Finally got to putting my new radiator in my 1009, Yay!
The 1st one I bought had a slight crush on the radiator core, returned that one and got another. This one seems to be in much better shape.
Along with the radiator, replaced both upper and lower radiator hoses, both heater core hoses and the water pump by-pass hose. Added in some cooling system sealer due to the fact that I was getting a lot of rust in the cooling system and felt that sealing it may [hopefully] reduce the amount of rust. I am hoping that it is just the springs within the lower radiator hose that were the cause and not the block and heads, we'll see.
Anyway, had no issues with the oil cooler or trans cooler lines as mentioned by others, they both went in with little to no effort, but I can see where it may cause some issues for others.
These are the oil cooler lines and you can see that they are starting to mushroom out slightly. If you tighten these too tight, it will mushroom out more and cause a extremely tight fit when installing them into a new radiator, some had stated that they have had to shave the protruding ends down for a better fit.
Also make sure that you use new O-rings when changing these out, don't use standard black O-rings as the oil will deteriorate them very quickly, use O-rings designed for use with oils. On the cheap Harbor Freight has an assortment of HNBR O-rings for just a few bucks, they are perfect to use with oil lines.
My radiator was purchased from Carquest part #432098 (cost was about $350) and came with the extra brass fittings, but were not needed. Also purchased was a new low coolant sensor [part # BWD-S8018], I had to replace mine since I accidentally melted mine, didn't know it was just plastic, oops!
BTW, you'll need to take the allen screw plug out of the top port of the radiator for use of the heater core line, the main brass lug is 1" and the allen plug was 6mm.
For the low coolant sensor, you'll also have to remove the square drive plug, make sure you use thread sealer when installing the new sensor, or it may leak.
The one thing that kind of drives me a bit nutty on this radiator is, Why are the oil cooler lines flipped? The oil cooler lines come out of the driver's side of the block, but yet the connections are on the passenger side of the radiator, The tranny cooler lines come out of the passenger side of the trans, but yet the cooler line connections at the radiator are on the driver's side. All other GM radiators I have ever seen have the tranny cooler lines on the passenger side. My wifes 92 GMC Yukon has the lines on the correct side, oil on the driver's and tranny on the passenger.
I don't know, maybe someone had the paper flipped over when they designed this one.
Either way, the radiator is in, no leaks and runs very well. If you are in need of a radiator, try this one. I believe it is still manufactured by Vista Pro, just re-branded by Carquest, but not 100% sure.