MAJ_Charlie

Hello to my fellow forum members. I started off by doing research on others doing this same swap. Last week I found a video someone posted of his efforts, but I was unable to find it again. Of course since mine was considered a "bolt on" replacement no instructions were provided. After draining the radiator and disconnecting the hoses I had to remove the CAI, air bridge, and coupler to get to the radiator cover. The cover is held on by four 10mm bolts. Once removed I decided to start with detaching the condenser from the radiator and moving it forward out of the way. This took some effort as I was working alone, but what worked for me was ensuring the housing covering the condenser was moved far enough forward for me to pull on the corner of the condenser and working a little on each side I was able to get the condenser detached from the radiator and move it forward out of the way. This allowed me to see how much "stuff" had been trapped between the condenser and my radiator. I'm sure that had an adverse affect on cooling efficiency. Next I removed the fans. I've read where others have removed their fans thru the bottom. Unfortunately this didn't work for me. Not sure if it was the increased size of my sway bar or what, but I had to carefully remove the fans from the top. Once the fans were out of the way removal of the stock radiator was pretty straightforward. I was hoping to have been able to take pictures of my progress to this point, but unfortunately the outside temperature and my phone did not cooperate. The pictures I did take were with my iPod. Had to stick my phone in the freezer to cool it off. Anyway, insure you re-use the rubber stoppers from the bottom of the stock radiator on the DeWitt's. Slide the DeWitt's radiator into place. Don't worry if you don't have it in the exact position at first. This will be corrected once you attach the condenser to it. Prior to installing the radiator I found I had to slightly open up the mounting points for both the condenser and the fans as some of mine were partially closed up when my radiator arrived. This measure later proved to be very helpful during the re-assembly process. Once the condenser was attached the radiator lined up over the holes where it was supposed to much easier. Next the plastic cover for the condenser was appropriately placed. Then it was time for the new fans. For this I did bring them up from under the car. In placing them on the radiator I learned the tabs were slightly bent away from the radiator. Pretty much impossible to adjust when doing this alone. My fix was to bend the tabs slightly forward towards the radiator. Once the fans were in place I began connecting the plugs. As DeWitt's promises it is "plug and play". There are no loom supports as found on the stock radiator, but zip ties work wonders! Then it was time to attach the cooling hoses. Starting from the lower radiator hose...since it's best to get that one under the car anyway, work your way upward. Larger hoses first, then smaller hoses. Then start reassembly of the radiator cover followed by your air intake. I used ramps to get my car up so rather than start it to move it I let gravity roll me off and down to a level spot in my driveway to begin the fluid refill process.

MAJ_Charlie

You can see how much smaller the stock radiator is. What was GM thinking using only a single row radiator on a Corvette??? I did notice I used about 3 more quarts of coolant to fill the system so right now I'm in the process of "burping" the system. My car's temp so far has been between 169 and 171*. This swap can be done alone, but I wish I had extra helping hands!

Charles

Vetteman Jack

Good write-up. Thanks for taking the time to do it and then post it up.

123sugey

Great job and nice tips

madmatt9471

Good job!

I love my Dewitts too!

However I don't currenly own the Spal dual fan set-up, heard a lot of owners do indeed like them!

"IF" for some reason you get HOT temperature wise, kinda up and down readings or "SPIKES" in temps, it is not the new set-up, it is an air pocket in the heads!

Let us know and we will help with the info on how to relieve the trapped air!

Thanks,Matt

Maxx_Z06

Great Job
Around what are the average temperatures where you live?
Let us know how cool it stays on a HOT day.

MSG C5

Great write-up. Thanks for posting the pics as well!

I'm surprised the new radiator takes so much more coolant.

Choreo

So can the fans be swapped from above as well?

Toque

Very nice !

Are there issues with running the engine too COOL over time ?
What is the optimum engine temp supposed to be ?
Is 170F kinda low ?
I thought I heard that carbon buildup can occur in the heads if its too cool.
Something like that. I'm not 100% sure ....

Toque

RLYSLO

Great thread and write up.

I love the Dewitts and fan upgrade. It is a massive improvement over the stock setup.

Toque... If you keep the stock thermostat, you should have no issues. I went with a 170 stat for a while and kept getting check engine codes if it was too cool outside. With the stock one and dewitts it still opens when it should, it just keeps it from going crazy hot in the Texas heat.

MAJ_Charlie

Lately we've only been near 90, but with the humidity it's more like near 100.

peter pan

VerTigo456

Great write up! I am really glad to read about it. My Vert goes under the knife this weekend with a full engine r/r and clutch replacement and have really been thinking about at least getting a new dewitts radiator while it's being done. This TX heat is already rough in traffic.

skydiven4fun

I went with the Dewitt's set up when we did the supercharger install, of course I swapped out all hoses and the water pump as well, it's a beast of a radiator compared to the stock unit and well worth the money IMHO.
Great write up.

oldC5

Maxx_Z06

I can't wait to install my kit if it would hurry and get here

Paul 75 L82

I had that same setup in a Camaro with a cammed 383 and it always ran cool.

Choreo

I am looking at purchasing this set-up for my 2001 in the near future. I see this notice on the DeWitts website:

Attention 2001 Corvette owners! It has come to our attention that some early 2001 Corvettes still used the flare connection that was used from 1997-2000. Please check your transmission oil cooler connections before ordering this radiator.

How do I know if I have flared connections without disconnecting a line?

Also, I assume that I will lose Transmission fluid when making this swap, so I guess I will need to refill the transmission following a radiator replacement?

cvm

Mark,
remember that old saying from someones dad "Blow The Carbon Out?"
Got somethin to do with WOT but not sure
Mark

Monkey D. Luffy