Cleaning Radiator

What are some suggestions to clean all the pebbles and rubber out of a radiator? I have used compressed air and the water hose which helped but there is still an awful lot left. Will the air conditioning coil cleaners work on the rubber? Should I powerwash it at a car wash? I would think that would be too powerfull and would damage all the fins. I see a radiator comb in the Jeg's catalog. Or do I just have to use toothpicks or a pick to take forever to clean everything out and straighten any bent fins?

Drive it into a wall at about 46 mph and it will dislodge all that material back out the way it came.



Your welcome.

I tried solvents, back washing w/ the hose, and even making my own plastic poking comb. Boy, was that tedious. After the first couple rows and blurry eyes I quit. Didn't really work all that well either. much of the stuff just jammed in there and didn't come out. not to mention the fins bent quit easily anyway (interior perforations), at least on my modified dirt track radiator.
After all that, I figured I rather buy another radiator and have it setup the same as try to clean it out anymore.
use some solvents and gently washing it out from the back side, if you need it cleaner than that perhaps a new one is in order. Others out there may be more patient.

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Originally Posted by Rob Liebbe

Drive it into a wall at about 46 mph and it will dislodge all that material back out the way it came.



Your welcome.

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How about I just T-bone another car full throttle in 2nd gear?

Appreciate your experience Marshall. I have already thought that a new radiator might be the way to go anyway. But with all the stuff that has already come out I'm thinking it will go back to working pretty well or at least worth a shot before I get a nice drop in with oil cooler built in.

OEM replacements from O'rielys is around $120.

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Originally Posted by GlennCMC70

OEM replacements from O'rielys is around $120.

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Is it true that the lt1 radiators are better than the ls1?

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Originally Posted by BryanL

How about I just T-bone another car full throttle in 2nd gear?

Appreciate your experience Marshall. I have already thought that a new radiator might be the way to go anyway. But with all the stuff that has already come out I'm thinking it will go back to working pretty well or at least worth a shot before I get a nice drop in with oil cooler built in.

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Hey, how did I get in the middle of this???

I've tried the "easy off" oven cleaner route with a pressure washer from the backside. Didn't get too much out of it, but was worth $5 to try.

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Originally Posted by Cody Powell

Is it true that the lt1 radiators are better than the ls1?

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Better? not sure how. They are suposed to be thicker, but my bet is they are a one part number fits all deal now. I bet they found a way to make one PN fit all 4th gens to save manufacturing costs.
From the OEM, the LT1's are thicker. I wouldn't put alot of effort into that. if you need more radiator, get a $150 one from a dirt track supply and make it fit.

LT1 radiators have an extra port on the driver's side for the oil "cooler" or plumbed straight to the water pump.

take 2 4x4's, spread them so you can lay the end tanks of the radiator on them, and bang it the 4x4s until clean. (This is a no bullshit answer provided by a champ who cares about his other racers, not like these other goobers...)

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Originally Posted by BryanL

How about I just T-bone another car full throttle in 2nd gear?

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It hasn't overheated since then!

The LT1 is 30-40% thicker than the LS1. So if my Ls1 was working good until it got clogged up I think the LT1 would work just fine. There is an extra port like Mitch said that people epoxy up. The previous owner used the built in trans cooler for an engine oil cooler with modified lines/fittings. See the pic below. Some say not to use the trans cooler as an oil cooler but I haven't had any issues. I have another stock LS1 auto radiator in the garage. I'm going to see how hard it is to get the fittings swapped but it is clogged up so getting a stock LT1 might be in my future. Any of you LT1 guys have an extra one sitting around I could try out sometime? Much cheaper/easier than buying a custom rad with built in oil cooler and have to fab up mounts/fans/shrouding.

I'll try the suggestion from the champ, too. Did a little of that on the concrete when I was using the air compressor.

Marshall Morgan and the Funky Bunch-I don't think my rad will fit in the oven anyway but thanks for the info.

those trans cooler ports you are showing are HUGE, respectively. At least in comparison to the stock LT1 rad I have sitting around. If you bought a new LT1 one and it didn't look like what you show there I surely wouldn't use it for an oil cooler. I would expect any new one to only have 3/8" or even 5/16" coil tubes in the cool side tank, not even close enough diameter for proper oil supply w/o acting as a severe restriction.

FWIW, each season when I clean my radiator, all I do is pull it out, flush it, run lots of hose water through the fins from the back (engine) side towards the front, let it dislodge whatever it can, pick the big boogers by hand (best and only way to do it), and reinstall.

At Hallett, after my Rob Leibbe impersonation, I used 150psi nitrogen to clean out the fins.

Seemed to work fairly well.

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Originally Posted by mitchntx

At Hallett, after my Rob Leibbe impersonation.....

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Them Dukes, them Dukes!

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Originally Posted by y5e06

those trans cooler ports you are showing are HUGE, respectively. At least in comparison to the stock LT1 rad I have sitting around. If you bought a new LT1 one and it didn't look like what you show there I surely wouldn't use it for an oil cooler. I would expect any new one to only have 3/8" or even 5/16" coil tubes in the cool side tank, not even close enough diameter for proper oil supply w/o acting as a severe restriction.

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Well those ports are a bit deceiving. The metal line that goes into them has an inside diameter of 3/8". I'll grab a pic of the setup for comments. I took the quick connect trans fittings off a spare LS1 radiator and the fittings on the lines of my car will work so I would like to keep using these radiators since I have a spare and requires no money.
I did check with Autozone and looked at an LT1 radiator. It is definitely thicker but the port setup for the cooler was much smaller like 1/4" or less and definitely wouldn't work for my fittings.

Banging the radiator and using about 120 psi air pressure did dislodge alot of debris. I had done some of it but not with alot of force. The radiator's now have a little bend in them. It should make a difference I think and if it doesn't cool good enough then its not because its clogged up. So I pulled the lower radiator deflector and will get a new one then see about adding an extension. I lost my front grille cover awhile back and the bumper support has been slotted. So there is likely air coming through the two grille openings and pushing on the factory plastic shrouding. I doubt it can push enough to restrict the airflow from below but its possilbe. So now that shrouding the radiator is legal I want to build one.

Any suggestions for material, tools needed, and how to build a custom radiator shroud?

plastic
http://pitstopusa.com/i-5067753-alls...ack-10-ft.html
local dirt track shops probably have it also.
also useful in building that radiator deflector.