You can do what I did and remove the AC condenser off of the face of the radiator and hang it inside the front bumper cover. IMO this will maximize the efficiency of the radiator, fans, and air dam under the front bumper. And since the ac condenser is fan assisted it is more efficent as well.



I used a 28 X 16 X 7/8 inch universal condenser with AN fittings - 6AN on the top and 8AN on the bottom (loose the proprietory GM fittings). AN fittings are o-ringed and less likely to leak - IMO.

Two Spal 12 inch pusher fans are mounted on the face of the condenser with about an inch of space between the fans and intercooler. So the fans not only cool the condenser they create a draw thru the intercooler.

Coldhose .com is great to work with. They made my AC lines. I purchased their crimper and I crimped the hose ends myself because I wasn't sure about hose length at the time.

The good news for others is that I can give you the hose lengths. See my pics. Since you will know the hose lengths, Cold Hose can crimp the lines for you and no need to find a place to crimp the lines.

My intercooler is a bar and plate 26 X 12 X 4 with 3 inch in and out (Mishimoto). It appears to be identical to my older OCX intercooler.

Every square inch is utilized inside the bumper cover, but it took about 6 versions before I finally got everything to fit.

But I'm not done yet.

Even though the current bracket works, this winter I will be making aluminum brackets that will look similar to ATI's brackets that are included in their fbody FMIC intercooler kit.

The only difference is that my brackets will make room for the condenser and also include a bracket on the driver side for my Alky Control pump. I might even be able to fit a small washer tank on the passenger side. Right now the alkytank and washer tank is the stock tank converted to alky. Julio's kit modifies the stock washer tank for methanol.

But you can leave the washer motor in if you want so it serves both functions. I think I will prefer to have a small iolated washer tank instead.

I am going to run 50/50 - 50 methanol and 50 washer fluid.

So what I currently have works this summer after a lot of testing in 100 degree temps here in KS, converting to aluminum brackets will give me some weight reduction over the steel frame in the pics. Plus my welds look ugly.

You will have to cut away some material on the Camaro bumper. I don't have any idea what the insides of the Firebird cover looks like or how much cutting is required.

All pipe is above the splash shields + there is a nice location for a good sized air filter. This winter I will be replace some silicone connectors with welded pipe which will reduce some more weight. Welds instead of silicone connectors and clamps will reduce some weight as well.

 

is this on a truck manifold kit

 

Summit offers this radiator in a kit with fans now. Has anybody used this setup? Not sure what kind of room it'll leave me with on a procharged car setup as pullers, or what brand the fans are. Anybody have input?

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/g...41-x?rrec=true

 

Curious as well, i'm doing a front mount build soon.

 

I went with the OP recommendations verbatim. When I got the Deraile fans, I thought I could perhaps use them as pullers so I initially tried them that way. The result was that the coolant temps would go higher, especially at warm, standstill (ie: stoplights, traffic, etc) Idle. I then installed them as pushers and the temps stayed perfect. I think the fan blades, as delivered, are not optimized/configured for spinning in that direction (as pullers) and don't move as much air.

I ran the stock Fbody fans(which as you know are pullers) for years with my turbo setups. When the radiator was in the stock position there was just no room for them as pullers AND the turbo which was mounted in front of the engine. So I did some trimming, etc and shoe horned them onto the front of the radiator and reversed the fan inputs to make them spin backwards. While they still cooled the coolant perfect, the non-knife edged back side of the fan blade made a tremendous howl all the time the fans ran. You could easily hear the howl while in the car over the Borla exhaust(fully opened).

Using the OP recommendations, my engine, at it's highest temps, even in Summer, is between the very first mark (stone cold) and the first quarter mark. HPTuners shows it to be 175 to 180 degrees.

 

New to the forums and this is my 1st LS build so I went whole hog and I am now down to cooling system set up with my Huron AC kit.
I opted for the Griffin Radiator as listed above and followed the directions from the OP and all went off without a hitch, but instead of buying aftermarket fans I opted to hit the junk yard in search of a set of dual fans off of a 98-2000 mercury cougar because I run them on my 1969 Mustang and they are sized right and shallow mount depth and move massive air. So while searching the pull a part yard and finding my intended fans I found an even better fit that I thought everyone might like to know about, and that would be a dual set up off of a 2002 Ford Focus...V6 car and fans provide 100% coverage on the Griffin Radiator..After a little trimming and filling I managed to squeeze them into the car and have 1/2" or so between the Hotside of turbo and fan motor...I'll build a little heat shield to help out but all in all a nice fit.
these fans move more air than the cougar units I normally use and I'm pretty sure they will have no problem keeping my motor cool.

 

Old thread I know. But did you guys use 1/4 barb on the radiator for steam port? Says half inch but that seems huge.

 

That's correct. 1/4".

 

so after putting it off, an accident that snapped off the steam pipe tube off the radiator forced my hand lol
heres what ive got so far. adding so addional pictures.
I took OP measurements and adjusted a bit. was a tad tight for mine, but it fit.
Had to remove the washer tank.. gonna have to add a meth tank somewhere that doubles as a washer fluid reservoir.

Fans are tight, need to to adjust the material for depth.

I also need to figure out where to permanently mount the trans cooler. not sure if I wanna put in front or behind the radiator. I need to run an lines to clean this up. looks like crap with the hard lines frankenstiened in there for now lol plus it will remove the lines from under the turbo too. not sure why gm did that

So I see everyone is clear on the cutting portion, but what about all the wires? what's the best routing for the main harness that runs between there and then a dedicated fan harness? where does everyone hide their wires so well atwellme people have some sic wiring hiding holes lol


before the addional cutting

the removal

radiator out and marking for new cuts

some mock test fitting

preliminary fitting. was too tight the first time.

after the final widening. apparently i was cutting at an angle the first time so it was narrow at the bottom of the support. trying to fit sawzalls and cutting wheel can be a little bit of a chore. i found that if you cut a couple sectins out at a time, makes it easier to controll the wobbling and makes cutting faster.

almost there, that portion under the top of the support really gets in the way.

almost perfect. i didnt cut any of the lower part that the radiator rests on. not sure if i will or just have something cushioning for it to rest on as is.

trying to figure out the fan harness wiring . this was when i made the desciin to just remove the brittle washer resavoir and make more room.

now to figure out how to mount my fans properly without losing any clearnance. i think i need to knotch the area under the top support. it sticks down too far still for the fans to push past. i want my radiator to be flush with the support.

As for the hose. dont even bother. either the OP had a larger hose to begin with somehow from a weird original radiator from the factory, or Griffin desided to make the lower hose inlet larger at somenpoint. the stock lower hose might stretch, but if its as onld as mine, forget it. it will either tear or in my case, its so small it will actually fit inside the the radiators inlet lol so i went to autozone and had them find a hose thats simular in dimentions to the water pumps outlet.

 

For my BWS480, I used this exact same OP radiator instructions and parts. I ended up cutting mine where the yellow lines are and removing that piece entirely.

 

oh ok, I manged to save my main supports currently. but I'm only on a gt45 for now, and I'll have a 7875 that will go I its place so I don't need quite that much room yet lol

but if I did, I'd probably be pretty good. still trying to pretty up the wires. i really hate how rhe factory just laid long as wires across different directions that make this a pain. the power distribution and the batter location make this a pain. I really don't feel like extending any harnesses.

im trying out a splicing juntion on the top radiator hose for the steam tubes.

heres where you need to get into to help make fans fit.

with the right angle and the top inner portion completely out of the way other than the hood latch bracket support area. the fans can sit down into the lower portion that helps support the fans.

did some makeshift brackets out of the cut metal bits to help keep the rad up while work. gonna have some permanent ones made later.

heres at 80% done job done. gotta clean up the wires, get some new clamps and do some coolant burping