May or may not have installed a rad without trans line fittings

[LukesCougar]

Me and my buddy (the one that bought the cougar) replaced the rad on his new found coug, he had put the radiator on and left the connectors with the tapered fit inside the old rad and the new radiator didn't come with them.

i would say this is equally my incompetence as much as it is it. I fiddled with them a LOT before realizing they were just gonna keep spraying transmission fluid until we put the correct connectors on......

I couldnt get the old ones out, not even with an impact, i feel like the plastic would break first...

Is it worth it to soak some pb on them and use the old rads connectors or should we just buy new ones??

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Is it this part we're talking about?



I've never found them hard to get off the radiator, but one of mine was stuck on the line.

Not what you asked, but someone will inevitably recommend an external cooler. That someone might as well be me. I bypassed the radiator completely, and my transmission temperature is easily 50° less than what it used to be.

 

[LukesCougar]

Is it this part we're talking about?



Not what you asked, but someone will inevitably recommend an external cooler. That someone might as well be me. I bypassed the radiator completely, and my transmission temperature is easily 50° less than what it used to be.

yes, we were in too much of a rush and forgot to grab them from the old rad, and i have tried an impact and a 1/4 ratchet to no avail after realizing we forgot them. soaking in pb gonna try again tomorrow but i thought worst case id buy him a couple more

Also its not my car, but i have told him about that. I plan on doing one to the bird soon, and full aluminum rad.

Im hoping he makes an account on here and chimes in as a new coug owner, he has a lot of small quirks to look forward too lol, and ive told him about them before giving him the car

 

[LukesCougar]

Also believe it or not, this radiator never lost any fluid until my buddy here dropped an alternator on it lol

We had to bend back the rad support downwards. Previous owner hit a raccoon or a rock or something id imagine, but I didn't wanna mess with it cause the radiator didn't leak weirdly.
lol the cougar was an experiment of how rusty an mn12 can get and still be driveable and fixable When I bought the car it was full of sludge from tap water, probably what held the dented rad together but I had flushed it like 10 times and then drove it like that for 2 years and it never skipped a beat leaking or overeating

 

[LukesCougar]

Well got the old ones off and onto the new rad finally with some pb. He is ready to drive it wherever the second its registered.

I will say they were exceptionally rusty compared to the ones on my tbird so i might have better luck when i do a cooler, aluminum rad