Well, after lots of research and input from the forum members and vendors (thank you all) I made my decision and installed an aluminum radiator in my Vette today. If your car has to be "nut and bolt" correct and you have it in your budget, I believe DeWitts is the way to go. Tom is certainly knowledgeable and very forthcoming with the info.

However, if you're on a little tighter budget (and who isn't?) this may be the way for you.

I chose to go with the Summit, American made, fully welded aluminum radiator part number 380331. What ultimately made me choose this route (besides the $$$ savings) was Summit's "Handshake Guarantee". If it doesn't fit, return it for a full refund. No questions asked. That certainly made it worth the try. Free shipping and two day delivery.

The fit and finish are great and the modifiactions were very minimal.

Here's the procedure:

Remove the fan but leave all the belts and pulleys in place.
Remove the radiator support (it's only six bolts and a good time to re-paint it) and do the rad install on the bench, it's much easier.

I drilled two holes and moved the passenger side upper rad bracket inboard one inch. If I didn't tell you, you couldn't tell it's been moved. Original holes are still there so the A/C condenser fits back in as it should. I trimmed the shroud just slightly around the upper hose outlet so the hose would fit and installed a screw-in brass fitting for the overflow neck. I was able to re-use all of my rad support air seals but I also added some self adhesive weather stripping (Auto Zone part number MW78348) between the rad and the rad support to prevent any air leaks. I installed new rad hoses using the part numbers posted here by another forum member. Upper hose is Auto Zone number L-238 and lower hose is Auto Zone number XL-060. I trimmed about two and a half inches off the thermostat housing end of the upper hose and about two inches off the water pump end of the lower hose. They fit perfectly and cleared everything they needed to.

I re-installed the rad support, hooked up the hoses and re-installed the fan, checked for hood clearance at the rad cap (plenty). Filled it up and started it. Remember I'm right on the edge of the Mojave Desert. The temp here today is 106F in the shade. I ran down the freeway for about half an hour and stayed rock steady at 195 degrees. For the return trip I came back through the city in stop and go rush hour traffic for about 50 minutes. Didn't get over 190. Considering the outside temp of 106F I'm very satisfied.
I'm sure my numbers would be much lower if I was out at the coast.

The additional time involved was only about an hour difference from doing a direct replacement brass/copper radiator.

Here is the cost breakdown:

Summit aluminum radiator: $169.95
(free shipping, 2 days)
Handling fee: $9.75
Upper hose: $18.97
Lower hose: $16.99
Brass fitting: $1.99
Weather stripping: $14.99

TOTAL: $232.64
Less than half the cost of other aluminum radiators.

I would recommend this radiator, simple and cost efficient install to anyone. Skill level is very basic, you don't need to be a fabricator and no unusual tools are needed. A couple of wrenches, a drill and a saw or grinder to trim the shroud.

Best,
Greg

 

Thanks Greg. I am gonna need a radiator in the future. I just printed out you post so I wont have to look up the part numbers!!

 

Nice info thanks.

 

that is an awsome write up. what year c3 did you do this mod on? i am curious to see if this will work on other years as well.

 

Mike,
I did this install on my '75. I'm sure this radiator fits other years too. I pulled my old rad, measured it and checked Summit's radiator measurements on-line. They list over-all size (length, height, width) as well as core size. This one is almost identical in size to the original one I pulled out. Nice easy job.
Best,
Greg

 

Thanks for the info. I'll be using it!

 

thanks for the info

 

Great info! Can you share some pics?

 

Hey Tim,
I could have photo-logued the whole job while I was doing it and posted the pics here to help show the process but I just didn't think of it. The only pic I can offer is this one of the job almost complete (A/C condenser not in yet). But it just looks like a radiator in a Corvette at this point.
Best,
Greg

 

Great info

Is the lower radiator connection straight or angled upwards ? Mine is straight and it's not a good fit.

 

Karsten,
Mine is angled slightly inward and upward. It clears fine.

If yours is interfering with the sway bar, loosen the sway bar U bolts that attach to the frame and place a couple of spacers or even washers in between. This should drop it enough without messing anything up and give you the clearance you need.
Best,
Greg

 

I have to give this thread a BUMP.

Good work GREG.

 

Wonderful writeup - glad to see it was a success. I wonder what the differences in my '79 will be. Next topic: single large Spal versus dual Spal's...

 

Nice work Greg, thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks for the comments

As far as there being a cheaper way to go, I guess there always is. You said "American Made" and I can assure you at $167 these are not made anywhere in the U.S.A! Good ol' american made racing cores cost about $110-$130 and that's just for the core. Check Thermasys in Alabama, or Heatex in Roseville Michigan for Visteon cores. That leaves about $50 for end tanks, tubes, filler neck, and two hours for tig welding. Not going to happen.
So I checked out the Summit page and they never say where they are made, just "Summit brand" and they don't offer any Automatic coolers, or drain valve connections. So this trick is only good for manual trans cars and if you want to drain it, you'll have to pull the lower hose.
Most people don't really care about the next owner of the car but I see this part of ownership all the time. People call me with parts not fitting and brackets not lined up and later we find the whole thing was customized. I have air freighted hoses to people that are broken down in bum-f-nowhere only to find out they don't fit because of a uni-rad.
Each one of our radiators are hand tig-welded, by expert craftsman. The Summit uni-rads are mass produced using automation mig welds. Our warranty is 3 years, theirs is 3 months.
Our core uses the factory hat channel with four bends for strength and standization when considering possible fan mounting.
Summits use a flat panel with only two bends and the U shape faces up so you can collect a whole bunch of junk in there.
Finally, you said the deal clincher was the "don't fit" guarantee and based on the detailed list of modifications you had to make, I'd say that it didn't fit, you made it fit. So the guarantee is kind of useless, everyone going in knows it isn't going to fit. I guess this was great news for some. My only point was that these are not the same as a Direct Fit brand.

 

uuhhh, gee Tom, I don't know what to say. I wanted to be certain my post didn't dis your product and I'm certain, to those who consider price no object you serve a good portion of the Corvette market with a good product.

I posted this info here for other forum members to gain a little insight and save a few bucks if they wanted/needed to. I even made sure I gave you a tip of the hat as a supporting vendor but I didn't expect you to use this as another platform to dis everyone elses radiators and install routines.

My radiator is stamped on both sides "Northern Radiator Made in USA".
I don't think they lied to me. I just don't think you're as on top of your competition as you say you are.

....and frankly (since you've opened this can of worms) if others can build a quality USA made radiator for $169, why can't you?

I read your lengthy info about cost and materials and expensive manufacturing equipment. It just didn't wash with me. Maybe a larger company like Summit racing has the buying power, cost efficiency and volume to build a radiator the average guy can afford and still pass the savings along. They must be doing something right because a lot of Corvette owners have used them and seemed to be pleased with the results.

Simply put, for a little more investment in time, the Summit/Northern USA made, all welded radiator delivers the same performance as yours for less than half the cost.

These are radiators, not rocket science.

Best,
Greg

 

ummm...WOW!

 

I actually found an aluminum radiator made by northern factory for $300 + shipping online. It's rebadged, as usual, as cools-usa but I garauntee it's made by northern because it as the EXACT same part number as the one made by northern.

By the way, wholesale price of a northern factory aluminum radiator direct fit for late model c3s is ~$260. Made in Minnesota. hotrodsusa.com sells em for $300. I got the wholesale price from a buddy of mine that works for one of the largest AC Delco distributors in the country that also does lots of business with Northern. He called and asked personally and got me the quote. I was gonna possibly have him order one for me and ship it, but there would have been no savings over just ordering one online for $300.

For the lazy inclined.

 

Hard to get a good picture of aluminum (and the kitten wanted to look):

 

Greg do not dismay as I feel you did a great job of explaining your installation along with giving DEWITT some credit on the forum.

So please do not let this stop you in the future. If you do something or find something to help out the Corvette community please let us all know. Most of the forum members here can see through the BS that some of the sponsors may give out.

And gosh forbid that you would mention any other company that makes a Chevy 5 Speed kit other than the sponsor here lol. Talk about an attacking rebuttal lol.

Again GREAT work there GREG.