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That seems low for operating temp but consensus is that's normal. I don't use car in winter but if I did I would close the vent doors on either side of the rad fan. I think there are 4 on each side they can either swing open in the wind or you can snap them closed with a click. Remember to reopen in spring.
LEARNED Something new today! I've seen the radiator flaps / vents on the side. Added up they do account for a huge available surface area on the radiator. I cant believe how much of it GM left blocked (on a 650 700hp car with MAJOR cooling struggles), i believe theres 6 or 8 of them? Id say probably about 33% surface area is closed off with those unless you're over 30-40mph and they open up. I never inspected them throughly to see you can prop them open somewhere. That's genius. I was just going to drill them open or cut them off for track cooling. Much easier solution if we can just keep them open
LEARNED Something new today! I've seen the radiator flaps / vents on the side. Added up they do account for a huge available surface area on the radiator. I cant believe how much of it GM left blocked (on a 650 700hp car with MAJOR cooling struggles), i believe theres 6 or 8 of them? Id say probably about 33% surface area is closed off with those unless you're over 30-40mph and they open up. I never inspected them throughly to see you can prop them open somewhere. That's genius. I was just going to drill them open or cut them off for track cooling. Much easier solution if we can just keep them open
I had never noticed the flaps before, but looked today and found there appear to be 4 on each side of the radiator surround. Two of mine were stuck in the open position, I just touched them and they dropped into the closed position. They move very easily, so easily that I wonder if they are intended to keep air that is being forced through the radiator by the fan, from backflowing forward through the radiator at very slow speeds.
Last edited by Gearhead Jim; Feb 10, 2022 at 02:40 PM.