So between yesterday and today I have been mapping out how all of this will go together and will be in the right sequence to take apart. First was to secure the sides. I slid the radiator in, checked my location(s) one more time, removed it, and drilled my holes to secure the side pieces …. Now it was time for the bottom piece to get fixed in place. I checked the passenger side connecting piece one last time (from bottom to the side) and set the bottom in place … With that bottom fixed, I secured the side pieces to the inner inner fender panel …. Now it was time line up the top piece and see where the bend needs to be to tuck it under the radiator lip and how to mate it to the top of the side pieces I will use some aluminum angle to attach the top and connector pieces to the bottom …. With a couple exceptions, I used self tapping screws to secure most of the sheet metal. That’s it for today - got some he honey dos and such plus cruise night but I will be back at it tomorrow ….
Surprise weekend visit with my granddaughter took up my weekend garage time but I am back at it today …. My main goal today is to get the top plate fixed in place so I can remove all the shrouding that I have presently fabricated , paint it, and get it all back in permanently. After that, it’s to the final lower two pieces to finish everything off ….. My plan is to use the aluminum angle as top mounting plates …. First I needed to put the bend in the top plate so it tucks under the radiator lip. Used my hand dandy make shift bender …. …. and the rest fit looked good after a bit of back edge trimming …. Settings things in place I made some measurements as to the height of the side pieces I ground them where needed to fit that height and screwed them in place. After a little more trimming the top piece settled in just fine …. Now it’s time to disassemble things for paint …..
Got everything off and 1/2 painted but it will have to wait to be finished .- ran out of time and tomorrow it’s supposed to rain. But while waiting for my paint to dry I mounted my condenser to the front of the radiator…… All in all, a pretty good day ……
Still waiting on paint to dry but at least everything is now painted and can be installed once dry. I finished up the radiator today - I just need to make the cut for the upper AC hose to angle towards the compressor ….. Leather flaps have been treated with Neats Feet, proper electrical ends are on the wires. The lower left flap is in two pieces as it’s close to touching the power steering pump if it was a full piece like the others. I have also measured and I think have figured out a way to get the top condenser core hose to go directly to the compressor - pics tomorrow on that. That required sone surgery so more painting will be needed on the radiator. Getting there ……
Been a busy day today gotcha bunch done. With pics …. ATTACH=full]5884041[/ATTACH] It’s pretty close to everything being buttoned up. Then it’s just fluids and fire up to check for leak and then fab the two bottom pieces. But I am done for today - for me, it was a good one in that, so far, I have not screwed up anything! Lol!
All that work, hidden away. Nicely done! I am sure you will reap the benefits of a cooler running truck.
All done save for fluids and those two pieces and I start that tomorrow. I did a quick purge in the garage since it’s been a disaster and I am looking to complete the last leg of this journey.The AC hoses and charge up will be next year. I tried the fan and it really pulls some air, condenser and all installed. I am very happy with that …. Stay tuned ……
The buildup is killing me! I can't wait for the BIG TEST! Almost as exciting and nerve racking as NASA's first launch with the Saturn V. Of course I'm exaggerating, but with prior experience in the zone you're working, and seeing the effort you've put in, I am really looking forward to the outcome. It ought to be big smiles all around. Positive vibes man.
Oh man, you crack me up - I’m laughing like hell over here and about ready to come out of retirement and write suspense articles, books, and novels! Look out world, here I come! Lol! Seriously, I am hoping for a good ending to all the thought, the planning, the fab work - it has been fun, challenging, crazy, but I do love it when things start coming together. You and everyone else that’s ever done a build knows the feeling. Thank you for all the good vibes!
I can tell you're excited, Tom, 'cause you're up and posting at 1:18 in the morning!...Hope all of the effort pays off with a cool running '40.
I keep going over all the things I need to make sure are done - I guess we all get a little crazed and nutry towards the end of a build ….. part of the addiction I guess!
The connector pieces were fabbed using a one grade lighter sheet metal as they would need to bend and confirm to the inner fender panels towards the bottom and are now installed, everything is buttoned up, and tomorrow it’s fluids and startup. The aluminum angle I used to connect the bottom panel to the short side pieces which worked so well with the top panel. Excited is not even close to what I am feeling now let me tell you …. there have been so many starts and stops to this project …. geeesh. A glass of wine (or two) I think is in order to not be up all night again like last night!
All went well with the startup, engine ran cool (no fan needed as it is 64 degrees outside), and I was about to go for a test drive when I noticed a tranny leak in the lower of the two tranny coolers. I can get to it from the top but no swing for a wrench. So, the lower panel under the rad has to come off. Since I have run into this problem I might as well see if I can make the repair a fix to also allow access without having to remove the lower pan. So it’s back up on stands and I am working on the leak first, then see about ease of future access. It is gorgeous out so the wife and I are going to pick out our Christmas tree and just enjoy the rest of the day. I am going to an all day cruise in tomorrow and Tuesday eve into Wed late am we have visitors. But I will keep you posted …. a minor blip on the radar, nothing major, just a bit time consuming. That’s hot rodding…..
Found a way to get to things fairly simply without having to make an access hole so that’s good. Turns out one of the barb fittings would not seal …. The lower aluminum barb in the pic would not seal - it just kept oozing no matter what I did. I fortunately had a brass one in my stash and it sealed nicely. Took it for a test drive and all is well. The truck really drives pretty nice. Temps are down in the 195 range even without all the shrouding on. I now have a heat gun so I will check it tomorrow. I will replace all of the shrouding and take it for another ride. It’s supposed to be 75 here - we’ll see how she does tooling around town - fingers crossed!
Well, the short story is I still having o-heat issues - timing is one problem and the water pump might be another. I am actually on the side of I64 about 15 miles from my house waiting for it to cool down some more ….. hot rods can be challenging!
Sorry to hear that! You have tried so many improvements to still be fighting that "hot" rod. Are you running both vacuum and mechanical advances in the distributor? How much total timing do you have in it? My Olds runs fine at 35 degrees but it can get warm so the happy place is 32 I have found. My air cooled dune buggy takes much less, around 27-28 degrees. Why do you question the pump?
Just to be clear, the over heating we are talking about is at highway speed? not stop and go in town?
The overheating seems to be with both -I am going to post an article here from my friend jacksandeuces that tells me a lot of I have wrong regarding timing and vacuum advance ….. Re: SBC cooling/ timing advance etc... This is something I came across a few years ago. I did not write it but it has very good info in it. ...Courtesy of Corvette Action Center... Ported Vs. Manifold Source: Vacuum Advance This was written by a former GM engineer as a response to a similar question:As many of you are aware, timing and vacuum advance is one of my favorite subjects, as I was involved in the development of some of those systems in my GM days and I understand it. Many people don't, as there has been very little written about it anywhere that makes sense, and as a result, a lot of folks are under the misunderstanding that vacuum advance somehow compromises performance. Nothing could be further from the truth. I finally sat down the other day and wrote up a primer on the subject, with the objective of helping more folks to understand vacuum advance and how it works together with initial timing and centrifugal advance to optimize all-around operation and performance. I have this as a Word document if anyone wants it sent to them - I've cut-and-pasted it here; it's long, but hopefully it's also informative. TIMING AND VACUUM ADVANCE 101 The most important concept to understand is that lean mixtures, such as at idle and steady highway cruise, take longer to burn than rich mixtures; idle in particular, as idle mixture is affected by exhaust gas dilution. This requires that lean mixtures have "the fire lit" earlier in the compression cycle (spark timing advanced), allowing more burn time so that peak cylinder pressure is reached just after TDC for peak efficiency and reduced exhaust gas temperature (wasted combustion energy). Rich mixtures, on the other hand, burn faster than lean mixtures, so they need to have "the fire lit" later in the compression cycle (spark timing retarded slightly) so maximum cylinder pressure is still achieved at the same point after TDC as with the lean mixture, for maximum efficiency. The centrifugal advance system in a distributor advances spark timing purely as a function of engine rpm (irrespective of engine load or operating conditions), with the amount of advance and the rate at which it comes in determined by the weights and springs on top of the autocam mechanism. The amount of advance added by the distributor, combined with initial static timing, is "total timing" (i.e., the 34-36 degrees at high rpm that most SBC's like). Vacuum advance has absolutely nothing to do with total timing or performance, as when the throttle is opened, manifold vacuum drops essentially to zero, and the vacuum advance drops out entirely; it has no part in the "total timing" equation. At idle, the engine needs additional spark advance in order to fire that lean, diluted mixture earlier in order to develop maximum cylinder pressure at the proper point, so the vacuum advance can (connected to manifold vacuum, not "ported" vacuum - more on that aberration later) is activated by the high manifold vacuum, and adds about 15 degrees of spark advance, on top of the initial static timing setting (i.e., if your static timing is at 10 degrees, at idle it's actually around 25 degrees with the vacuum advance connected). The same thing occurs at steady-state highway cruise; the mixture is lean, takes longer to burn, the load on the engine is low, the manifold vacuum is high, so the vacuum advance is again deployed, and if you had a timing light set up so you could see the balancer as you were going down the highway, you'd see about 50 degrees advance (10 degrees initial, 20-25 degrees from the centrifugal advance, and 15 degrees from the vacuum advance) at steady-state cruise (it only takes about 40 horsepower to cruise at 50mph). When you accelerate, the mixture is instantly enriched (by the accelerator pump, power valve, etc.), burns faster, doesn't need the additional spark advance, and when the throttle plates open, manifold vacuum drops, and the vacuum advance can returns to zero, retarding the spark timing back to what is provided by the initial static timing plus the centrifugal advance provided by the distributor at that engine rpm; the vacuum advance doesn't come back into play until you back off the gas and manifold vacuum increases again as you return to steady-state cruise, when the mixture again becomes lean. The key difference is that centrifugal advance (in the distributor autocam via weights and springs) is purely rpm-sensitive; nothing changes it except changes in rpm. Vacuum advance, on the other hand, responds to engine load and rapidly-changing operating conditions, providing the correct degree of spark advance at any point in time based on engine load, to deal with both lean and rich mixture conditions. By today's terms, this was a relatively crude mechanical system, but it did a good job of optimizing engine efficiency, throttle response, fuel economy, and idle cooling, with absolutely ZERO effect on wide-open throttle performance, as vacuum advance is inoperative under wide-open throttle conditions. In modern cars with computerized engine controllers, all those sensors and the controller change both mixture and spark timing 50 to 100 times per second, and we don't even HAVE a distributor any more - it's all electronic. Now, to the widely-misunderstood manifold-vs.-ported vacuum aberration. After 30-40 years of controlling vacuum advance with full manifold vacuum, along came emissions requirements, years before catalytic converter technology had been developed, and all manner of crude band-aid systems were developed to try and reduce hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen in the exhaust stream. One of these band-aids was "ported spark", which moved the vacuum pickup orifice in the carburetor venturi from below the throttle plate (where it was exposed to full manifold vacuum at idle) to above the throttle plate, where it saw no manifold vacuum at all at idle. This meant the vacuum advance was inoperative at idle (retarding spark timing from its optimum value), and these applications also had VERY low initial static timing (usually 4 degrees or less, and some actually were set at 2 degrees AFTER TDC). This was done in order to increase exhaust gas temperature (due to "lighting the fire late") to improve the effectiveness of the "afterburning" of hydrocarbons by the air injected into the exhaust manifolds by the A.I.R. system; as a result, these engines ran like crap, and an enormous amount of wasted heat energy was transferred through the exhaust port walls into the coolant, causing them to run hot at idle - cylinder pressure fell off, engine temperatures went up, combustion efficiency went down the drain, and fuel economy went down with it. If you look at the centrifugal advance calibrations for these "ported spark, late-timed" engines, you'll see that instead of having 20 degrees of advance, they had up to 34 degrees of advance in the distributor, in order to get back to the 34-36 degrees "total timing" at high rpm wide-open throttle to get some of the performance back. The vacuum advance still worked at steady-state highway cruise (lean mixture = low emissions), but it was inoperative at idle, which caused all manner of problems - "ported vacuum" was strictly an early, pre-converter crude emissions strategy, and nothing more. What about the Harry high-school non-vacuum advance polished billet "whizbang" distributors you see in the Summit and Jeg's catalogs? They're JUNK on a street-driven car, but some people keep buying them because they're "race car" parts, so they must be "good for my car" - they're NOT. "Race cars" run at wide-open throttle, rich mixture, full load, and high rpm all the time, so they don't need a system (vacuum advance) to deal with the full range of driving conditions encountered in street operation. Anyone driving a street-driven car without manifold-connected vacuum advance is sacrificing idle cooling, throttle response, engine efficiency, and fuel economy, probably because they don't understand what vacuum advance is, how it works, and what it's for - there are lots of long-time experienced "mechanics" who don't understand the principles and operation of vacuum advance either, so they're not alone. Vacuum advance calibrations are different between stock engines and modified engines, especially if you have a lot of cam and have relatively low manifold vacuum at idle. Most stock vacuum advance cans aren't fully-deployed until they see about 15 Hg. Manifold vacuum, so those cans don't work very well on a modified engine; with less than 15 Hg. at a rough idle, the stock can will dither in and out in response to the rapidly-changing manifold vacuum, constantly varying the amount of vacuum advance, which creates an unstable idle. Modified engines with more cam that generate less than 15 Hg. of vacuum at idle need a vacuum advance can that's fully-deployed at least 1in, preferably 2 in of vacuum less than idle vacuum level so idle advance is solid and stable; the Echlin #VC-1810 advance can (about $10 at NAPA) provides the same amount of advance as the stock can (15 degrees), but is fully-deployed at only 8 in of vacuum, so there is no variation in idle timing even with a stout cam. For peak engine performance, driveability, idle cooling and efficiency in a street-driven car, you need vacuum advance, connected to full manifold vacuum. Absolutely. Positively. Don't ask Summit or Jeg's about it , they don't understand it, they're on commission, and they want to sell "race car" parts.
The Jalopy Journal
