Before the new stuff could go in, the old had to come out. First up was unbolting the fenders from the GM core support.

We then pulled the upper valance and the grille and the headlight trim rings.

The headlight buckets were attached to both fenders and the core support came out as a complete unit.

With the lower valance out of the way, we then had full access to the original core support. This meant it was time to drain and remove the existing radiator.

Here you can see how much larger the AutoRad radiator is compared to one built to fit the factory core support. According to AutoRad, the unit offers 40 percent more surface area than a stock radiator and 20 percent more than most replacement radiators. Their radiators are handcrafted and 100 percent TIG welded from 0.090-inch aluminum. They are also vacuum brazed rather than epoxied. Inside are two rows of 1-inch cores, but if you have a big heat-generating engine, they offer 1.5-inch tubes for another $400.

When removing the core support from a car it's very important that the fenders be supported. If not, they could sag down and (especially if your gaps are tight) hit the front of the doors, causing paint damage. To prevent this, we used these adjustable stands to keep everything in place.

With the fenders supported, we unbolted the core support from the inner fenders and removed the Detroit Speed solid bushings that connected the core support to the frame.

With that done we could then remove the GM core support.