C3 removing radiator

[acmsal]

I'm replacing the harmonic balancer on my 78 SA w/ac. How much of a
hassle
is it to remove the radiator? I want to take the rad. shroud out so I
can
also replace ps pump pulley. Almost put a hole in rad. trying to pull
out
shroud.
Sincerely,
Augustin

 

[Scott81]

Let's see if I can get this all in the right order.

Loosen the alternator, PS pump, AC if you have it then get the belts off the WP pulley. Take the fan and pulley off the WP. Drain radiator and remove hoses. Pull the shroud. Disconnect auto tranny cooling lines if you have one. Take off hood and pull radiator out...this works best with 2 people, one on each side to pull up avoiding damaging the radiator.

It's not hard, just time consuming and can be a pain if you do it alone.

 

[acmsal]

I have everything off, belts, fan and wp pulley, but I can't slide up shroud with water pump and radiator in place, too tight a squeeze, almost put hole in rad. So do I need to pull radiator to remove shroud?

 

[Scott81]

Sure, when I re-installed my radiator after a motor swap I found it was easier to put the shroud in first, then the radiator.

 

[rpounds]

I have had the radiator out of my 75 three times. The first time was for a new radiator. The second two times were for cam swaps. This is what I found to be easiest. However, the differences in years may make a difference. So, for what it's worth:

Inside the front fender wells are the bolts that hold the radiator support. Remove the top two bolts on each side of the car and loosen the bottom bolts. Of course, you would first remove the brackets holding the radiator to the radiator support. By removing the upper bolts in the radiator support, you can swivel the top of the support towards the front of the car. This provides room for the radiator to slide out of the the space between the support and the shroud, without having to remove the shroud. After the radiator is out, you can easily remove the shroud if you desire.

Installation is in the reverse order. It is advisable to have two people lift the radiator out, one on either side of the car. Oh, by the way, I should mention that you should have the hood off of the car in order to perform this operation. Scribe a mark around each of the hood hinges before removing, so that you will not have to mess around with realigning the hood upon installation. Again, this procedure may be somewhat different for your 78.

I mentioned earlier that two of the times that I have removed the radiator were for cam changes. Well, I must say that it took longer to R&R the radiator than it did the cam!! Don't get frustrated. Just remember how one eats an elephant . . . one bite at a time.

Ron

 

[acmsal]

Hmmm.... after all of that I may just leave the p/s pump pulley alone!!!! I think I can still pull and install the harmonic balancer with the shroud in place. Any thoughts?

 

[BB wowbagger]

Sure,you dont have to remove the radiator or shroud to remove the balancer..

 

[acmsal]

Well I replaced the harmonic balancer in my 78 SA, but as far as pulling the shroud and
radiator to clean things up-forget about it!! Someday soon when I replace this engine with
a crate motor I'll invest the time and energy to brighten things up. In the meantime this
motor purrs and had the weather been nicer I might have gotten involved