2 row 3 row
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,170
Likes: 86
2 row 3 row
I want to upgrade my radiator to one with more cores over the stock single core. My cooling system does alright while cruising, but gets hotter than I would prefer when I drive aggressively.
My question for people that use their C4 similar to me, for track and autocross, how many cores are the radiators you have upgraded to?
I see there is as large as 3 row, but I'm wondering how much modification that would take to fit and if it was worth it.
-Thanks
My question for people that use their C4 similar to me, for track and autocross, how many cores are the radiators you have upgraded to?
I see there is as large as 3 row, but I'm wondering how much modification that would take to fit and if it was worth it.
-Thanks
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,170
Likes: 86
For anyone in the Colorado area, I thought I would mention too that as I climbed higher in altitude last Friday, my temperature kept going up and up all the way to 225-227. I was cruising easy in 3rd gear. Went from 4500ft to 12,000ft. I know that is a pretty extreme altitude, so I'm not sure how much of a factor that plays. The car barley seemed to want to stay at about 200 degrees while idling back down. The car has a 185 stat and there is nothing obstructing the radiator air intake.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 21,543
Likes: 3,216
From: Park City Utah
Sounds like you need to flush your cooling system.
I live in Park City, UT...my house is at 7050' elevation, my work is at 8000'. Previously lived near/worked in Telluride; lived at 8k, worked at 10k'. My car has always ran below 200 in any conditions (temps/elevation) while at speed...and typically, it runs right "down against" the T-stat. Even climbing Parley's Canyon (2500' rise over 13 miles or so) on a 95 degree day, no problem. All with the stock radiator.
As you climb in elevation, temps cool. I can't imagine that you're seeing much more than 75* ambient temps at 12,000', are you? Car should run cool and if hot, it should cool down FAST at those temps.
Anyway, on to your question; I now have a DeWitt's radiator -only b/c my stock radiator cracked a side tank -not b/c I felt I needed more cooling. I got the smaller DeWitts radiator which claims '50% more cooling than stock, I believe. It also works great. Direct fit, works great.
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I live in Park City, UT...my house is at 7050' elevation, my work is at 8000'. Previously lived near/worked in Telluride; lived at 8k, worked at 10k'. My car has always ran below 200 in any conditions (temps/elevation) while at speed...and typically, it runs right "down against" the T-stat. Even climbing Parley's Canyon (2500' rise over 13 miles or so) on a 95 degree day, no problem. All with the stock radiator.
As you climb in elevation, temps cool. I can't imagine that you're seeing much more than 75* ambient temps at 12,000', are you? Car should run cool and if hot, it should cool down FAST at those temps.
Anyway, on to your question; I now have a DeWitt's radiator -only b/c my stock radiator cracked a side tank -not b/c I felt I needed more cooling. I got the smaller DeWitts radiator which claims '50% more cooling than stock, I believe. It also works great. Direct fit, works great.
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Last edited by Tom400CFI; Jul 11, 2016 at 01:02 PM.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,170
Likes: 86
Cool thanks. How many rows is the smaller DeWitts?
Ya it was only around 60 degrees at the summit. I would also just really like a larger radiator for piece of mind knowing it has something with more capacity than stock.
I really like race oriented things, especially since I end up doing some kind of event with my vehicles at least a few times a year. I fully intend on building a single hoop roll bar for the car when I get some more time.
Ya it was only around 60 degrees at the summit. I would also just really like a larger radiator for piece of mind knowing it has something with more capacity than stock.
I really like race oriented things, especially since I end up doing some kind of event with my vehicles at least a few times a year. I fully intend on building a single hoop roll bar for the car when I get some more time.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 21,543
Likes: 3,216
From: Park City Utah
The Dewitts that I bought is still one core, but the core is thicker than, or more efficient than a stock one. All the "dirt" can be found right, HERE. 
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Last edited by Tom400CFI; Jul 11, 2016 at 01:13 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 4,344
Likes: 48
From: San Marcos CA
BTW, those elevation extremes are definitely enough to demonstrate that cooling (heat exchange) becomes more challenging in thin air. The ambient would have to drop probably more than it was to compensate for whatever problem you had.
On one hand you are making less hp, but you still have to dissipate the HP you need to go uphill during an extended climb. I think there is enough margin in a stock C4 cooling system to handle pikes peak (assuming fairly stock HP)- probably a radiator cleaning or a new radiator will fix it.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 21,543
Likes: 3,216
From: Park City Utah
I live in Park City, UT...my house is at 7050' elevation, my work is at 8000'. Previously lived near/worked in Telluride; lived at 8k, worked at 10k'. My car has always ran below 200 in any conditions (temps/elevation) while at speed...and typically, it runs right "down against" the T-stat. Even climbing Parley's Canyon (2500' rise over 13 miles or so) on a 95 degree day, no problem. All with the stock radiator.
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,751
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From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
I want to upgrade my radiator to one with more cores over the stock single core. My cooling system does alright while cruising, but gets hotter than I would prefer when I drive aggressively.
My question for people that use their C4 similar to me, for track and autocross, how many cores are the radiators you have upgraded to?
I see there is as large as 3 row, but I'm wondering how much modification that would take to fit and if it was worth it.
-Thanks
My question for people that use their C4 similar to me, for track and autocross, how many cores are the radiators you have upgraded to?
I see there is as large as 3 row, but I'm wondering how much modification that would take to fit and if it was worth it.
-Thanks
The standard corvette radiator has a 1'' one row core, the Dewitts double row has 2x 1'' rows and is as wide as the end tanks.
The normal 3 row radiators online are 3x rows, that are around 9/16 wide each row. Stay away from the non aluminum radiators with smaller rows, do not go for cheap Chinese radiators that will not cool as well as the standard one.
They use very thin aluminum that wont hold its shape, the core can expand under pressure blocking airflow.
My first cheap double row all aluminum radiator was total garbage, the car overheated (which it did not do with the standard radiator).
Turned out most of the 1 inch cores had not been opened at the inlet and outlet, it was a throw away item and only worth the aluminum salvage price.
I then got a dewitts double row 2x 1 inch core radiator and it cools great.
The rubber mounts need to be trimmed to size if you buy online, my radiator came with the correct mounting rubber.
Oh another thing, the early C4 I believe 84-85 was recommended to fit a later model a/c condenser for clearance.
However I modified the old rubber mounts to insulate the tank and a/c condenser, that has not given me any trouble.
You can use the original cooling fans.