Gary79

did our vettes share radiators with other GM products?? i'm raising the question because my Modine radiator of 7 yrs has developed a leak, and i would like to go to an aluminum radiator with an electric fan. I don't want to spend $800 for the De Witt set up. I got a aluminum/plastic radiator replacement from my Chevy dealer for my 87 chev suburban a few yrs ago for $250, to big for a vette. so old cheap me is trying to do this for about $250 for a radiator and around $100 for a fan. my vette is a 79 with ac,early design, current radiator measures about 32x19 inches. i figured a could make or adapt new saddles if the radiator isn't the same thickness. any help or ideas appreciated. thanks

markdtn

I think you may find one of similar size, but I don't think that the outlets will work, particularly the passenger side. If you go to the auto parts store they have catalogs that describe available radiators, perhaps you could look at the photo section and see if anything else would work.

mrvette

Gary, what you want is a 150 buck '89 camaro V8 radiator, and a couple of extra hoses of 1.5 ID.....with bends....and go to Home Despot and buy a brass tailpiece to a kitchen sink of 1.5 diameter.....now you splice the hoses together on top and bottom too.....that's how I did mine, works fine....
of course you may be ok on the top hose if you do not have TPI, which I have....or serpentine drive, making the hose run a bit of a mess.....

second off, go to a junkyard and buy a large diameter 16" , fan, it fits well in the original shroud....which BTW you can cut on each side into top and bottom halves...at the upper arm shaft/stud height....this makes install of the radiator and fan mucho easier....I used sanswiched aluminum plates on the lower shroud to hold the upper half in line when installed....
forming a U slot to slide it into....
mounting the fan will depend on the specific fan you get, I got one from an '87 vette, main rear puller fan....works fine....

except for a couple of insidious failures this last summer here, mine has bee good for 7 years now.....

the failures were the radiator I suspect like any aluminum, gets pourous, and will evaporate water out and you have NO idea where it's going....I thought I had a bad block....but the oil was fine...consistantly,...but on a hot day with a/c on in traffic, damn there it would go again once a week needed filled up...
drove me crazy....another one was when the fan motors go....you pull off the freeway, and of course the fan is spinning...well duh, 60+ mph air will do that you know, so then the fan is required to actually do some work...and the motor has NO power to it, so the fan is 'running'....it's just not moving enough air....sorta like a bad fan clutch on a stock shark....so the engine gets hot, and once again. wondering why....well both my units failed this summer, first the fan, thought I had it fixed for 25 bux......NO the damn radiator finally sprung a large enough leak, and so that was proven where the damn water went....replaced radiator, and no more mysterious water disappearance....

GENE

norvalwilhelm

I bought a universal 19 x 30 I think aluminum rad. The top rad hose fit fine but for the bottom passengers side I did like Gene and spliced an elbow in between 2 peices of rad hose. The only difference between the universal and special corvette rad was the angle of the passenger neck on the rad.
Done carefully with a elbow and 2 peices of short rad hose and it will look factory.

bloodvette80

I put a rad from a 84 olds cutlass in my 75 vette, I think it was like 2 core, and very thin, the right dimensions though. I had overheating problems, but it fit, and worked. On the highway after an hour it would get hot though. The passenger side rad outlet on the bottom came out at the wrong angle so i had to modify another rad hose to make it work. I sold the car and the guy is still driving it like that. He jsut pisses around town so it never overheats. I would suggest not using that rad, but maybe a 3 or 4 core from another vehicle would work. Again, no other car has the rad on an angle like the corvette, so you won't find one with the correct outlet. Just modify the hell out of it, especially if you can solder.

MIKER

A couple of years ago, a replacement radiator (lifetime warranty) for a 1980 Corvette was $150 at AutoZone.
I paid a bit more than that at the local radiator shop for the same brand because the shop owner had been very helpful and deserved the business.

Metal Wulf

I got my replacement rad from autozone for $180. It was a heavy duty 4 core which was an inch thicker than stock and works great :thumbs:

Mike Ward

Why not just use the stock GM brass radiator? They work just fine, no need to 'Bubba' a substitute fix!

markdtn

RE: you may be ok on the top hose if you do not have TPI, which I have....or serpentine drive, making the hose run a bit of a mess.....

Curiously enough I am running TPI with stock serpentine belt setup and I am using an 89 IROC upper hose. It also worked on my 83 pickup with TPI. I did not know that you could use that radiator too, I learned someting new. Thanks. I am running 96 Vette dual electric fans on the Vette and a 454 fan shroud with a spacer under the fan clutch on the truck.


[Modified by markdtn, 11:51 AM 9/4/2003]

ettev

According to the Hollander interchange books the Corvette radiator DOES NOT interchange with any other vehicle (other than other year vette's). If it helps, if your radiator is a 1 5/8" thick core it works in some '76 to '79 vettes. If it's 2" thick, it interchanges with some '77 to '79 vettes.

Gary79

thanks for the input, i'm going to go down to my AC Delco dealer this morning and look thru their catalog. their website lists a brass radiator #20025, 1st design, which they did not carry 7 yrs ago. as far as using a stock GM radiator as someone suggested, it's not available unless they started making them again, kinda unlikely, and i am looking for aluminum if possible.

mrvette

Gary, check out that '89 camaro radiator 350 V8......

basically bolts in, just do the hose routine...

GENE

Scudd

Bubba

Paul L

This is a new GM rad for a 1979. It cost me about $250.00US. It's sitting in my basement. If you want measurements I can take them.






[Modified by paul67, 1:21 PM 9/6/2003]

Gary79

ac#21003 is the radiator i found on the net, thanks, i've got the dimensions, looking for aluminum rad with electric fans. went to a car show yesterday and checked out the set up on a 88 Firebird v-8. it looks like it will work along with the electric fan set up, with some adaptation of the lower hose as mentioned above. will i need to change the stock alternator, 63 amp, I think, to a 100 amp alternator??? that's what listed for camaros and firebirds of that era.


AND HEY SCUDD!, BUBBA DIED 7 years ago when i rescued this vette from him!!! if you don't have anything to contribute except your opinion of me or other members, spare us.

Oldguard 7

Please do I bought a three row, brass radiator from modine. The previous owner of ny vert had a three row radiator and I had no overheating problems with it. I would like to know if it is the right one. When you say core are you talking about the width of the radiator as viewed from the side? or is it the width of the bottom of the radiator as viewed from the bottom?

Gary79

the width of the core is when viewed from the bottom or top, in my case the old Modine measure 2 5/8". the tanks on the side of the core are a little wider of course.

Mike Ward

Do a google search on 1979 Corvette radiator- there's tons of sources.