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Help, I'm trying to remove the radiator on my 79 L82 & i'm baffled at how to remove the fan shroud.
I removed the fan clutch & all of the accessories, but I can't get the fan clutch out of the shroud, the electric fan is in the way.
If anyone can give me some pointers I would appreciate it.
What electric fan??? I thought you removed your thermo-clutch from the stock mechanical fan? Why would you have both?
Anyway, lots of posts on the dreaded "fan shroud removal from A/C cars". You might try the SEARCH function to review them. Basically there are two 'camps' of thought on this:
1. carefully remove all the parts so that none of them are damaged beyond "stock" condition;
2. cut the damn shroud at the very bottom point from front to back so that you can get it out easily. You can join it back together with a bracket when you reassemble the car.
I, being a pragmatic sort of person, fall in 'camp' 2....
79 L82s with AC have an aux electric fan inside the shroud.
I was very proud of myself for removing my 80's fan shroud in one piece (no aux fan). I had the water pump, and entire AC system removed when I did it, but I only had to push the radiator out of way. If you can't pull the fan out, perhaps you can remove the water pump, too?
Remove 2 of the 3 bolts on each side of the radiator frame mount. Accessed in side the front fender wells. Loosen the bottom ones on each side but don’t remove. The radiator frame will tilt a little towards the front allowing extra room. Good luck.
Cool, thanks for all of the info!!
I was thinking of removing the water pump first & then I would be able to get the fan out.
I think I'll try unbolting the rad mount first.
It has been some time, but I previously owned a 1979 L82 and replaced the radiator. I left the fan shroud in place. I did remove the hood to make access easier. The hardest part was getting the lower radiator outlet to clear the control arm. I found removing the foam seals that were attached to the core support, enabled sliding the radiator closer to the support so the lower radiator outlet cleared the control arm. When I installed the new radiator, I left the foam seals off, so I could slide the radiator next to the core support so the radiator outlet would clear the control arm. Once the radiator was in position, I pushed it against the shroud and installed new side seals, before installing the upper brackets.
The two auto transmission fittings that go into the radiator were also very difficult to remove. I rounded off the nuts even with a flair wrench and purchased new fittings from one of the Corvette parts suppliers.
It has been a while, but I replaced the water pump, fan clutch and reused the fan while the radiator was out, without touching the fan shroud. I separated the fan clutch from the fan, removed the fan clutch from the water pump and removed the fan clutch. I removed the fan after the fan clutch was removed, as there was now clearance with the fan shroud in place.
Last edited by mark79,80; Mar 31, 2021 at 08:49 PM.
please leave rad support alone. everything will be moved around in nose alignment. the water pump only goes back 1 way. you don't have to move it around 50 times cuz the hood doesn't line up any more. worst case, pull fan and shroud and pump. leave them all in the shroud and pull them all together.
I've had way too much experience removing and reinstalling the radiator in my 79 L-82 with air. The shroud will not come out with the radiator in. You should be able to remove the mechanical fan with the shroud in place. My method is to have a helper, and the radiator comes out (or goes back in depending on which way you are going) with the drivers side tilted as far up as you can get it, to get the lower hose neck to clear the passenger side A arm. Is yours an auto or 4 speed? I've heard the trans lines can be a bear on auto cars, obviously mine is a 4 speed, so no experience there. As a side tip, if your electric fan works, you might consider replacing the factory sender in the passenger side cylinder head to make the fan come on at a lower temp. It's set from the factory to come on at 238 degrees. I changed the sender in mine to come on at 190 with a painless wiring sender I got from Summit. Let me know if you need anything else. Oh, and I've never taken the hood off to get the radiator out.
OK, that was fun!!!
So as some of you pointed out, I couldn't get the rad out because of the lower hose neck hitting the A-arm.
I ended up removing the water pump, getting the fan clutch out of the way.
This gave me the room to lift the drivers side up high enough to get the lower neck past the A-arm.
I'm very glad mines a 4spd, I would hate to have to deal with tranny lines as well!
C3 4ME, great advice on the temp sender, I'll get one before reassembly!
Thanks for all of the responses, I really appreciate it!!!
79 radiator remove w/AC
