Well, we've had about a month long hiatus as I've been in VA for the day job. Back to some wagon progress, we made a sanding block for the drip rail, this will get some PSA paper applied and sand away!
We did have a back up and punt moment. The factory style radiator that we had from Be-Cool did not have quite enough room behind the core support to use a cooling fan. Plus, it was questionable if the size would be enough for the 383 cooling needs. So we are going to use a cross flow, specifically the aluminum version for a V8 S10 pickup. Of course, this will require modification of the core support.
Shown above mocked up with the splash pan, the stiffening edge along the c-channel follows the splash pan. We need to insure any future version also clears the splash pan. Also note the three drilled holes in the side adjacent to the blue sharpie. These were added for our version of the AC car battery tray, so having the new upright just outside the old will allow us to bolt to the new upright on the inside, and keep the battery tray in the same locaton.
So the hired help started grinding out the spot welds that hold the lower radiator baffle in place.
After some modification, one side is taking shape. We will likely add some rings to the weldment to route the water hoses to the front side of the core support.
.....and more progress on the core support... Note comparison to old core support, we've added 3" in width to the opening.
As with most changes we've done to the wagon, we try to keep them subtle enough that they could be mistaken for factory.
Like so.....
Still need to add mounting brackets for the radiator and fabricate a new baffle, but happy with the results so far..
Yesterday we got some seam sealer applied in the drip rail. I had tried a few different brands over the years and have to say I'm really liking the Norton 97121 epoxy sealer. Really smooths out well.
Spreader was modified to help get things consistent, as well as pull the sealer up into the hemmed edge...
Also took delivery on a shop manual for the car, it's nice to have people looking out for you..
