0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Hey guys,



It's summer, and it's hot outside. We have been over 100 degrees the last 15 days in a row. Corvette's already have a marginal cooling system in them so make sure it is working at it's best. It's time for you C5, C6 and Z06 guys to perform preventive maintenance like this as it can result in hurting your baby.



**ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT FOR CORVETTE TRACK GUYS**



CHECK AND CLEAN YOUR RADIATOR









The above picture was taken today from a Corvette in the shop. If you find yourself driving on dirty roads, or having an off-track experience, check your C5 or C6 Corvettes radiator for dirt and debris. This build up will most certainly not help in cooling your Corvettes temps. This holds true for both stock and aftermarket units.

John Shiels

Where did that rad come from John Deere tractor?

jcosta79

...I don't understand why my car keeps overheating!

davidfarmer

this is very common....if you still have the condenser on the car, you can't even see how dirty your radiator is. Sage advice from LGM!

Rednels

I have been fighting an overheating problem in my race car. It has an oil cooler in front of the radiator and a PS cooler behind it.

I have owned the track car for 2 years but never removed it to clean. Can it really make that big a difference? I have looked at it and I dont have anything that looks like that picture.

I guess Im asking if there can be enough dirt, grime, and debris trapped in the radiator to seriously hurt performance if you can't see it.

Also, what is the best way to thoroughly clean the radiator?

Joe_Knesek

Here is a quick & easy solution:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Honeyc...tors,3545.html

Falcon

Here's something I did that helps some. I cut a couple of cleanout panels in the shroud that let me flush out the radiator with a water or air hose from the top down. There's a lot of crap that get trapped in the very top of the radiator, wedged in the narrow area where the shroud meets the top of the radiator. It's easy to remove these panels and get to almost all of the radiator.

Although these panels make routine maintenance/race prep easy, it's still necessary to remove the radiator and shake the sand and stuff out of the fins, at least annually, to ensure it's really clean.

Z06trackman

I routinely cleaned my condensor with a vacuum cleaner and an attachment I fabricated, so when I changed to a De Witt radiator I was going to skip blowing the condensor out from behind when the radiator was out (it looked clean). I thought better of it, borrowed an air compressor and blew 120psi air from the back over every square milimeter. I got enough dirt and sand out to cover a large shop dustpan to 3/8" deep!

Rednels

Point taken....I guess I need to take it out and give it a good cleaning.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

On the race cars we actually wear the units out. Not just by dirt build up but everything else.

Those little hot bits of rubber that collect all over the race track....well they melt themselves into the radiator fins as well, and are almost impossible to remove. Bits of rocks fly up and bend over the fins which also block air flow around the tubes, again leading to poor radiator performance so it is more than dirt.

Best way would be to pull the unit, vacuum out the loose items and blow air and water through from the back side to push the dirt back out of the front. Then straighten the fins that are bent back over with a fin comb.

naschmitz

If you install this, didn't you just automatically block off 40% of the air from reaching the radiator? Protects the radiator, yes, but ...

davidfarmer

A mesh of any type in front of a radiator will reduce airflow unless you have an oversized cooling system. Not great for OEM setups.....just not enough airflow.

If you can get the radiator out, one of the best ways to clean it is to drop it repeatedly on the "face". You obviously don't want to damage the aluminum, but if you drop if forward onto a piece of plywood etc, the inertia when it jolts to a stop will allow tons of debris to fall out.

froggy47

Hey, that's how I clean my K&N air filter before each event. Crude but efficient. No need to wash & re oil except maybe once a year. I have mine 4 years now, probably would have gone thru 8 or more paper filters.

Thread drift a little.

CHJ In Virginia

There is a way to thoroughly clean the radiator without removing from the car. Remove the top shroud plastic cover. Hook this air spray nozzle to your compressor and blow from the inside out. The end has a 90 Deg turn so you can get between the AC condensor and radiator to blow it out. Then separate the fan shroud from the radiator and blow the rad out. I do it about once a year, you would be very surprised at the amount of crap, leaves and sand that is accumulated.

http://www.buy.com/prod/mountain-mtn...212940104.html

froggy47

I was at a car show today & AFLAC had one of Edwards Cup cars that he will be running this season, I forget which track it's built for but I swear that the radiator was 5 to 6 inches thick multi cores all alum made the Dewitts & Ron Davis radiators look like heater cores.

trackboss

On the big ovals they can get away with thicker cores and higher fin count because of the speeds. One of those radiators on a road course will not have enough airflow to cool. That being said, on my custom cooling system (C5) I went with 1.25" dual tubes as opposed to the more common 1" tubes and the radiator seems to work very well even sitting idle. I only run a single spal fan in instead of the factory fans and there seems to be very little restriction. I still run an a/c condensor as well. I am confident one could go up to 1.5" dual row with low fin count on a road course and/or street car.

db2xpert

Cool product. Westco has it for $5 less, and another few bucks less for shipping. Google the part number.
Discount Tools for less than 1/2 the price.

Pumba

Then after you have blown the crap out of the condenser and the radiator (Do the radiator first), reassemble the components, and get under your Corvette and tape the gap between the radiator and condenser shut. A lot of material can be sucked up through the gap.

63Corvette

Thanks for the heads-up Anthony
You didn't sell any radiators with this post, but you did make a lot of Corvette friends

froggy47

hmm, I figured that was more air flow?