it again.

[michaeld]

jrainieri,

I would bet money that my radiator is the original unit. Almost EVERYTHING on this car is original. That's good. Except when bolts break because it was in the car for forty years.

Made by Harrison, huh?

Where do I look to verify the above?

Also, what makes the Harrison radiator worth keeping around?

[jrainieri]

The original rads had "Harrison" raised below the fill neck on the pass side tank. It should also have a tab somewhere between the pass side tank and fins with a 2 letter designation--don't know what that is for your car.

[michaeld]

jrainieri,

Thanks for the info.

Yes. My radiator is a Harrison. I saw the lettering immediately when I looked. It is on the side (as in the "thin side" of the radiator, just below the fill neck).

Virtually everything on this car is original. I replaced the starter (didn't need to; I replaced it when the car wasn't starting but it turned out to be a cracked fuel line), and the starter was original. I'm replacing the water pump (which also still works), which was the original 73 unit. The alternator - which is still on the car - is the original '73 unit.

I'm keeping the original water pump, and will keep the alternator. Just to show a future buyer that the 60k miles on this car are original, total miles.

But all that said, why is the Harrison unit one I would want to re-core, rather than replace??? Is it just the "original part" thing, or is it a superior rad for some reason???

[jrainieri]

I have had both original and replacment rads in my pontiacs over the years. I have never had an original leak at the filler neck but 2 replacements did. May have to do with the thickness of the tank metal but that is just a guess. Never had a leak in originals I had rodded/recored/fixed over the years. Nothing like the original part IMO.

[michaeld]

jrainieri,

I talked to a radiator repair guy yesterday.

He said the old radiators were built much better, particularly the cooling fins.

He quoted me a price of $250 to recore my factory radiator. Does that sound reasonable? Or should I keep pricing?

[mrtonegto]

michaeld:

Maybe you know this........ we're about to close on a group purchase deal for Griffin aluminum radiators in the Street section.

A 2-row 1" for your car would be $350.

FYI

[David Brown]

I have some Service Manuals books and some CD versions. I have never liked the CD version, because none I have let you search electronically. Even if for example, brakes on on page 75, just going to page 75 doesn't work, because the software recognizes the un-numbered pages like Intro, Copyrights, Table of Contents, etc and pages, and the numbered page of 75 might actually be 83. Have they improved them any in the past few years or is that still an issue?

[mnfatcat]

You won't be wasting effort by replacing the timing chain, most of them don't make it as far as yours has. My original 52k motor was going to come out around Nov 1st last year, was hoping the timing chain would stay healthy for another few hundred miles, that hope died on Sept 28th.