im on a tight budget for my build. putting together afr 350 sbc. i ordered my linclon fan from dc control. heres my question i have a 1980 vette and need aluminum radiator, Summit has a universal job thats external dimensions are almost identical, will it work?PART#SUM-380331if i knew how to create a link i would

 

Yes it'll work, but they're a bit of a pain to fit.

The route I took, as I'm ALWAYS on a budget , I bought a Northern 5066 (they make summit's radiators.) They're made specifically for the late model c3s and fit almost perfectly. If your original was a 3 row, instead of a 4 row, you'll have to trim the upper bracket cushions a touch to fit up top. Not a big deal as it'll only take a second to do that. Otherwise it almost drops right in like an original. PM me and I'll tell ya where to get it for like $300.

 

what r the issues with summits?

 

Search is your friend, the answers are all there. Try searching for "northern radiator."

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1603168

 

Mainly the lower hose connector. It points straight out instead of up at an angle. Can interfere with the suspension, IIRC.

Do a little search, though, you'll find a past thread about what must be done to fit a universal radiator. Top flight corvette seems to like my 5066, though.

 

Have had mine for about 7 years with no problems. If you are going to run your stock fan and shroud then I would get a 'direct' fit one but if you are going to run elec fans and do not mind 'universal' fit then the Summit rad works fine. I am running a heavy duty universal ribbed lower hose and although it rides on the front crossmember it is so thick it shows little signs of scuffing or wear. Since I bought my hose I have seen universal ribbed hoses at Autozone with a bend that look like they might work even better.

 

The Northern Radiators are not as thick as the stock ones which would require some modification to brackets to make it fit perfectly.. I don't know about the Radiator size on your year Vette.. On my '68, the universal Griffin (paid $159) almost fits like a glove. Except for slightly bending one of the brackets, it fits just like the original one.. Of course the inlets and outlets are different on universal radiators. You'll need different radiator hoses. Either you find one that fits or you buy steel flex hoses that can be bent whatever way you want.. They also last forever.. You can get those off Ebay for under $50..

I think that maybe Griffin part 1-26272-X would be a better fit than the Northern radiators as the Griffin is 3 inches thick which is the thickness of the factory radiators..

 

A new duplicate rad for a '89? late camaro V8 aluminum, single row, plastic tanks....is available from your local rad distributor for about 160 bux or so....it works fine, even here in Florida...BUT you need a decent fan setup...I switched to dual spals, and cured the problems....the single '87 vette fan I had was not enough, it was mounted in the original shroud....which will fit poorly....maybe was some of the problem, but very hard to tell for sure....the rad does work well with freeway temps of 120f or so, the only problems is right after getting off the freeway sittingin traffic with no breeze.....the spals solved THAT problem though....I presume the Lincoln fan will do also....

2 advantages, the core size fits fine, it's much lighter than any brass thing, and it's a shoe in....lower hose is higher and easy to adapt, upper is the same....

 

I used a lower hose for a 1990 Ford Bronco to make my universal radiator fit. I had to trim about 3 inches off of one end.

 

Well let's hope that Tom DeWitt will have another sale soon. I missed out on the birthday sale and in my opinion it beats finessing a generic piece into place which one will spend a fair amount of time on. I noticed that none of those generic radiators have the cap area angled down for clearance and that the recommended Griffin part number has the inlet on the passenger side with the outlet on the driver's side which I think is incorrect. They do offer another part number with the inlet and outlet on the opposite sides, but that still leaves dealing with the cap area. (Now having never installed one of these generic pieces, maybe they are shorter or the cap may already clear). If not, you could slice that corner and TIG in a new piece of aluminum sheet at an angle. You could also angle cut the outlet at the appropriate degree and TIG in a new piece. All said and done, one might as well buy the correct part to start with...my 2 pesos

BTW
There is that guy on Ebay that sells generic aluminum radiators supposedly made to drop in for your car. Don't know anything about the quality though. I think for the little extra cash that a Dewitt's goes for over the Ebay unit, and the customer support from DeWitt's, I'd go DeWitt's.

 

Fair amount of time?

Changed out my factory radiator for a universal Griffin in about 30 minutes and the only thing that I had to do was to slightly bend one of the 2 upper mounting brackets.. That might be different on other years, but on my '68, the universal piece was a close to perfect fit!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1677197

The total time I posted in the thread also included changing out the water pump etc, so it took a little longer.. The Radiator itself is a 30 minute job.

 

That's great and I'm glad you were able to make it work and save some bucks too. I should rephrase that and say, "One could end up spending a fair amount of time to finess a unit, cars and installs may vary"

 

It might vary a lot indeed... I've changed Radiators to universal ones only on '68 and '69 Vettes.. I don't have any experience with other years..

 

Well how much do those lower radiator hoses cost and how much does that universal unit cost? If the end cost comes anywhere near $300 go with a unit designed to fit properly.

I personally think the Northern 5066 is by far one of the best deals for 77 - 82 vettes as they require no modifications to fit and you can use your stock hoses... well you may need a different upper, but that should be replaced in the process anyways. I've no complaints about mine, as it keeps my engine cool throughout a whole autocross practice day. My engine actually stays much cooler than 90% of the cars on track. Not bad for a car that's supposed to have heat issues.

 

I paid $49 for the upper and lower stainless hoses and $159 for the radiator.. Just over $200 total cost..

 

Is it just me or does that Griffin rad have a higher lower hose location than most universals?
I've got the tiny SB, manual trans, no AC 68 radiator. The biggest problem I've had was finding a universal with the lowerhos connection high enough to clear the lower "pan" in the front of the engine bay. Most strait radiator outlet run right into it. Thinking I'm going to call Griffin to get the exact location of that lower outlet.
Gary

 

Don't '68 and '69s use a different style of radiator, also? IIRC they have a completely different design than the later model ones that look more like modern ones used in todays cars.

I have a feeling it's easier to fit the universal ones in the early model c3s than the later model ones because of that.

Oh and the universals usually don't have provisions for the transmission cooler, huh? Another thing that makes the model specific ones a little more attractive, in my opinion.

 

The Griffin radiator has a lower outlit which is located higher than on most other universal radiators.. Check the pics in my thread!!

 

It is correct that universal ones don't have tranny cooler provisions.. However, I personally would never cool my transmission through the radoator anyways.. I run a heat sink design cooler close to the transmission crossmember... Better cooling for the engine and better cooling for the tranny that way..

 

Hmm...seeing some of the costs, and considering that our radiator support brace is rusted and we're Frankensteining a new piece together with square steel tube and remnants of the original radiator shroud that don't have rust damage (Just can't bring myself to pay $300+ for a new shroud when I have a welder and Industrial Metal Supply down the street from where I work, so the Frankensteined piece will cost me approx. $25 to re-fab), maybe, just maybe, we'll do a universal kit...

Of course, gotta make sure that I can find one that has the low profile electric fans, instead of forcing me to re-use the radiator fan shroud and engine driven fan (Fan clutch is gone, and the bottom of the fan shroud cracked in two when we were pulling it out - some sort of plastic rot, I think, because it was really brittle). Hmmm...All comes down to $$$...

BTW, I'll post pics of how we're rebuilding the radiator support that rusted out...