Ok, I have a few problems or issues I ran into today

1st. The radiator petcock *lower passenger side* is stuck and won't budge, therefore I can't drain or remove my radiator, how can I fix this?

2nd. How is it possible to bend the waterpump 4 o'clock inlet so that it is at 2 o clock? My instructions say to stick a piece of pipe onto the piece, and slowly bend. What do you guys think?

Also, did 97 lt1's come with an engine oil cooler?

 

#1: take the lower radiator hose off
#2: Never heard of that before
Oil cooler, not to my knowledge

 

thanks i will try taking the hose off for that method.

as for bending the hose, well, here's a pic for reference, the end that's circled is at 4 o clock, i need to move it to 2 o clock.

 

I dont remember off hand which way mine was pointing. However I suppose the only way you could turn it is with a pipe or something like that. I would just be really careful because it is made of alluminum and you might bend/break, or cause leaks. And we all know how much the opti likes water. Maybe someone else will chime in on this one.

 

Yeah, I was surprised when my kit told me to do it, I wasn't even sure if the waterpump spouts could bend! I just hope someone else can shed some light on it.

 

If your putting a vortech supercharger on, yes turn it wont hurt anything. I had to turn mine, when I put mine on

 

If you have two hard lines running back to the top of the oil filter then yes you have an oil cooler. Mine has one. Not sure on the years.

 

how did you go about doing it? Just stick a 5/8 pipe on there and give it some leverage? Will it leak? thanks

 

I stuck a 3/8 long extenstion in it. As for the radiator take a pair of channel locks to the pet ****

 

I think I'd break off the petcock if I put channel locks on it, does it screw out or does it just slide out?

 

The petcock screws out , grab with a channel lock, it won't break.

 

Yeah plastic can't rust so it has to come loose sooner or later before it breaks.

 

On the radiator plug: you might try lightly tapping around the perimeter of the neck that the petcock is screwed into. Sometimes limescale can get built up in the threads of the petcock, (especially if it was drained before in the past), and when it dries and becomes crusty, it kind've welds the plug into the hole. Tapping around the neck will help to break any limescale loose and make it easier to unscrew.

 

do not bend the water pump outlet that hose goes to the lower connection on the drivers side of the radiator i`ve put 2 on my 96 and never had to bend it but if you feel you need to go back to the parts store and sreak to them and they may have some issue with replacing it if it leaks after you do it

 

well apparently, in the instructions supplied by vortech, it's mandatory that I bend that outlet to make room for the a trim head unit. I need to go from 4 o'clock to 2 o'clock.