Mounting issues can be solves with some clever bracket fabricating. So long as at least two sides are supported with brackets you're good. Most people use sheet metal and a metal brake. Drill a few holes, and you have a pair of brackets.

The electric fan has one more good side. If controlled by a fan control unit, say a variable speed pulse controller...when it DOES engage...it's a slow startup which is easier on the current draw. It'll start slow to move a little air. As the temp rises, so does the fan speed. If the engine coolant temp drops below the cutoff, the fan shuts off.

A belt driven fan does apply a lot of force to the water pump shaft, and leaves a heavy load no mater the engine speed. If it's a direct fan with no clutch, then you have no buffer, and you're losing a lot of power just changing the fan speed according to engine RPM. If you have a fan clutch, at low engine speeds or idle you can still easily over heat because the fan speed is lot like the idle. On the other side of that, at WOT, the fan isn't being driven anymore because the fluid drive system in the fan clutch has disengaged at that high RPM. That doesn't seem conducive to good cooling.

Both the MarkVIII fan and Taurus fan move around or more than 3000 CFM at speed. The MarkVIII fan is 18", giving you a little over hang, and the Taurus fan is 17" which is almost perfect for the Corvette 17" radiator. Both have their own shroud...that doesn't have to come off to change any belts.

Seems like a lot of pluses to electric fans.

If your stock fan is hitting your shroud your engine mounts are toast. I would replace the mounts with solid ones and not have to worry about them going bad again. It will probably cure your radiator cracking issue too, since you are stressing the radiator every time your fan smacks the shroud. DeWitts makes the best rad. I have an extra Mark VIII electric fan and a CS144 140 amp alternator if anyone is interested. More than enough fan and amps for any situation and they both fit the C3 great!
Bernie

It sounds like you have a problem of some sort...missing radiator mount cushions, a rotted radiator support, a rotted frame (), etc.

Eh...no biggy. Let the next owner worry about that...

for the cracked radiator.. basically my uncle has a shop, and thats where i got this thing on the road a few years ago.. he likes to not charge me for work he does, so to save himself money, he puts cheap **** in my car!!.. ive told him many times to just go performace parts and ill pay him but he never listens.. this is besides the fact that i was mashing the car pretty hard on both times this happend..
in short, they were cheap radiators, and my car has had heat problems forever ( its at 200+ on the freeway, at night!!. ) so im just gonna swap it..

the frame is fine... i ve been around that nose for a while and the frame has only surface, if any, rust on it.

electric fans is the way im going.. and my reason my fan hits the sroud is b/c the sround poped out of the radiator one day when i got really bad tire hop (?).. but yeah.. dont know how the motor mounts are.. but the engine is only 3 or 4 years old.. and i hope ( TO GOD) that my ucle didnt wanna "save me some money" by putting in the same ones!!..

but i think i might put in a spreader bar while im in there..
hope this doesent turn into a "while im at it " type of thing!!.. i really wanna get my bike fixed right now.. but its soo tempting to put money into this thing!!! but this one is ...necessary..

Well IF there is a problem with some flexing or something else causing your radiators to crack I would more likely opt for the less expensive northern as a just in case type of measure. I'd hate to shell out the clams for a nice dewitts radiator and end up with that being cracked too. Rather lose a $300 than a $500 piece, if ya know what I mean.

BUT THIER HAVING A SALE!!!!!

northern radiator has an aluminum radiator for $400 very nice have it in my 79 vette. you can find them on ebay or do a search

They have cheaper ones than that too I think through Summit.

I had someone email me yesterday and said "I tried to order your radiator from hotrodusa.com and the told me they didn't have DeWitts"
I told him that was true and it must have been the 1,256,734 posts about the $308 radiator that Kayway bought.
Is anyone else just sick of hearing about it or is it just me? I certainly don't think we need to permanetly paste a sticky of this as suggested.
Now if your loading up your keyboard for a flame back, let me say first that I don't care one bit if someone buys a Northern or whatever. If you can't afford the difference in price, then you probably can't afford a Corvette. I don't participate on the CF to police the radiator action and make sure they buy only DeWitts radiators. That fact is, the forum adds up to about 0.5% of our sales each year. I signed up a long time ago to help educate people about the advantages of aluminum and to help trouble shoot problems they may have. Many times I have told people they don't NEED an aluminum radiator or fan kit because of some other underlying problem.
Now I'm not going to say we don't want CF business...I do, but we would survive just fine without it. If you would like to buy a cheaper radiator than ours Northern is a great choice. You might also check on ebay as there are dozens of Jonny come latelys selling Corvette radiators made in the garage. But the one thing thats missing here besides the PRICE is the support. Is that worth $200? I don't know you decide. Support means the price we pay to keep this CF going. It means my involvement with questions and answers, and participating directly with you. No one else does that. It means backing up our products with a three (3) years warranty (Northern is 90 days btw) and many times I have look passed that. I will fix a radiator (if possible) for free for the life of your car, because that's what good suppliers do. You can come and see us at many of the major national swap meets. We have the most complete line of Corvette radiators and the finest website in the business, with technical information, fans, and accessories.
So, if your ONLY concern is price...Northern is the way to go! click here http://www.hotrodusa.com
If you want the absolute finest built, prettiest welds, excellent packaging, fast shipping, and the confidence that we will support you no matter what, then click herehttp://www.dewitts.com
Ok, maybe it was a major rant, but overdue. Flame on if you need too

I don't mind the rant but I don't think you needed to call Kalway out. He's not the only one on this forum who has bought the Northern and suggests it to other budget minded Corvette owners. I got no flame besides that.

Tom, you know I love having you on the forum, as a vendor and a supporting car enthusiast...but I do the same thing. I praise you and your product while still telling people there is a cheaper option, in the Northern, for the ones that have a budget. I don't feel that doing so is taking a customer away from you, because that person would probably have bought a cheap Ebay ripoff instead of a quality DeWitts anyway. I'm just trying to help them find a good radiator just like you are. It's hard to fight tight money budgets, and some of us...like me...have to follow the wallet.

Would I rather have one of your? Yes, by all means, and absolutely. It's a beautiful radiator with the highest quality and performance. Can I afford it? No. Can I afford a Northern? Yes. Will the Northern do the same thing for me minus the looks and extra quality and support? Yes.

While I agree with you, and he, at the same time...I still think it was wrong that you called him out. He's had his licks from the mods. That's all...so don't feel like I"m coming down on you or taking his side.

No, you really don't. What you do is very normal and perfectly fine with everyone. If saved money on a new stereo system or some kind of upgrade, I'd share it with you guys. If I saw someone later asking about it, I might comment again and reference my older thread. That would be the end of that. I wouldn't become the spokes person for that company and comment again and again. Let the vendor sign up and do their own sales program and/or people should be checking the archives for stuff more often.
What's never mentioned in these "cheaper" posts is the fact that Be-cool, Griffin, and Ron Davis are really our competition, not Northern. These companies are producing quality hand tig welded radiators and not automatic mig welded units. When you throw us into that group, we are actually the lowest cost and the best of the bunch but when we get into these type of threads it sounds like we are really gouging people with the EXTRA $200 and it's just not true. Right now you can get a Direct Fit for $445 net and that's about $130 more

Cracked radiator ??? C H I N E S E....

There...now YOU all know....

And speaking of radiator costs..I hear of guys here spending upwards $1200 for wheels and/or stereo's,but want a cheap radiator....

F O R E A L !.. im goin aluminum dewitts and electric fans..

What do you say we let someone else carry the baton in 2007?


I agree....time to stop this

I just recently installed a Dewiits in my 78...I was debating Aluminum vs Copper brass,but in the end, decided to go with Dewitts because my 78 has AC and wanted a more efficient radiator...
It works exactly as Tom stated....

It is worth the cost....in fact,it is a high quality radiator...
Be sure to read install tips in the archives...

Rich

Did you go with electric fans or back to engine driven fan?

About that crack... These cars are VERY flexible and that's why you see all the concerns with front saddle cracks, jacking issues, and, yes, radiator tank cracks. The spreader bar is the best single thing you can do to help this, and I also run almost solid mounts to restrict frame movement. Sounds like yours moves around a lot, so look at all the mounts (engine, body, radiator suport, suspension) as well as the saddle and lower control arm mounts. Good luck.

P.S. I run a Dewitt's direct fit with a Flex-o-lite fan. VERY happy.

Hans

does anyone make a spreader bar kit or are they all pretty much custom made?