I had my Dewitts radiator in and was filling it up within 45 minites, but the Dewitts is the only real "Direct Fit" radiator out there for the C4..It is actually a " Piece of Cake" to install.. As far as the easiest way to clean out the space between the rad and condensor is with an extention on a vacuaam cleaner, some guys us a shop vac with a piece of PVC taped to the end....WW

 

You're saying the OEM Delco is not a direct fit? Your opinion of GM,s engineering is even lower than mine!

Sliding the radiator into place and hooking up the hoses takes about 5 minutes. Removing and replacing the shroud is the time-consuming part, regardless of what kind of radiator you are installing.

 

If you can't get the screws out of the shroud in less then 15 minites, your doing something wrong, alot less time with a impact driver or drill with socket adapter..But like mentioned above, after you do it once, you know where the screws are and can get to them faster....WW

 

I ran a 160 for a while but found it never warmed up properly. I like the 180 I have in there for years. It won't solve overheating - I cured that with a fine DeWitts aluminum radiator.

 

Please tell me how you get an impact driver or drill with socket onto the 3 7mm screws on each side of the lower front corner of the shroud.
They are only accessible (and then barely) if you remove the air canister on the left side and the overflow coolant tank on the right side. Anyone who has done this knows how difficult they are to access.

Or maybe we are talking about different cars. Mine is a '94.

 

For the first time removing the shroud on the 94, IIRC you need to use a long extension from the sides, but I'm not sure about this. This has been a long while for me, but I have had mine out on many occasions. Also to make the next time easier... flip the blind fastener and swap sides that nut is on, so you can get to them easier from the inside. This will make your life much better the next time.

Also - on high mileage factory radiators, they can look clean as a whistle but hidden in-between the cooling fins will be pounds of little gravel, sand, leaves and crap that you can not see, nor will it blow out with pressure. It just reduces the overall efficiency of that factory radiator. I have cleaned a radiator for over an hour using high pressure water and an air hose until I was blue in the face, however when done I could still smack it on the floor of the garage and have sand and crap come out from between the fins. That's why I ordered a new one. DeWitts is great option but a new factory one will work just fine too.

You can replace it with a factory radiator and it will solve some of the issue, but the only way to bring the temperatures down to level your psyche wants to see is through reprogramming your fans to operate earlier in the heat cycle. REPEAT - Thermostat will do NOTHING to temps after normal operating temperature is reached. Once the thermostat opens it is open. So what if it opens earlier or later in the heat cycle. Normal Operating temp are dependent on ambient air temp, cooling system efficiency, and how much air is moved over the radiator. Bigger radiator, and more air via computer tuning of the fans will cool this car to where you are comfortable.

 

Wayne, he shouldn't need an impact on these small screws. They are indeed a PITA to get at. I think I remember removing the freakin air pump on the one side to get one of them and using a long extension passed through the maze of supports and hoses to get some others. I finally just replaced them all with different fasteners and flipped the blind nuts so I could get them from inside the lower shroud area.

 

The lower radiator support on my '91 required some clearance trimming to accommodate the thicker Dewitts'. I was able to do this without removing it.

 

My mistake, I didn't know you had a 94. Mine is an 89 and I guess its much easier to get to. I keep forgetting to check peoples profile to see what year cars they have.....Sorry for the confusion........WW

 

WTF???????
IIRC getting the radiator out, cleaning it, replacing the radiator, spark plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor and coil took less than a day in an 88 auto I had many years ago. Most of the time was getting what seemed like 500lbs of crap from between the fins in the radiator, then straightening fins before putting it in.

 

I have no clue what the pre-LT1 cars are like, but the LT1 cars like mine do have some obstacles to overcome when removing the shroud, but still not too terrible. Different people have different thresholds for complexity of jobs, no big deal.

Some, like me, will putter around the garage and take days to do one little task. I like to remove the old parts, clean them nicely if being re-installed, then consider different replacements, then clean them again, then look at the FSM to see how they look there, make a mental plan of how I'll make my next move, then go watch a few hours of speed channel, then come get on the internet and check out my favorite Corvette websites, then go back down to the garage and look around and decide that I'll finish up tomorrow instead.

 

Here is a valuable lesson for all of you who say 160 stats don't work.

I drive and race my car above 60 mph on the freeway. Usually it's between 80-180 mph. I do not have reprogrammed fans. I think everyone who reprograms fans has knowledge issues unless they are racing below 40 mph and need the motor cooler at those speeds. AIR SPEED OVER 40MPH IS GREATER THAN FANS AT MAX SPEED.

Guess what that means? At higher speeds the airflow can EASILY MAINTAIN COOLER THAN STOCK TEMPERATURES WITH A 160 stat. Works for me at highway speeds my car ran cooler and that's where it matters.

I was never concerned with temps too cool because rpms were always over 4500 usually cruising at 6500 so oil temps were always nice and hot.

 

HorseApples...

 

All Right! A good radiator thread!!

First off, if I was planning on building an engine and asked for suggestions, I probably wouldn't see the value of a radiator at his point either.

BUT! After spending countless hours, days, weeks & months of fighting the heat battle....

I know NOW that the radiator is the first mod along with a cat back!

That being said, you can take all the switches, stats and fans in the world and put them up against a new radiator from DeWitts or Reliable.
Nothing will remove the heat from a C4 engine better than a performance purpose radiator.
Remember that heat is your engines enemy.

I should get paid for this.

 

I used ALL that junk and none worked under all conditions, situations, ambient temps and driving habits EXCEPT for the new all aluminum radiator that is double row, more capacity, greater efficiency AND more reliable.
Ambient temps matter. Heat exchange differentials matter. Air-flow matters (big mouth air dam did help).
My engine temps are so stable now that I added a trans cooler
(6" X 14") in front of the radiator/condensor and have no ill effects with the cooling. The trans runs much cooler as does the engine at a nice stable 185 with a/c on with ambients of 90*. Sitting still in rush hr the temps may rise to 210 until I start to move over 20 mph again. That beats the s*** out of the 230+ that it wanted to run all the time last year...

Bottom line, its all about heat exchange and your cars ability to do so efficiently at all speeds/conditions. If you can loose heat faster than your engine can generate it, then you can manage it, control it and use it constructively. If not, your engine suffers.

 

Why would you even post something like this? First off C4 fans shut off at highway speeds and only come back on below 45mph so this makes the first part of you post wrong..Secondly, 160 degree stats are not any good in the cooler parts of the country because most of use want our heaters to work in the winter. The 160 degree stats also wont let the car reach a high enough temp to evaporate the condensation from the oil in the colder states.Third, if your car doesn't maintain a high enough temperture you will get excessive wear on your motor..Fourth, don't even get me started on you talking about doing 180 mph on the roads where our wives and kids drive there cars....This is also against forum rules, so you should be hearing from a moderator shortly....WW

 

Oh Geez. Now I'm agreeing with WW7

Has the earth's axis been realigned?

 

Rush hour must be a bitch at 180....

maybe he means KPH..?

 

First... because of the part in bold, you are an idiot.

Second... you are an idiot.

 

Well, he DID say we were going to learn a valueable lesson today!