The u shaped piece that is in the middle of your picture gets depressed while you pull. Try wiggling as you do it. My wiring is brand new and it's a pain to get unplugged. The car is in the air right now with another under it, if noone gets you a pic I will tomorrow.

 

Thanks man, let me give it a try...

 

Okay, I finally figured it out. Of course, I had to do it the hard way.

I completely removed the MAF sensor with the connector still plugged into it. Not to bad of a job but that thing hasn't been apart since the car left the factory so it was stubborn.

Well looky, looky here...

Of course while it is on the car, you can't see this. Damn, I'm at step one and already, 3 hours have been wasted! :thud:

 

Sorry, beat me to it! I had to go through the same thing to install my Hurricane intake. PITA!

 

Welcome to Removing Electrical Connectors 101 :laughing:

 

:laughing:

You smart ass!

 

Typical attitude. One tiny little plastic tab kicks your ass so take out the whole damn thing. :thumbsup:
But did I miss a post, whats wrong with the radiator? Talk to me Goose.

 

:rolling:

Yea, I laid down some suppressing fire on that little connector. It won't be sticking it's head up above the berm again.

The feed connector on the radiator had a hairline crack in it. I kept smelling antifreeze but couldn't find a leak. Well it finally leaked enough for me to find it. Bought new radiator and the install is a biotch. It ain't going nothing like I though it would. I finally called it the night.

 

So did you get it back together yet??

Maybe you should have taken a Daggwood pizza break.:laughing:

 

:laughing:

I've been on one all day. I'm headed back into the garage right now.

 

Better have it done by next weekend

 

Oh well, this is nothing like the manual said it would be. They left out some very important details. This is why my DIY take two weeks! :thud:

 

Hey Junk, what's all that dirt doin in your car???? Need after pic of it all cleaned up and pristine.

 

I own this bitch!!!

Okay, go ahead and give me hell because it took 3 days to get it out of the car but I'll say this: the service manual is full of **** doing it they way they described. Damn, I almost wanted to pay someone to do this!

I guess technically, it powned me. :thud:

 

I own this bitch!!!

Okay, go ahead and give me hell because it took 3 days to get it out of the car but I'll say this: the service manual is full of **** doing it they way they described. Damn, I almost wanted to pay someone to do this!

I guess technically, it powned me. :thud:

Did you have Emmit Smith from 1996 help you with the radiator?

 

Well you got it out. How you got there or how long it took doesn't matter much. Now you get to think about getting one back in. :rolling:

 

You look like a proud father.

Not looking forward to this job! :bang

 

Good job... so far! I hope you don't end up missing nuts and bolts, or having extras. :thumbsup:

 

Good news: The new one is back in the car!

Bad news: I went to change my belts and realized that both of my idlers and tension arms are shot. No one I went to tonight has them. On to day 4 of the impossible repair. :thud:

These are from the AC:

Somebody upstairs hates me. :lookinup:

This is definitely a two man job. If you do it, get your buddy to help!

 

Good news: This is definitely a two man job. If you do it, get your buddy to help!

When the Dealership had mine out last November during my engine swap, they had the same Hell. The main mechanic said he had to get another mechanic's help for the radiator and fans.

 

Nope! No Joke! You could seriously pass for Emmit Smith. Spot on.

 

I remember just moving mine out of the way for the cam swap. I don't recall it being that difficult though. I had everything off and out of the way in a night or two. Good job on getting it done though. Saved a few pennies, huh?

Josh

 

Junk, I would be careful about posting that picture. PETA will be all over you because of that assortment of God's creatures scattered over that radiator. You killed those poor innocents just to satisfy your need for speed. :laughing:

 

Hell, I could care less about speed, I just wanted it to quit leaking and making my car look like a hooptie! :lookinup:

 

Lmao Tex got to it before I could. I was about to say is that mothman on the right side splattered on your radiator. :laughing:

I havent done a radiator change on a newer vette, but I know they're even a pain on the older ones. An hour of trying to squeeze it in there, and a hood removal, and it finally just slid right in. haha.

 

Hour? Hour? Can you say days? :thud:

 

Finally, I'm back up and running. The spark plugs were not fun at all. Since they had been in the car from day one and GM obviously has not heard of dielectric grease at the plant, all of the wires snapped off when I tried to remove them. I fussed and finagled with them for most of the day and then decided it was not worth my time. I picked up my phone and called in the BFG.

Uncle Willie! Well, he's not really my uncle, that's just what I call him. They affectionately call mechanics "grease monkeys". Meet the "grease King Kong". I don't think there is one car he hasn't touched. He's a ASE Certified Master Mechanic and he has shown his stuff over the years on everything I've owned. He comes over and walla! All the old spark plugs and wires out and the new ones in. He was so damn fast it made me wonder why the hell I even fooled with them in the first place. He took tools out of my tool box and configured them in way I would have never thought of. This is why I don't work on cars for a living. Willie has to eat too! I learned one thing while watching him do this:

The idlers and tensioners cost a mint, especially if you went to the dealer. I was smart enough to go somewhere else but still ended up paying $160 for everything. Here was the catch though: no one sold the AC idler. I went and called everywhere, and the only place that had it or could get it was the dealer. So I got creative. I went to NAPA and bought just the center bearing part. I took it over to Willie's and he pressed out the old busted bearings and press fitted in the new bearings. The kicker is, the new bearing cost $4. The dealer wanted $64 for a new idler. Oh, bump starting the new belts back on the car was fun.

I can't believe how quiet the car is now. Normally I would start the car and let it warm up. During the warm up, it sounded like a room full of gerbils spinning those wheel cages. Damn squeaking was driving me crazy. Now the only thing I hear is that famous LS1 warm up knock.

Installed new belts too. My old ones were pretty shot. I also finally got around to installing my near radiator screen. No more clogging up my clean condenser and radiator with bird, bugs and bags.

I purchased some really nice C5 monogrammed jacking pucks. I paid like $60 for them. In the course of a year, I managed to drive off and loose them from under the car. That really sucked. So, I bought some more and I also bought some insurance so that I wouldn't loose these new one the same way.

I bought 4 for the car and 2 for my removable targa. I won't be joining the flying roof club or the flying jacking puck club either.

I still have to do the OPS DIY. That will wait until I get back from the C5/C6 Bash. I think I'll take a week off too. I sick and tired of working on the car, but I saved about $1500 in labor alone, doing all this myself. :thud:

 

Good Story lines as usual.

The pipe he removed was the air tube for emission assembly.


It's a real PIA working on these cars when you need additional parts to complete the job. It's not like you run down to the local auto store and pick up what you need.

BTW, nice work.

 

Ah Yes, the spark plug & wires swap!

I had read several threads elsewhere from liars who said they do this in 30-minutes. If so, then I would hate to see how their cars look! Took me over two hours to do mine. Hardest part was getting the old boots off the spark plugs - I broke two wires before figuring out the technique. I also removed the AIR Check Valve assy to get to the Driver's side. Going back together was a breeze. It really helps to have the right tools - I use Snap-On for everything as they are generally smaller and less bulky - even the Snap-On 1/4" drive Electronic Torque Wrench could reach all 8 spark plugs!

I also swapped out my idlers, pulleys & belts last summer - went back with the newer C6 Z06 upper idler which has the front lip to help discourage the belt being thrown (but I never had that happen).

Glad to see you are up and running!

Looks like an EE Radiator Screen - that will really help.

 

Yea, 2 hours is about right for those plugs and wires. Some of the crap that gets posted sometime by people trying to look like they know what they are doing is ridiculous. Thirty minutes my ass.

 

Junkman...any particular brand/model of spark plug wires you bought? My '98 has a nick or something in one of the wires (from the heat I think), looking for the best to keep this from happening again. Also, any recommended plugs for a stock/standard C5?

snpperhd

 

I ALWAYS replace stock parts with stock parts on a stock motor. I don't know an ounce about this car compared to the guys who designed it and thus, I am not going to second guess them. It worked like a champ when new and I have not seen any degradation in the performance by following this rule. I highly recommend you do the same. :thumbsup:

 

Roger that...makes sense. Thanks again Junkman.

snpperhd
artyon:

 

A few choice words always helps,I just took my rad out and cleaned it with Coil cleaner,could not get over how much dirt and bug guts came out,the thing runs 20 degrees cooler now.