Factory Radiator Upgrade Idea, Anyone Interested?

[Cross]

Alright I happen to still have an LT1 car (95 TA) around and just recently replaced the radiator. When I did so I did not think much of it until I went to finish the Vette and the hard brake line across the front got tweaked a little and I went looking for pictures of untweaked ones to make sure I fixed it correctly. I stumbled across the thread of LS1 F-Body guy's running LT1 Radiators because they are Dual Core. This got me thinking so since I do not have my C5 Radiator back in I decided to compare and they are VERY sim. There are some differences but its mainly with the tank sides and you could get around them if you wanted. However I would rather just replace the tank ends as the sides are not that expensive. My idea is to go talk to a local radiator shop I am familiar with and make a prototype out of the core I have here from the LT1. If this works I will have a nice dual core radiator for quite cheap and honestly I am sure I could get a few made if anyone was interested for far less than the Dewitts (SP?) 500.00 Radiator option. Anyone share any interest in this or is it just an odd idea of mine?

[Cross]

So I finally got around to getting this done, I pick it up from Performance Radiator today. I will take pictures this weekend unless I decide to try and do it tonight... which is very possible.

But the LT1 Radiator with the Vette Tank ends is cleaned and ready to rock! I am looking forward to the swap for better cooling with a factory look.

Since I don't have pictures right now of a side by side (Although I thought I took some back when I originally thought about doing this during the motor build), here is a picture of just the LT1 vs the LS1 F-Body Radiators.

[Cross]

Ok here we go, I got to do it today now that I have the Vette back. I just finished flushing out the fins in the condenser, the radiators are ready to be swapped but I need to go grab more plastic mounting tabs for the Flex-a-lite fans.

Tomorrow I should be able to report on how it does cooling wise, however it is bigger. At the end of the day I think I will have about 165-175 tied up in this modification.

[Cross]

Alright its in and running great let's see how the temps are tomorrow.

[Cross]

Alright its been a while and I have to say this new bigger Radiator works great. My temps were already low (185) unless I turned on the AC but it has gone down a solid 5-8 degrees with the AC off (178 seems to be the sweet spot). I have not turned it on yet as I have been retuning the car so I have a Gas tune (I kept putting it off but I want to be able to join the cruises). I will test that this weekend.

[Bromley's Corvettes]

Wont it run a little cooler on E-85 and those flex a lite fans you have are not the best. 185 is already cold for a C-5 dont they run like 220 stock. Sounds like you wont have a problem running the a/c even when its like 115.

[Cross]

It was getting close to 215 with the AC on and I just did not like that. I am actually tuning it for gas right now so that it can start going on these cruises but it will go back and forth between E85 and Gas now so that I can enjoy both ways. Plus I never could get my wideband input to accept a different calculation other than Gas AFR. This way I can also dial in the MAF 100% because I never felt I really had it dead on before. (And I could not use the AFR Error table because it was calculating for Gas not E85)

[TheCMSH]

215 with the air on is below normal, heck the fans don't even kick on until 226 (or thereabouts)

[Cross]

I have a 160 Thermostat and my fans come on much lower. But even with that setup I was getting to 210-215 sometimes with the AC on and that bothered me. I like the car nice and cool at all times.(One of my many OCD's about being protective of the car)