What A/C Condenser works with the Corvette radiator?

[355V8S10Tahoe]

Hello all,



I now I read someplace on here that there was a condenser coil that could be used in front of the core support when using the Corvette radiator in the forward position, but I can't find enough info on it, does anyone know of this? Any info on what condenser it would be or where I could get one would be great...



I'm still trying to get my 87 S10/355V8 cool and may try the 84 to 89 Corvette radiator in the forward position so I can fit an 18 or 19 inch wide blade flex fan in there with a desent fan shroud, I don't see how the dinky Corvette radiator is going to cool it, but I am willing to try anything at this point including not having A/C... The core on the Corvette rad looks the same as my HD 4.3 rad except it's about 2 5/8 inches narrower... I don't know if maybe I have some clogged tubes in the junk yard radiator I have been trying to use till now, but the HD 4.3 rad has not cooled it with the Flex-a-lite dual 12's or an 18" Perma Cool flex fan with fan shroud and 10" pusher in front, in fact it got worse, I also tried it with 180 thermostat with 1/4" hole drilled in it and with a 5/8" flow restrictor plate in the thermo housing, all it did with the restrictor is get hot a little slower, but allways makes it to 230 or 240 with the hood open... I did have to flush out a bunch of rust & junk in this 4.3 rad but it still may have a flow problem, it looks great other wise but you can't see in side the tank on the left side, I can see the flow coming out of the top few tubes in the right side tank but who knows about the lower tubes... I have a brand new Delphi RA1027 Corvette rad now, I hope it works...



Thanks in advance, 355V8S10Tahoe...

[Mike]

Page 11-3 of the S10 V8 Conversion Manual (http://www.s10v8.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/44) says Tripac part#07-1420A. 12.1" tall x 20" wide 5/8" thick

[355V8S10Tahoe]

Thanks Mike, does the manual also say where that the condenser can be purchased? I have been searching for a Tripac supplier but can't find one...



The first V8 conversion I did on an 88 S10 short bed was in 1998, it had a 305 with a 350 turbo, hammered down ridge around trans tunnel, iron exhaust manifolds, relocated steering column, Transdapt mounts, Buick Regal rear gears, stock drive shaft, ripped out computer, high pressure fuel pump removed from tank, mechanical fuel pump, 18" low profile mechanical fan behind the radiator and an 8" and 12" pusher Efan up front of a small aluminum 2.5L 4 banger radiator and believe it or not it cooled enough to keep it under 200 degrees, and I built that one without the manual, I guess this 355 I'm working with now must generate alot more heat than the 305 did, it's to bad that truck got flipped in 2001 when someone ran a red light and took a big chunk out of the left rear American Racing AR23 rim, bending the rear axle, I realy miss that truck... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_frown.gif



Sooner or later I guess I'm going to have to break down and buy the manual and see just what else is in there... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

[Mike]

http://www.tripacfans.com/condense/con4-a.html

[afghanimobilerawks]

2 things i don't know if you know. at highway speeds, fans are pretty much useless on a vehicle, since the wind going through the rad would cool more than the fan, so the pusher fans when your moving would not help with cooling at all....... and since the 355 im assuming is a bored over 350, i believe the thinner walls would help with over heating....... could be wrong on the second.....

[355V8S10Tahoe]

On 2007-09-26 09:38, afghanimobilerawks wrote:

2 things i don't know if you know. at highway speeds, fans are pretty much useless on a vehicle, since the wind going through the rad would cool more than the fan, so the pusher fans when your moving would not help with cooling at all....... and since the 355 im assuming is a bored over 350, i believe the thinner walls would help with over heating....... could be wrong on the second.....





I know what should happen on the highway, the only problem is it has never been cool enough to take it on the highway... It has only been test driven a few times never going over a steady speed of about 35 and it only got hotter quicker to the point where it needed to be shut down... I figure what I'm shooting for is for it to be cooled enough to be able to sit in traffic and not go over 195 to 200, then I could take it on the highway and see how it does... My cylinders have been bored .030 over, but I don't think that is going to have much effect on my cooling, this engine was broke in in a 1/2 ton GMC full size pickup and it never had an overheat problem before, there is one thing though that I have been thinking about as of late that may be my problem, in the 1/2 ton truck it had headers and dual exhaust to the rear but in this S10 it has iron manifolds and a 2" Y pipe feeding into 2 1/2" pipe, a universal cat and a flowmaster muffler 2 1/2" piped to the rear, the same system I had on the earlier truck I had that got totaled... The high performance mods that were done on this 355 I know realy must have headers in order to breath but I was trying to cut corners and use what I had... This engine used to burn the 31" tires I had on that 1/2 ton GMC pickup... I was planning to take the S10 over to an exhaust shop and have them make a better Y pipe or change it to duals when I got it to cool better, but now I think the exhaust may be part of the cooling problem... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_frown.gif

[Melonhead]

355V8, Have you tried this. As the engine warms up, check the top hose to see when the thermo opens. Check the temp reading to see if it's opening when it should. After about 2-3 mins check the inlet hose. You should be able to put your hand on it. Is the suction hose kinked or colapsing while running? Is the thermo in backward? If your temp gets to anything above 190 before the 180 thermo opens, somethings wrong. Have you tried having the rad cap off to watch the flow inside? Everything leads to a poor flow. If the intake side is cool enough for you to touch it the rad is doing the job. The only other thing I have seen in the past that caused overheating was excessive timing. Too much initail timing will heat up an engine quick.

[355V8S10Tahoe]

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On 2007-09-26 16:39, Melonhead wrote:

355V8, Have you tried this. As the engine warms up, check the top hose to see when the thermo opens. Check the temp reading to see if it's opening when it should. After about 2-3 mins check the inlet hose. You should be able to put your hand on it. Is the suction hose kinked or colapsing while running? Is the thermo in backward? If your temp gets to anything above 190 before the 180 thermo opens, somethings wrong. Have you tried having the rad cap off to watch the flow inside? Everything leads to a poor flow. If the intake side is cool enough for you to touch it the rad is doing the job. The only other thing I have seen in the past that caused overheating was excessive timing. Too much initail timing will heat up an engine quick.

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Hey Melonhead, I tried to post you a reply two days ago but when I was almost done with it, my cat decided to hit some keys and it all got deleted and was gone, I didn't have time to write it again till now, sorry for the delay (yes the cat is OK)...



Yes, I have checked the upper hose many many times before to see when the thermo was opening and it did have a late opening thermo once before... It was changed out with a new 180 with a 1/4" hole drilled in it to make sure I was not having a problem with steam under the thermo, it worked much better after that but still overheated, it was also tried with a 5/8" hole restrictor plate in the thermo housing but no matter what is in there it still climes to 230 or 240... The bottom hose is always close to as hot as the upper hose and you can't touch it for very long, I have never put a thermostat in backward, the lower hose is not collapsing and as I did mention above I can see the flow of coolant coming out the tubes in the radiator with the cap off, when you rev it a little the coolant level drops down about 5 or 6 inches from where it was and you see the flow... My initial timing at idle is set at 6 degrees but when it was first run it was at 8 degrees and it idles around 600 or 700 rpm with a nice lope... The last time it was overheating it had royal purple in it, about a 60/40 mix of water and antifreeze, the 5/8" restrictor, an 18" Perma Cool turbo flex stainless blade mechanical fan that only has a fan blade depth if 1 5/8", a full aluminum fan shroud, a 10" pusher in front along with a big central air blower planted in the front as a helper pusher and holding it at about 1000 to 1200 rpm it still went right up to 230 degrees no problem... So, I think this 4.3 radiator I have must have some clogged tubes or something, I can change fans and thermostats all week and never get any good results, hopefully the new Corvette radiator I'm getting ready to put in will work, today I tore down and removed everything in the core support, I also pulled the thermostat housing again to remove the 5/8" restrictor and put in either another 180 or maybe a 195 thermo, the Corvette uses a 195, now all that is left of the cooling system is the L98 Corvette reverse rotation aluminum water pump which is also the original pump that is used with this Corvette radiator...



I have another little question, has anyone ever looked into using a gen 2 maybe 96 to 2000 condenser coil in front of the Corvette radiator stock position? I know it's thinner than the gen 1 condenser but would there be enough room to use the 18" Flex-a-lite wide blade fan with that? I measured 4 1/4" from my core support to the front of the blades, so I have 3 1/4 inches to work with...?





<font size=1>[ This message was edited by: 355V8S10Tahoe on 2007-09-29 01:25 ]</font>

[pauls]

355v8, My truck has a BE COOL 31x18 1 1/4 single core with 2 12" efans no shroud no mech. fan runs around 180-190. the problem ive had is cruiseing down I-95 at 3000-3500 rpm and run into an I-95 parking lot situation, have to pull over and shut down. Even when getting off interstate and into traffic it runs a little hot but as long as traffic moves between red lights its not a problem. Mine is also a 355 and has 12.5 to 1 pistons. I'm in the proccess of getting a/c operating. Need to buy condensor, I don't no what my cooling situation will be like then. I bought my truck from a co-worker who didn't drive it much and I drive it to work every day. I still need to do some fine tuneing. LOL.

[pauls]

Also the guy I bought it from went through a couple different radiators until this to finally get it cool enough. I beleve one them was a vette rad.

[Melonhead]

355V8, never intended to insult your intelligents. Just get idea out or possible problems.



I found this website on a Vortec install in a first gen. The corvette rad was installed in the forward position and used a gen 2 condenser. Hope this helps, website. (http://users.apex2000.net/whardie/aircond.html)

[pauls]

I'm sorry, this may be a stupid question, but is the mechanical fan sucking for sure and not blowing. I made that mistake once on my 4.3, certainly didnt cool driving down the road.

[355V8S10Tahoe]

First of all, Hello pauls, you have the same year S10 long bed truck I have, I think what you need is better fans and or air flow, another thing that could be generating more heat for you would be the 12.5 to 1 pistons if your heads chambers are rendering 12 to 1 compression...



For melonhead, thanks for that website, your input is appreciated, that was an interesting read and did answer a few questions about using the gen 2 condenser in a gen 1 but I may try something else before I go that rought... I did go and get one of those condensers at the junk yard yesterday from a 97 but it's very similar to the size of the gen 1 and the liquid line side fitting would need to be adapted to the gen 1 hose because it's a larger fitting... If there isn't hardly any difference in the thickness why not just find a way to move the gen 1 condenser forward, even if I have to cut out the sides of the opening in the radiator support and modify the hood latch bracket...



pauls, it's definately pulling air through the radiator the fans mounted up front would be the pushers, I fixed window air conditioners for 15 years and know a little bit about fans, thanks for the interest though, I know that mistake has been done many times before, I have also seen it done in some A/C's that were repaired by someone that didn't know what they were doing, they either replaced a motor with the wrong rotation motor or a fan or blower wheel with the wrong rotation...



Well, back to the drawing board, I'll get it sooner or later, one way or another and there's a whole bunch of these radiator supports in the junk yard to cut up...

[Melonhead]

Glad to help http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif