I thought this would be the easy part: I have a new radiator and new radiator support. My plan is to mount the radiator and then install the unit into my car. Problem is the radiator won't sit all the way down in the support saddles. I know this sounds elementary, but I've been at it for over an hour and am no closer to getting the top mount brackets to line up with their holes on the support. The foam pieces surrounding the radiator don't look like they're interfering; it looks like the saddles and cushions are too small. I've bent them out almost 45 degrees and still not a good fit! I bought the support from Corvette Central. I don't know if it's a quality control issue, or is this just supposed to be this much of a pain in the ash ? Thanks all - Mark

 

Can you post some pictures?

 

I bought a new radiator for mine last year and the new radiator was actually thicker than the stock. I had what sounds like the same problem. If you still have your old radiator check the difference with your old to new and see if they are the same thickness. I had to remove some of the rubber on the supports to get mine to sit down all the way. It did take some work.
Good luck..

 

Here are the pics. Since my first post, I measured old and new radiators = same. I traced outline of old rad. support saddles on cardboard and re-bent new ones to match - still won't drop in enough. I used soapy water to make radiator slide down easier - nope. ARGGH!











Last photo is of the top mount side bracket. It's at least 1/2" from being lined up.

This is going to require A LOT more beer than I anticipated !

 

Is it possible that those new seals are either to thick or need to be removed and installed after you get the radiator in.
My seals are around mine.

The first 2 pictures look like the bottom seal won't let the radiator slide all the way down.

 

ATC, it's probably not the rubber being too thick, they ARE just a PITA.

When I was working on my '78 last month I had the rad and support out and I had also removed and reinstalled the rubber cushions from both the bottom off the support and the top ones off the top brackets. They cleaned up great so I ended up reusing the same rubber cushions rather than buying new ones. I also reinstalled the same original radiator and during the reinstalled mine gave me the exact same hassle you are going thru. It was a real frustrating PITA to say the least.
Nothing I did would make the rad sit down all the way in the rubber cushions.

What I ended up doing was getting it as close as I could at the bottom and than started to attach the top brackets which also didn't want to sit down all the way on the top of the rad.
I slowly went from side to side slowly tighening up the top brackets a little bit at a time on each side while pressing down on that side as hard as I could to get it to sit down as best as it could.
It took a lot of tries and more cussing that you would ever figure a radiator would require but eventually I got it to sit down in the cushions.

NOTHING, not a single solitart aspect of the radiator removal and reinstall on my '78 was easy. EVERY part of both aspects of it was a REAL PITA. The worst part was after finally getting it back in I found a leak and ended up having to R&I the rad 4 more times that week, each time going thru the same problem! It did NOT get any easier each time.

I feel for you man, i really do.
I'm to the point that if I ever had to R&I that radiator again I'd junk the car first simply because I never want to have to deal with the radiator on a late model C3 ever again!

 

Looks like cushions are upside down. The side with the groove in it should go up

 

Actually, the pic of that one - I cut the grooves off in an attempt to make it fit better. The one not pictured has the groove up.

 

Thanks for the commisery. I was beginning to think it was just me. I finally got it in after 3+ hours. What a joke ! The GM engineer on that one must have been on the pipe. I also can't stand that darn fan shroud! Did they have to make it so tight between the control arms and the radiator? And those stupid studs at the bottom of the radiator that it's supposed to fit into. I could go on and on. Definitely the low-point of my engine rebuild! Oh well, tomorrow's another day. Thanks all for letting be b itch.

 

I just went thru the same problem you have. I am rebuilding a 73 for a friend and he brought me a new support, cushions,seals and radiator all from Corvette Central.
I could not get the radiator to seat in the new cushions also, I finally got them in far enough with Silicone spray, to get the top mounts bolted up with all the new foam seals.
I ended up mounting the shrould to it also and put it in as a complete assembly, it took me nearly four hours to get it in and hooked up, the lower hose is no fun either.
The old one came out much easier than the new went in.
I was beginning to think that the support was made wrong also, I am sure the neighbors could hear me talking to it a few times during the process.
It does look good and all fits good once it is in there.
I did this on my 78 Pace car and did not have half the problem, I did use a GM support on it.

 

oh man, if you think I was upset about the radiator, don't EVEN get me started about that d*mn fan shroud!
If there was anything that got me more upset on the entire rebuild project than the radiator it was the shroud.