well, for the last 10 days I've been getting my butt kicked left and right trying to solve a few leak issues on the '78 project car.
The radiator has been in and out 3 times including a trip to the radiator repair shop.
They managed to fix the fitting on one of the tranny cooler lines so that stopped leaking finally but after putting the radiator back in after the repair shop finished with it I developed a coolant leak from the lower rad hose housing that wasn't there previously.
It seems everytime I got one leak stopped another would crop up!
Even after repostioning the lower rad hose and double clamping it the leak was still there.
Man, talk about frustration......... YOU try removing and reinstalling the rad in a late model C3 w/ auto and AC 3 times in one week not to mention having to drain and refill the system AT LEAST 6-7 times while trying to fix and than check for leaks than starting over.......
I think I'll junk this car and take the loss if I have to pull that radiator ever again!

Finally, last night I got everything back together one more time, started her up and watched very carefully for any leaks. NONE!
I let her come fully up to temp and just let her keep running for about 20-30 minutes (coudn't drive her as she is still up on jackstands) and still no leaks.
Felt good not to see any but after the last 10 days I wasn't getting my hopes up. I turned her off and let her sit all night long and first thing this morning I went out to the garage to check and no leaks under the car after sitting all night.
Started her up again this morning and let her come fully to temp and with her running for about 15-20 minutes still no leaks!

I'll keep and eye on her for the rest of the weekend but if I can go the rest of the weekend without the leaks coming back than first thing monday morning i'll be at DMV to finally get her registered and tagged.

Boy, I SURE HOPE I didn't just jinx myself by wrinting this post. With my luck as soon as I hit the button to post this up she will start leaking again.

 

barry will keep my fingers cross for you this weekend.

 

Well, did u get the BArdols?

 

Andy
not yet. I seemed to have fixed the leaks without it so far.......

I just started and ran the car a second time today and brought it up to temp and let her run for about 10- 15 minutes and still no leaks.

If it stays that way through the weekend than I won't need the Bardols and so much the better and come 8am Monday morning I plan on being first in line at the DMV inspection.

 

Your what we call in my company a SME....Subject Matter Expert...in the install, removal and reinstall of corvette rads.

 

It's what should be simple stuff that can drive you crazy with any old car. Chasing vibration problems seems to be my worst enemy.

 

Congrats Barry!
I'm in the middle of doing the same thing with my '73. Did you remove the hood?
What about the transmission fluid lines - drain the tranny fluid too? Plug 'em?
Hoping not to have your same experience...

 

Johnney
Yes, the hood is off.
no, you don't have to drain the tranny to unhook the cooler lines from the radiator. You may get a very slight dribble out of the lines not not more than that. I didn't lose but 5 or 6 drops of tranny fluid.
It's near impossible to unclamp the rubber hoses off the radiator itself before removel so I found it was easier to undo the hoses where they clamp to the hardlines at the front of the frame instead and leave them hooked onto the radiator. inspect the hoses and if you haven't had the radiator out in a long time replace those hoses and clamps to be safe and than reinstall them on the radiator fittings before installing the radiator back in the car and than you can easily reconnect them to the hardlines on the frame.

I also suggest unbolting at least the top two bolts on the core support on each side (they are in the wheel wells) so you can lean the core support back a little to give yourself more room to manuveur the radiator in.
The hardest part on my car during the removal and reinstall was getting the lower radiator hose housing past the upper A-Arm - that's where the clearance issues will cause you trouble and why you want to lean the core support back to give yourself more room to work.
If you have AC on your car the condensor in front of the core support only allows you about 1/2" - 3/4" or so to tilt the core support back but it's still helpful. Without AC you should be able to tilt it back more and it's probably easier.

 

good job! its just a loyalty test....we have those at work every day

 

I'd quit working there..........

 

Aaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After Friday afternoon, Fri. night, and Sat 3 times running the car up to temp and letting it run between 10-20 minutes each time and no leaks I thought I had it beat.
Today I was working on the last issue which was the fanblade hitting the shroud. After 6 hours of working on that I take the car for a test drive and it STILL hits but now only while going around turns or when going over a bump or dip - for some reason it's so close it's rubbing against the front sway bar for when that moves or flexes at all it causes the shroud to move and the blades hit it.
I pull the car back into the garage and 10 minutes later I notice the leak is back and a big pool of coolant right under the lower rad hose housing.

Man, I just can't win with this car. No matter what I do I can't seem to solve these last couple of issues. I'm so far beyond my patience level in dealing with this crap already if anyone has a gun please come by and shoot either me or the car - at this point I don't care which!

At this point I have a fan shroud that won't sit into the correct position and clip into the bottom of the core support like it's suppose to so it's off just enough to cause the fanblades to hit and this rad leak is beyond understanding the hows and why of it!

 

...just one more example of WHY I love the 4spd non-A/C, low option cars...

...wish I could say I feel your pain, but I haven't...

 

Paul
4-speed, no AC, low optioned is just what my '65 is and a roomier engine bay to work in to boot!

I'm really starting to HATE working on this '78. I like the car but hate working on it now. This car is working my last nerve at this point and I've reached and gone beyond my level of patience with it.........

 

I was going to suggest checking your engine mounts but if you can see the shroud is not positioned correctly....well.....

 

After owning a 78 for 27 years,one thing I've learned is PATIENCE...only issue that has stumped me is this




...have tried everything...good thing it runs good..because it ran crappy,I'd cut the belt....

 

Thanks Barry for the details.
Too bad mine is th400+AC...because in all things in life I prefer to choose lower maintainence. Guess I missed in this case.
I'll try loosening the bottom bracket to see if I get enough wiggle room.

But now I'm worried about when I need to put my fan shroud back together! I didn't know it was so sensitively placed. I don't have much spare time these days, but hopefully in the next few nights I'll see if I'm successful or not on the removal.

On the persistant PIA leak...before shooting maybe try punting. Take it to a local shop, get a $30-$40 estimate for stopping the leak (play dumb, say every thing is fairly new, probably just a hose clamp) and let them fix it. That way if it persists you just keep taking it back, getting more pissed (at them, not your C3) each time. I hate to have somebody else work on my car, but you might get your weekends back, and save a few cents on lead (maybe more if using hollow-point)

 

also check the front extensions that the bolts are tight. The front nose hangs on these extensions,That could explain the everything fine on jack stands. I know your pain Power brake the motor to check the mounts you never know.

 

gq82 and murvette
the motor mounts are the same ones that were on the engine before I pulled the engine out, I didn't replace them. Even the bolts are the same same!. She is sitting down on the frame mounts evenly on both sides so I can't possible see what could be changed in the way the motor is mounted and sits on the frame - I understand your logic in that how the motor is sitting mounted in the frame would easily affect this but I don't see any way that it can be changed at the mounts the way it is.

Yesterday I had a buddy stop by after I lost all patience and he and I both worked on it for 2 12 hours. We undid the shroud, loosened the core support, tried readjusting how the radiator sat in the core support, tried readjusting how the core support was sitting, etc. and nothing helped.
With him helping he could finally get the bottom edge of the shroud to just BARELY start to slide in the clips on the core support and not much at all - just enough to keep it from poppong out alltogether but it really needs to drop down another approx 3/8" to clip in all the way but no matter how much we try to push it down that rest of the way it pops itself back up to where it's sitting now.
It really needs to slide the rest of the way in from what I can see to give the needed clearance away from the sway bar but it won't go that rest of the way.
Best I can determine is that it lookes like it's already hitting the crossmember preventing it from going anymore and when we try to puch it further we are just flexing the plastic so when we release it it just pops back up.
This thing is just nuts!

Johnny, believe me, the thought of taking it to a mechanic crossed my mind. I hate the idea on principle simply because I started working on my own vettes because I gave up trying to find any local ones competent enough to work on them! Even with that though i'd still do it but I wouldn't know who to take it to now since all the "recommended" ones I tried and gave up on and god knows what they would charge me. I already know the PITA and amount of labor involved on a simple radiator R&I let along the fight on the shroud. I could EASILY end up with a $500 bill or more! If I have to spend that kind of money I'd just buy a new DeWitts aluminum radiator but than I'd still have the shroud issue to deal with.

I'm just completely at a loss here now and haven't a clue what else to try. I don't want to and can't give up on these two problems but really have run through everything I can think of to do to fix them.
i'm baffled and stuck at this point........

 

OK, figure this one out......... It's got me baffled beyond belief.
After seeing the leak come back yesterday I didn't touch the car and let it sit overnight.
This morning the puddle was dry and it seemed the leak stopped by itself.

I took the car out this morning to DMV and got it registered and tagged finally (yah!! she passed inspection! ) than ran a few errands with her like going to a few paint shops for estimates, etc. I put almost 75 miles on her this morning and get home and put her in the garage. Go out and check on her about every 10 minutes for the next hour or so and no leak at all. WTF??!!
one drive she leaks, the next she doesn't. Trying to trace an intermittent leak like this will drive you to the brink of insanity!

The good news for today is I found something on the car that DOESN"T leak........ the T-Tops. On the way to DMV this morning it poured pretty hard. I didn't like being out in the rain on the car since I just spent the last 6-7 weeks cleaning up the entire frame, engine bay, and motor but since it happened I figured it would be a good test for the seals........ well, the inside was nice and dry without a leak anywhere from T-Tops, windshield, or anywhere.

 

If I were you, I'd pull the shroud and install an electric fan.
I can't believe how easy it is to get at the front end and engine.
The Summit brand 16" fan seems to cool a SB just fine in my neck of the woods.