I am just making sure my notes are all accurate for this install. My old radiator blew up on me, so I have to do the install in a parking lot at my mom's condo. I will be installing both the fan and radiator. Here is what I have for notes, please let me know if there is anything that I am missing or need to change.

The radiator and fan shroud should pretty much drop in. The few modifications that need to be made are,

*The dimple on the bottom of the radiator should be cut off (I have read it is hollow and I don't really want to cut a hole in my radiator support if I don't have to).

*The upper radiator shroud will need to be modified a little bit to properly hold the radiator down.

*The fan should may need to be modified a little bit to clear the power steering pump.

*There are plastic tabs that need to be trimmed on the side of the fan shroud(?) that clipped onto the 4th gen condensor. I am running the factory condensor.

*The upper and lower hose from a 4th gen work great, just need to stretch them a little bit.

*The plug for the 4th gen fans is the same as the 3rd gen one, so it should be plug and play. The only differences between them is the motor is more powerful in the 4th gen.

That is what I have. Am I close? Thanks.

 

Anyone? The radiator and shroud should be here today, so I would like to get it installed this weekend. I just need to make sure my notes are accurate before I dive in. Thanks.

 

sounds like you got everything under control. What i did was leave the dimple on the bottom and made a hole in the lower rad support for it to drop in. So it will always drop into the same spot every time and somewhat hold it from rocking side to side. But besides that, you should be ok. I didnt have to touch the rad fans but not every car is the same. Good luck bro

 

Any reason for going with an LS1 radiator? They're smaller which = less efficient with cooling. Also the fact that they're smaller means that air can get past it on the sides which worsens the cooling abilities.

Just drop in a new 3rd gen radiator and put the LS1 electric fans behind it. You can trim up the stock 3rd gen shroud to allow the LS1 fans to go under it, and then if you put a few zip-ties through the fans and the finds in the radiator, you're done. Simple.

I'm running a 3rd gen radiator with LS1 fans in both my LS2 convertible and my dad's LS1 hardtop...

 

I am running the LS1 radiator and fan, because I got the both of them for far less than I could find just a 3rd gen radiator for around me. I am planning on creating some metal surrounds for the radiator to keep the air flow directed at the radiator. I did see someone's picture of the gap and I wasn't too keen on it.

Thanks for the responses guys.

 

I just got some stickybacked foam and stuck it to the fan shroud. It worked really well. The trimming of the radiator upper support will take some time but is doable. The fans work great. It's a good upgrade to make. If you have any more install questions pm me and I can send over pics.

 

Thanks! Could you send me a photo of the upper support and what you trimmed?

 

Send me a private message with your email and I will. I dont know how to get high res pics onto the forum.

 

that worked out well!

 

Hopefully someone will find some use out of this thread. I just did the install over the weekend. It went in seemlessly. I did end up drilling the hole in the lower radiator mount. I slip the nipple on the radiator in and it holds it nice and tight. I am glad I listened to you guys. The trimming on the fan shroud, to avoid the power steering pump, was super simple with a dremmel. I trimmed the clips, for the 4th gen condensor, off and the radiator now hugs my condensor. I do not have a gap around the radiator at all.

The difference I ran into were the hoses. The heater core hose is 5/8" and the radiator has a 1/2" connector, so I just used a simple plastic reducer and it worked great. The other difference is the lower radiator hose. The factory one is larger than the 4th gen one, so I found a plastic reducer and mated the two hoses together. I got to drive about 50 miles yesterday and I did not have a single leak and it NEVER once reached above 180*. Now I just need to make an upper radiator mount. I was sent some great pictures from b4ccamaro, thanks again, but I just cannot justify cutting up my factory mount. A friend and I are going to fab one up using sheet metal and then I will just powdercoat it black. Also it is going to be a lot cheaper than buying a new one only to cut it up.

 

I had the same issues with cutting up my original one too. But think about it. You will never ever ever put the originals back in. The LS fans do the job sooooo much better. So just cut it up and be done with it. Your car wont look scabby like it will with a fabbed upper support.

 

You have a good point there. The fabbed one will be free, so I am going to move forward with it and if it sucks, then I will probably just cut mine up.

 

I cut mine. and I had some cheap mounts and painted them black to hold down the sides of the radiator. works good!

 

Just did this install. Used Lt1 fans, not sure if there's much difference.

Also used a 26" wide aluminum 3rdgen radiator, I think the 4th gen radiators are shorter(correct me if I'm wrong) so the stock 3rdgen upper rad support will probably be too wide and the rubber insulators won't be in the right spot on the radiator. However, I believe some 3rdgens came with a 23"(v6???) so maybe an upper support for one of those might work for you.

But for the shroud and fans itself, we used spacers on the bottom with a bolt on each side to hold the bottom of the shroud down to the car. Then trimmed the radiator upper support, and drilled two more holes to hold the support down to the shroud. We mounted the shroud upside-down because the bottom(what is now the top) of the shroud was smooth, so the rubber flaps on each side may not even work, but you could just cut of the tabs off and make the top smooth if you want.




Hope this helps you some.

 

That looks really good.

 

 

You guys do primo work!

 

thanks.