Not a lot of visible progress lately. Lots of fiddly jobs that aren't worth taking a pic of.
One job that I nearly finished on the weekend is shrouding the radiator opening. It's not quite finished yet as it needs grommets for the holes and I ran out of button head cap screws. I't'll also need a good clean and a consistent brushed finish.
I started by welding a flange onto the side tanks and top of the radiator for the shrouding to bolt to. There are nutserts in the flange. Next I machined up a new
oil cooler mount. This one bolts in place to the very front cross member and will also act as an extra attachment point for the front of the body, You can see it in the top of this pic looking from under the car. I machined it to be in the same style as the engine cross member. Solid and sturdy but light weight.
The original
oil cooler mounts I had welded to the chassis set the cooler too high. The new removable one is just the right height in my opinion. You can also see the flange on the radiator in this pic.
I made templates of the shrouds for the radiator opening using some heavy card. Lots of trimming and trial fitting different shapes. My hat goes off to Andrew for all the sheet metal work he did in his engine bay. After having a go I found it's time consuming work that requires patience.
The templates were a real help but aluminium doesn't behave like cardboard. There was a fair bit of fettling to get the pieces to fit. The plate across the top of the cooler is made from 1.6m with a stiffening rib riveted to the back.
The sides are made for 0.8mm It was a lot easier to work with than the 1.6 and is still plenty rigid. I ended up making them in 2 pieces as they were a lot easier to install. The join in the center at the top with a row of button heads and nutserts. (there are a few button heads missing i these pics as I ran short of them).
There'a an extra strip that sandwiches the shroud to the flange on the radiator. It just tidies the area in the corner up and holds the shroud more securely. I still need to source some grommets to protect the hoses.
Happy with the result and it should help the cooling system work more efficiently. All the air will be forced through the radiator and
oil cooler rather than flowing around them.
The other job that is nearly finished is the engine plumbing. It's nearly all together. I'm waiting on a couple of fittings for the PCV system to come in and that'll finish it off.
Machined up these aluminium fuel rail mounts to replace the ugly pressed steel ones that came with the Edelbrock rails.
Hope you all are making good progress on your builds.
Cheers
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