just want to see how everybody else ran their coolant hoses when using the stock radiator with the lt1 swap.thanks,joe

I will try to explain it the best i can. For the upper radiator hose i used one for a 95 Fbody, lower was from a 92 Corvette, you have to do a little cutting to make it fit properly. My radiator was a stock replacement so it had flared screw in fittings on it. If you have those just go by some hard brake line with that fitting on it, bend it up towards your intake, and use the same size rubber line to connect the steam tube to it.

As far as the heater core lines, i took the lower fitting on the passenger side of the WP, ran a hose (sorry i cant remember size, you shoud be able to look at it and know what to get) up to the stock heater valve. Then there should be 2 more fittings on the valve. The bottom one went straight to the heater core, while the top one went down and T'd into a line; of which one side went straight to the heater core, and the other went to the radiator. If you don't have the screw in fittings i mentioned earlier, you can T the steam pipe in here.(the fitting below the one for your overflow resivoir) Sorry i know this probably sounds very confusing. You can kind of see what i did from this pic.

BTW, i see in your sig you have a custom ram air. What did you do? I am in need of a solution to my HAI.

By a stock replacement, do you mean stock 3rd gen rad or stock LT1 rad?

Thirdgen. One you would get from an autozone ect.

thanks for the reply and nice job on the swap man!here is how i did my ram air set up:

now here is what i got done on the hoses so far:first these show how i spliced in the steam hose to the left/bottom radiator hose,and the third pic also shows where i connected the bottom heater hose, is all this ok?

right/top radiator hose

can my top heater hose go here?

but where do these go or what do i do with them?

i just need to know where them last to fittings go and if all the other hoses i already connected are where they should be,this is about all i got left to finish up the swap and i wanna make sure i get it right cause i definately dont want it overheating so if somebody could help me out here i would really really appreciate it,thanks in advance,joe

I donno if this pic helps out http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?i...owoff11vm8.jpg

thats exactly what I was looking for. thank you very much

Are yall sticking with one fan? I am in the middle of a swap and I am wondering about that.

im running the dual fan set,had to modify the top plastic radiator support but it turn out alright.

You do realize that you have just created a choke point in the air induction by using the stock airbox, right?

how or what is the choke point?the air box isnt stock anymore,there is nothing restrictive about it except maybe the ram that goes from the airbox to the throttle body,i've seen plenty of people using the stock airbox on lt1 swaps and an l98 has the same airbox so i think itll be just fine.and heres how i did it straight off the tech articles:
How to build a Ram Air induction system for a TPI fuel system

askulte Mar 31 2006 - 4:48pm Here are the supplies and tools I used:
A few feet of flexible 8" airconditioning duct
Hacksaw
Dremel tool w/ cut off disc
Diagonal cutters
7 mm socket wrench (I think)
Chalk
Rough-grit sandpaper or file


Procedure:


Remove stock airboxes and with a hacksaw, cut off the bottom half. I cut just above the stock intake holes. Make sure to leave enough material on the the airboxes so the A/C hose will stay on.

Take the A/C hose out of its insulation (not necessary).

Determine where on the air dam the A/C hoses will pass through. The air dam is the plastic piece that originally separated the front of the engine bay and airboxes from the incoming air from the fog lights. You will see it when the air boxes are removed. Just lay the airboxes in their proper location and notice where the ducts will have to go through the plastic.

Chalk the outline of where the air dam will be cut out so the ducts can pass through.

With Dremel tool and cut off disc, cut along the chalked outline on the air dam and pop out the pieces just cut out

Take sandpaper or file and smooth the freshly cut, sharp edges. You don't want the ducts to get cut.

Install airboxes

Take A/C duct and stretch it from the back of the fog light tubes to the bottom of the airbox. Cut off exess. You do not want exess, as that will decrease the ram air effect. The 8" duct stretched right over the airbox. I bought some clamps to hole it on, but they were unnecessary since it stayed on w/o a problem. The duct sometimes blows off the bottom fog light tubes, so it might be a good idea to clamp that down w/ a large zip tie, or metal hose clamp.

Go for a "spirited" drive and notice that it pulls harder at extreme speeds

Keep that huge smile
I'm considering making a new setup w/ a sheet metal duct, or PVC pipes. If you have any more ideas, let me know.

This is one way you can do it, but this will also constantly be circulating coolant through the heater core wether you are using the heater or not. If you use the stock valve you can avoid that.


The problem with that air set up is the stock air box becomes really narrow over the front frame because it needs to fit under the hood. This results in a flow restriction with the higher air demand LT1 engines.

yeah i dont have the valve anymore somebody already got rid of it before i got it,and the intake i can see what you mean that was the part i was refering to in my last post that i said would probably be the most restrictive point,will this be a huge restriction?or will this be something i can worry about in the future?what kind of intakes do most lt1 swappers on here run?

Right now ive got the 1LE elbow on upsidedown so it points towards the passenger side with a cone filter. I have the vette accessories on the dirvers side and the elbow wont clear the accessories. Im planning on moving the battery to the drivers side and continuing the intake piping down through the current battery tray with the filter on the other side. The way my intake sits right now i find it hard to believe its not robbing me of signifigant power. 200 degree radiator temps arent a good thing.

so wut did u do with the little fitting thing on the right side? you used the one pointing to the left and the one pointing up for the heater core right?

the one on the right side i ran to the fitting on the left side of the radiator where the stock heater core return hose used to go,the one on the left i ran to the left heater core line and the one that points up i ran to the right heater core line.

so you used a lt1 rad? how is this setup working for you rite now? does the heat from your heater core get into the car at all with the heat off?? and btw where is the heater valve and what does it look like? i doubt that i have one on my car??

I just used the 4th gen Rad......

Same here, with the 4th gen fans, made the hole in the lower radiator support for the mount and put it in place using the 4th gen upper radiator support

also tucked behind it is a 4th gen a/c condensor

no ,i used the stock thirdgen radiator and have had no problems.

does the pipe underneath the throttle body need to be connected or can i block it off?

yes thats the steam pipe,it needs to be connected to the small hose that runs off the side of the top lt1 radiator hose.whatever you do dont block it off.

This is what I have..
Stock 3rd gen rad. B-Body water pump. Dual 3rd gen fans. I think both are 95 vette hoses..can't remember.
I have now plugged the capped heater hose on the water pump in there pictures, so it looks cleaner. I used the stock hardline on the front passenger frame rail from the heater core.
The cyl. head steam line is tapped into the waterpump neck as shown, so no huge adapter/splice is needed on the lower hose.

Here's the steam line

i believe it goes to the upper hose, and if you buy the 95 camaro upper rad hose you dont need to splice anything, the upper hose comes with the 3/8" line coming out of it, all you do is connect the 3/8" hose from the steam line to that branch line with a barbed coupling peice. And there's no tapping into your waterneck involved. The one guy above gave you a pic of my car in the imageshack link and how it looks.

You can actually hook the steam line up to the one that comes out of the heads to bypass the TB (one of the freebie mods done)

What the heck is the steam line? Can you show a clear underhood pic of your setup please? Thank you

So the fan setup and upper radiator support fit right into the third gen, or did you have to fabricate or drill anything for it all to fit?

The steam line comes form the back of each cylinder head on the LT1's. It's hard to get a picture of as it gets covered by everything else on top. The line is ~3/8" steel. Starts at rear of drivers side head, goes to passenger side head rear, then up between valve cover and intake on passenger side to front of the motor. It just removes the air pocket from the cylinder head to prevent hot spots.

And it normally went into the water passages on the TB and then comes out to the radiator, you can come right off the steam line straight to the radiator.

As for mounting the LT1 rad, I had to put a hole in the lower support for the mount and then drill the bolt holes in the upper plastic LT1 radiator support to bolt it to the stock 3rd gen metal support.

I'll understand it more when I start my swap. I'll figure it out.

Thanks guys.

So are those four horizontal bolts on the bottom actually "biting" into your 4th gen shroud, too? It looks like they are, in the picture.

I know I'll figure it all out once I start my swap, but I like to know things beforehand.

Also, do the LT4 heads have those steam lines, too? I might have a great deal on a set and was wondering this.

By "lower support" do you mean the metal frame or the existing lower radiator support bracket? I can't visualize what you did.

i no this is a old thread but im currently doin this swap... just acouple of questions if someone wouldnt mind helping me out. if u use the 94-95 camaro upper rad hose theres that 3/8 line coming out of about the middle ,i read u can make it longer n connect it to some port on pass side intake? idk were n ive been trying to find it but cant could anyone help me? n that vacume line with the blue circles in it wat does that do/go?