Unfortunately I cannot find a hose/spring combo anywhere near me, but I might have a lead from a GM dealer in my neighborhood.  Will not find out until Monday if the part I need to order will contain the spring.  If it does have the spring, I will not receive the part for 3 days, and I'm going out of town until Friday and will not get to replacing hose / refill with antifreeze until Saturday.  Should I be concerned with leaving the car in the garage with no coolant for a week or more?  We're getting into the 20's here at night.

If the GM dealer cannot get the combo, is there a work around?  You mentioned, "Get a hose with the spring, or buy a cheapo generic hose that does have the spring, and install it in the one that fits the car."  Will that reduce the flow of coolant in any way?  Can you please explain a little further?

I was poking around the inner web and found this...

Paragon Corvette Reproductions Part #2233 

Any thoughts on not being able to get to the vette again for about a week+?  I have it stored in my garage, no coolant, and we're hitting 20s at night.  Should I be concerned?  

Do you think the rusting/rotting original spring did any damage I'm not aware of?  I imagine all that funk washing into my system...

I see you're from West Seneca NY.  My family and I were just up that way.  I took my wife, son and daughter to Salem, MA for Halloween.  Drove right through your area.  Very nice up there!

If there is straight water in the engine block you can remove the engine block drain plugs. One on each side of the block. They are just above the oil pan, middle of the length of the block. If you have to remove them and nothing comes out, take a small screwdriver and clean the crud out and the water should come pouring out. 

I don't think the deteriorated spring did any damage. It probably dissolved over time. If there are any pieces in the system they are most likely resting in the bottom of the engine block water jacket. 

If you ever pass though my area again, give my a shout. Maybe we could meet up and get a bite of some fine artery clogging Buffalo cuisine. We finally have a really nice "waterfront" on Lake Erie.  

As I was flushing, even after the third flush, antifreeze was still present so I'm hoping I'm okay.  I will check the drains to make sure no water is in there.  I'm assuming water should NEVER be in the system.  If water does drain out, and once the part arrives from Paragon, it's reassembling rad hose and adding coolant and burping as normal?  Nothing more to add as far as fluid?

If you had the lower radiator hose off and then flushed it from the filler neck then you probably didn't flush out much antifreeze out of the engine.

Carburetor?? Whats that? j/k.  I don't have one of them anymore on mine. I don't know much about Seafoam. I've heard of it but have no experiences with it. I would post another thread asking about it. I'm sure there are a few members here who have used it.

I never ate at the Osteria. Sounds like a good place to eat. Good online reviews for the most part. Yeah our pizza here is nothing like Chicago nor NYC stuff. Out of all the places in the USA, I love our pizza pies here. When you do come up this way try to give me a couple days headsup so I can make reservations to a place called "The Mulberry." It's a hidden little secret buried in a old Bethlehem steel plant neighborhood. The Italian cuisine there is heaven on a plate. The meatball appetizer is the size of a softball.

What I did was open the petcock on the rad, drain out old coolant, close the petcock and fill rad with water from my hose.  I turned on the vehicle until upper rad got warm, then dumped the radiator.  Wash, rinse, repeat 3X.  

That's just a coolant system flush, correct?