Has anyone replaced the stock rad on their C6 A-6 (2011 GS), either by doing it themselves or by a shop? I’m thinking to upgrade in the spring to an aluminum rad, the same or similar to these: http://store.corvetteforum.com/p-374...-with-z51.aspx, or https://www.dewitts.com/products/c6-corvette so I'm doing some homework now.

If you did it yourself, how difficult was it? I know this is a subjective question, but I’ve done brakes, shocks on a few different cars, and R&R’d the diff on my 64 vette once. Had the engine, tranny, and rad out of my Sunbeam Tiger a couple of times, replaced the PS unit on my Aurora as examples, so I used to be able to work on stuff, and it all ran, stopped and steered afterwards.

 

The fans come out with 2 bolts and 2 hook clips as well as the cooler fan connector. the tough part for some is getting the rad to unhook from the AC condenser. other than that, and a couple cooler lines (since you mentioned GS) and it's very straight forward.

The original rad is aluminum less the side tanks. It's plenty for most, any reason why you want to upgrade? You could start with a 160 degree stat and get the fans to engage a little earlier with a tune.

 

I'm not a big fan of plastic end tanks - I've had them fail before on an otherwise good rad. I just want it to run steadily at operating temperature even if I'm pushing it on a hot day., or stuck in traffic. I think that those examples of rads that I listed would help to do that, and be more reliable in general.

 

I have also seen many posts of so called upgraded rads failing so I guess i'd a agree with the " if it ain't broke don't fix it" saying. As I mentioned, a 160 stat and cooler fan tuning will do far more for your temps than a replacement rad. Also, our cars are notorious for picking up debris so make sure your rad and condensor is clean allowing proper flow.

If you must replace the rad, get a quality piece like dewitts. I see you're in TO so we have similar weather so I can assure you you'll benefit greatly from a 160 stat.

 

OK. Good advice. I'll check out the stat and fan tuning.

 

How hot does it get up your way? and what coolant temperture are you running now? You need to worry about your engine oil and tranny temps going up into the (Safe) zone.It gets COLD where you live so stay away from 160 stat's.

 

? it does get cold up here but them we store then and hide them from the snow, but summer is really hot as well. Not texas hot but enough. You have to be the first person I have ever seen advise to stay away from a 160 stat. I get decent heat with mine in october and then the cars away until march or april anyways. Have also installed them on at least 6 other c6s with great results. The only time that would be an issue is if you wanted to winter drive the car which I imagine the OP doesn`t

 

I had a 160 t-stat in my fully built Avalanche. I daily drove it and can tell you it took forever (as in at least 30 minutes) to get really hot air in the winter, even with it converted to e-fans. They are definitely not ideal if you live in an area where it gets cold and you drive the vehicle year-round.

 

No one that I know drives a corvette on the winter here in Canada and I know plenty. They plaster the roads with salt here.
Avalanches are actually known for having clogged up heater cores. Had many customers complain about poor heat and after flushing the core out it was night and day. Not saying the 160stat is ideal for winter because it isn'.... But neither is driving a corvette in winter up here. Actually dangerous as hell is what it is.

 

Mishimoto is working on a drop in c6 radiator...

 

Well, now you know someone else who wouldn't drive their vette in the winter. I had never planned to, and plaster is probably an understatement, too

Maybe you can explain how the 160 stat would help on a long, hot drive. The way I figure it, the coolant runs up to stat temp, and then remains more or less there until the rad can no longer dump all of the heat being generated. As the coolant temp rises above that point, the differential between coolant and ambient increases, and therefore so does the rate of heat transfer, until a new equilibrium point is reached, one that is hopefully not above max allowed. As another observation, because there was no salt yet on the QEW, and it was a nice day last Tuesday (I think Tuesday), I went for what will probably be the last drive of the year. It was cool, around 7C, and it took 1/2 hour for the oil to come up to temp. Pretty sure it would have taken longer with a 160 stat.

What I figured was that the aftermarket rads would keep the coolant at stat temperature longer, and reduce the differential above that such that it would be very difficult to overheat. As you point out, it does get plenty hot here, particularly if you are on one of the 400 series highways basking in the heat generated by about a million other cars up front. And, unless you're driving late at night, there are always a million cars up front. Well maybe not a million, but you get the idea. From the fount of all knowledge "The segment of Highway 401 passing through Toronto is not only the busiest highway in North America but also one of the widest and busiest in the world. Mar 31, 2011" Once you get outside of TO heading towards Quebec, if you are not doing at least 130Kph (81 mph), you are not keeping up. Except for a few known spots, traffic enforcement is non-existent; sad but true. This being the case pretty much everywhere here. You almost never see a traffic stop. While it's nice to see the country side, and play on the windy roads in central Ontario, you still need to get there.

I also plan to drive what's left of Rt 66 in the spring / summer, and it looks like there's some 'hot spots' to traverse there as well.

 

You have a pretty clear understanding of how it works. A lower temp rating thermostat will open sooner and exchange fluid from the hotside (engine) to the cool side (rad) doing so sooner will not allow the engine to reach higher temps as easily. Also a step further would be adjusting the fans. Having them come on earlier will further cool the fluid on in the cold side (rad) and that will help keep temps at bay giving the engine cooler fluid (in comparison) to what it initially had before.
A direct fit rad will be limited in size and will increase cooling effefiency without a doubt but I do feel not as much as what I mentioned. We don`t have room to go all nuts on core side so a rad upgrade would likely be minimal.
Your 7c drive the other day you are correct it will take a bit longer, but I have pushed my car and seen oil temps quite a bit higher than the coolant temps. I think for what you are wanting to do, lower temps and worry less about traffic and busy highways for long periods of time, you need to make a small sacrifice to achieve your wants like everything else. Can`t have a very sticky tire that lasts forever.

At 20$ a thermostat is a easy swap at maybe 30min and a coolant top off. much less than a rad replacement with minimal results to an already efficient system. Here`s during a 4hr cruise to quebec city oil temps at 68c and coolant nice and low.

 

Do a search on 160 stat's and there will be hundreds of posts about using a 160.The shop that did my cam,headers and tune only use 180 stat's.In 100 degrees plus temps down here my coolant goes up to 203 in stop and go traffic and once moving it drops back into the mid 190's.Like i said i worry about my tranny temp (Auto) getting up to at least 170 degrees before getting on it to clean out my engine.I got a brand new 160 stat about two years ago,but after reading all the threads on why i should not i gave it to a friend of my because he added a supercharger.

 

I put a Z07 Radiator in my car. It has the lines for the diff/trans cooler and aluminum tanks.

 

Here is what I read as posted by various car-oriented sites, such as Hot Rod Network. To boil it down (pun maybe intended), burning a kilo of fuel generates a kilo of water, most of which is going out the exhaust. But it's inevitable that some of that gets past the rings and into the oil. Unless the oil temp gets hot enough to boil off the water, it accumulates, mixes with sulfur dioxide (another byproduct), and forms acids that corrode, among other things, bearings. 220F (104C) is a good oil temp to boil off the water, and full synthetics can operate safely up to 300F (149C). A high-end engine (and I'm counting an LS3 in that class) is built to specs that also include oil quality and operating temps.

On the drive mentioned above, my oil temp stabilized at 104C, cruising at 120Kph (75 Mph). This to me was exactly right. When I slowed down a bit, the oil temp dropped. On the other hand, on your longer trip, your oil temp didn't exceed 68C, which to me may actually be doing your engine more harm then good, and probably dropping your fuel economy too. I'm sure that there's lots of debate around these issues. Right now, I'm just investigating to see if I'm going to need more cooling capacity based on where and how I plan to drive, and what to do about it if I do. I do appreciate your views, and those of others.

 

Did it 'drop right in', or did you have to perform any kind of surgery? Thanks for the suggestion, BTW.

 

I didn't say that it never exceeded 68c. When I get into it it climbs up into the 90-100+c range for sure. With a z06 oil cooler up front, 11L of amzoil synthetic oil, cruising at 120kph at low rpm, regardless of my thermostat my oil temps would never pass 100c. 625+rwhp 7.0L running 9.1L/100 is fine by me lol. However if I had it idling in traffic it would definitely climb.

On another note, my car get its engine oil replaced often and sees the track plenty as its more of a weekend street&strip warrior than a daily commuter. So it gets put through its paces and sees heat and high rpm on the regular.

I purposely stay away from traffic with it but do take it to work from time to time. At the track we attempt to keep the engine oil warm but the coolant and intake cool.

I guess if you're thinking your temps are perfect, I don't understand why the need to upgrade. I am also curious if the C7 rad just fit right in.

 

He said Z07 radiator which was part of the Z07 option package on the Z06....and yes it’ll drop right in. A C7 radiator will not fit.

For the money, I’d take the added capacity of the DeWitts. I’ll be adding that to mine. Things were a little toasty on track this summer. Coolant temp is far left...

 

Totally neglected the c6 Z07 package. You almost never hear about it. My bad

 

It looks like we use our vettes for different purposes. I'm looking at mine as more of a cruiser - I'm sure I'll be driving it back and forth to Boston a number of times (family there), and as I've said, there's things like the Route 66 trip, and friends in Florida who we will drive down to see (and not in the winter). So, while the temps were perfect when the ambient was 7C, it's more of a concern to me what is going to happen when the ambient is 30C, 35C, 40C. Even in TO, we've had our share of days when the temps hit the mid 30's. How hot is it going to run then? Sure, I can wait and find out. Maybe someone reading this thread can provide more information, having experienced similar driving conditions. BTW, sound like you've got quite the setup there. Can't help but imagine what 625+rwhp is like.