HELLO OUT THERE IM A NEWBIE. I LIVE UP NORTH IN THE MTS. OF NEW YORK. A YEAR AND A HALF AGO PURCHASED MY FIRST AND ALWAYS WANTING A 1975 VETTE. I GOT IT FROM A LAWYER WITH NO PAPER WORK, SO (I HAD TO BELIEVE HALF OF WHAT HE TOLD ME) I"VE
PUT NEW SHOCKS,BRAKES ETC. MY WINTER PROJECT IAM THINKING OF
SWAPPING OUT THE OLD RAD. AND REPLACING IT WITH ALUMINUN AND 2 11'-FANS. ALSO A FRIEND TOLD ME TO PUT IN AN ALIMINUN WATER PUMP. HAS ANYBODY ELSE DONE THIS TO A C-3 AND WAS IT A HARD JOB? I HAVE A GARAGE AND AM A BACKYARD MECHINIC,WAITING TO GET GREASIE. IT IS A 75 350 4-SPD WITH THE AIR.
THANKS JOHNNY R. 11/14/07

 

Welcome. It certainly sounds like a good idea. You can't keep a good 350 to cool. I'm in Binghamton, NY where exactly are you?

 

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the car, post pics, fill out your profile and turn off the caps lock.
The aluminum water pump is a waste of $$ unless your looking to just dress up the motor and even with that there are better options. The fact that its aluminum means nothing other than it may weigh less than stock. Some guys want to run a Hi FLow water pump, but there is no reason really to do that either if the cooling components are working properly. A Clean cooling system, radiator and hood seals in place, working fan clutch and correctly fit fan shroud and air dam are the esentials.
Now, having said that: A better system could be an aluminum radiator, it cools a lot more effeciantly. Electric fans like the dual spall unit with shroud is a great selection and it will eliminate the stock shroud and fan/clutch, cleans things up a LOT under the hood. The radiator and hood seals and air dam are still required for proper cooling. If you do go electric on the fans, look at the alternator and make sure its adequate to take an additional 30 amp load.

 

Hello have you ever heard of Speculator n.y.?
one of the snow capitals of n.y.
Johnny r.

 

Thanks for the info, that just the radiator was my first choice. i figured
if it was all out put new in the pump because after i put things back the pump will go the next week. i guess you would know about overheating problems in fld. thanks again Johnny R 11/14/07

 

Hello i live up in Speculator n.y. ever heard of it? We have a short summer but the woods are great. i am new to this and now trying to figure out how to get a pictur of my car on the site. thanks and what year and work have you got? Johnny R

 

It always interest me when I hear statements that aluminum is more efficient. I have never quite believed that. Maybe the design of some aluminum radiators are better, but I dont think aluminum is necessarily more efficient. The conduction of aluminum is, ~ 130 btu/hr/sq.ft./ deg.
copper is in the 230s and brass is about 260. this would indicate that of the materials, copper materials are actually better conductors. Emissivity ( radiation ) for aluminum, brass and copper are basically the same at a coeficient of about .04. So their ability to radiate is basically the same. I would quess that of radiators of the same constuction and size design, copper/ brass would be better.

 

womb, read this it should explain everything to you.

http://www.dewitts.com/pages/whyaluminum.asp


Johnny, welcome to the site. I would recommend a Dewitts radiator for you car. I only recommend them to my customers if they are looking for an upgrade over stock. They fit in the exact same location as stock and require no modifications to fit. They do make a nice set up that holds two 11" SPAL fans on the radiator. The SPAL fans work tremendously well. Be forewarned, they are a little noisy though. I as well as many others are dealer for DeWitts radiators and will be happy to quote you a price on a set up.

It's not a great shot of the radiator, but you can see how much nicer the engine bay looks without the mechanical fan and shroud in there in this picture.
http://speedhound.com/project/images/76corv02b.jpg
This car is running a DeWitts setup with the two SPAL fans I mentioned.

If you do not want to deal with wiring in two new fans, your factory mechanical fan will work perfectly fine for you. So please don't think you have to switch to electric fans in order to keep the car cool.

As for changing the radiator, you'll need to remove the hood as well as the AC condenser coil if your car has AC. From there, you unbolt the core support keeping track of any shims that might be in between it and the body. There are three bolts on either side that you access through the wheel wells and two under the bottom. All you have to do is slide the core support with radiator forward so that the lower water neck on the radiator can clear the control arm on the passenger side when you go to lift it out. Installation is the reverse. I would recommend you get a seal kit as well as a rubber grommet support kit at the same time. The seal kit insures that the radiator is sealed to the core support so to force the air through the radiator and not around it. The rubber grommets go in the lower radiator brackets and the upper radiator brackets. The only downside to this is you may find your core support is rusted and needs replacing. It is readily available but is not cheap unfortunately. The core support supports the entire front end of these cars so you really should not leave a rotted one in there at all.

 

I am quite familiar with all of that. And I would expect that explanation from someone who is selling aluminum radiators. But, there are designs of copper radiators that have the same construction techniques as what was used in original aluminum Corvette radiators. For instance my 33 cadillac uses the same type cell construction, not tubes and fins. There is some weight difference, but from the numbers it would only have to be about half as large given the same construction method, so in reality the weight difference is not so great as it might seem.

 

Well let's look at it this way. You have two choices for this car either a brass replacement radiator or an aluminum dewitts radiator. Throw out everything you know and can quote about the properties of metals and just look at which one is working better. Chalk it up to better design versus better materials. Heck chalk it up to freaky black magic. The DeWitts radiators do a better job, period. They also cost less than $100 more.

Also ask yourself this. If brass has the potential to be better, why is there not a single car made with a brass radiator now? I'm sure if the major auto makers could have made a better design with brass, they would have figured out how to. Maybe it's a cost thing and the aluminum is cheaper to make. But how do you explain that modern radiators are maybe half as thick if even that large as the brass radiators found in old cars like C3s?

I don't doubt your numbers and comparisons of the properties. I don't know them and don't need to. There are only two choices out there and the aluminum ones work better. Maybe we could get scientific about it if someone offered a brass radiator that has a better construction and claimed to be as good as aluminum, but there is not such a radiator out there. My money goes to better design and technology.

By the way, I don't sale anything that I don't believe in. So, no, I am not pushing a DeWitts because I hope to eat out tonight at the fancy restaurant downtown. It's because they work and they work the way they claim they do. Being in this business, you quickly learn what products are worth your time and effort and your customer's money. I only sale those products that are which is why my selection of parts is limited to only the best out there. While I would like everyone to buy from me, even if they don't, I'll still say a DeWitts is the way to go.

 

Sorry, I didnt mean to to say that you were pushing aluminum. Heck, I didnt even know that you were selling them. I think that there are several reasons that new cars are using aluminum radiators other than the relative efficency of aluminum vs copper. If you notice, Dewitt states that his radiator is 30% more efficient than the replacement copper brass. If aluminum, as a material, is more efficient than copper, a radiator of that superior design should be much more efficient as a unit. That is all I was trying to say originally. The blanket statement that aluminum is more efficient, is not correct. The design of the aluminum unit in this case is superior. You are correct that you generally have only two choices. I am not sure where you get the figure of less than a 100 difference. I have a replacement copper radiator in my modified 66, 350 that I gave $90 bucks for at Carlisle. With a good shroud and fan, it does just fine. Most cooling problems with these cars are due to other factors.

 

new repo brass from corvette central
http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb....Z5Z5Z50000050G

I sell the DeWitts direct fit replacement for $460 or for $485 if you want it coated with black ice as DeWitts calls it.

That's where I got the figures from.

I'm sure there may be a unit available from autozone that will work but is not correct for less. However, I don't like to use parts that are almost correct.

 

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your purchase but I do have some concerns. I live in NY but downstate and I know the New York DMV can be a bear to deal with. 1975 vehicles were issued titles and you indicated that you bought this car without paperwork. I would not put another dime into that car until you get it properly titled. You do not need to get it registered until it is running but until it is titled you do not own it. It could be stolen, or salvage, or who knows what. Lawyer or no lawyer you need a whole lot of documentation to get a lost or missing title and I would suggest that you get it before it is too late or you invest too much money in the car. If things don't go right you may have a chance of geting your purchase price back but you can forget about the time, money and effort you put into rebuilding this car. Paperwwork may seem like BS but until you get it straightened out you have nothing but a pile of parts.

 

Hello all To red vette i guess i should explain better. When i said no paperwork i meant no paperwork on the WORK that he said was done to car. thats why i kidded with the half stuff being a lawyer. sorry if that went out that way but, i've lived in new york state all my life and i know how dmv works. i have a clear title and it is regirserted correctly.
thanks for your imput. Johnny R

 

OK, I see, you talking about the direct fit aluminum replacement radiators. I assumed that you were talking about the original (correct) style, which is $870. That`s a site more than $100 difference. But, for the Auto Zone comment, I dont know if AutoZone has them or not, but the aftermarket copper radiators are also "direct fit". And they are as "correct" as as the "almost correct" Dewitt aluminum direct fits. Dewitt even has the copper brass too for $399.

 

Because car makers are cheap *** bastards! There heavier and would cut down on milage of a 90 horse 6 banger.
I have the Autozone rad and my car runs 180 no matter what, stop and go or flying down the highway.
Aluminum looks good though.