Finishing up - Details
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This is 1/16 inch thick silicone high temperature sheeting that I used for the flaps on the fan shroud. Add a bit of thread and ya got a fan connection. Be very careful in measuring, and make the connector about 1/4" smaller than "snug" so it will fit tight and will support the fan when it's installed.
UPDATE: July 2021 ---- When it's 100 degrees outside, and going 50 mph+, there is so much outside air entering the system that it overpowers the A/C system, so I removed the fan and installed the driver's side rebuilt damper with a 1" linear electric operator with a dash switch to simply open and close the damper. The fan, though cute, wasn't the right thing to do...----------Saw this bilge vent fan down at Winkley's hardware and boat supply store one day. Decided it was just what I needed for the fresh air booster fan for fresh air. Painted it black (for plastics). Research the GM fan 3 speed resistors and three speed fan switch circuiting, wired it up and it works great! And pumps lots more air than I expected. (Pressurized Cabin)
Just got a Lokar emergency/hand brake system which included this hand brake handle and cable to connect to the Jag levers. Includes a micro-switch to interlock the closed position for a dash light or buzzer. The cable can be trimmed for the correct length and full range of adjustment.
Needed to mount the steering column to the floor, which is a compound, multilevel surface, so fabricated this plate to mount it.
Worked out pretty good.
I decided that the 45 degree water connection on the intake manifold caused an air pocket in the hose to the radiator. So I got a 90 degree swivel elbow and refitted. Had to get a compressor belt a half inch longer so it would clear the water connection jacket. But it fits.
Rotated both fans 180 degrees to move the part that I had cut out of the center before I moved the engine back 2 inches. Note the four washers added to the alternator bracket (had to get some new longer socket head bolts and trim bolts 1/4 inch -Washers and new SS socket head bolts to get perfect alignment of the alternator belt. The pulleys were misaligned by about 1/4 inch. Dug through the parts house inventory of power steering hoses to come up with fitting sizes and length and configuration that would work with the hybrid power steering that uses that Pontiac Sunbird Type II PS pump. HUGE 5/8 inch return hose connection that is pressed into the pump housing, so had to find a 3/8 MIP thread to 5/8 barb fitting to connect it back to the holding tank on the inner fender well. The hoses that work are from mid 90's Blazer pressure hose and mid 90's truck/Suburban return for the PS box.
Refitting all the parts before final blasting and painting. Condenser (counter/parallel - NOT serpentine refrigerant flow) with very close fin spacing should make this condenser an excellent performer. Came out of a late nineties Jeep Grand Cherokee. Unanticipated problem with the condenser, though. The connections are actually what are known as "Ford type" - "garter spring connectors". Kinda queer pressure fitting, and I spent nearly an entire day on the internet to find two crimp type fittings that would fit. Also, normal line sizes for hot gas is AN-8 (1/2 inch) and liquid is AN-6 (3/8 inch). Both fittings are 1/2 inch, and finding a transition compatible fitting will really be impossible. Finally have decided to have Kevin, an aluminum welder guy that I met a few months ago to cut off and reweld some compatible fittings on it. Yesterday (7/28/2014), I ordered the remaining parts of the air conditioning/heating system (2100 series) from Old Air Products in Ft. Worth. Excellent design criteria for their system. The coil is "draw through", keeping the airflow even across the coil, and it has a reheat defrost control for the windshield diffusers. All electronic controls. Plus they are a Texas company......keep the money close to home, I always say... Update: Found out from my buddies at Leo Machine that Austin Rebuilders has all kinds of A/C automotive fittings, makes hoses, etc. Got the fittings to connect the condenser so won't be welding on new connectors.
Got the Power Steering reservoir mounted and all hooked up. After I do engine break-in and everything is stable, will put the PS belt back on, remove and cap the return line fitting, fill the reservoir, and flush fluid through the PS box and pump.
Had to re-route the carburetor supply fuel line toward the rear (turned it over) because that dang A/C Compressor is in the way. That Edlebrock fuel line connector on the carburetor would NOT bend (easily). Must be made of some kind of high strength steel.
Driver's side radiator mount, PS box, radiator drain all pretty much in the same place.
Now you can tell what the angle iron pieces on the front of the frame are for. Used a trimmed off bumper stop for the mount. You can also see just behind the mount, the lower curved part of the original mount/inner fender bracket. -On the driver's side, that corner was cut off and flipped over to clear the PS pump and allow access to the drain.
Blastin' and paintin'. Looks nearly new ! Found the condenser in a junk yard search that fits EXACTLY for a Shoebox ! ! It's a Jeep Cherokee but unfortunately I don't know the year. Fabbed up baffle/mounting plates and brackets.
Radiator drain is about half an inch above the PS box. That's why the U-shaped (original radiator mount/inner fender bracket) was modified to clear the PS box and allow access to the drain. Cut out and turned the curved part on the corner 180 degrees then trimmed part of the "angle" off so all fits nicely.
UPDATE: I later added a transmission fluid filter assembly and a 160 degree control valve that diverted the fluid to a cooler in front of the radiator. Then I added an additional 11"x11" cooler piped in series with the 5"x11" cooler. Probably didn't need it, but it didn't hurt anything for the additional cooling...----------Transmission cooler lines, crazy Ford/Chrysler spring lock connectors on Condenser. I lost the drier bracket for a little while. Those straps on the drier had to go. See the other picture.
Underdash piping. Routed the suction and liquid line up in a loop to clear the glove box and to allow room to install a 4 inch elbow on the fresh air intake to squirt into the cooling/heating coils. Haven't gotten the elbow yet. - Heater hose connections are very very close to the TXV and suction connections. Took forever to get heater hoses and clamps installed.Will remove the inlet cover and add the elbow turned toward the left.
Nothing like a 4 inch HVAC adjustable 90 degree elbow and a section of aluminum drier vent tubing to finish up one's car. Ha. Along with the marine bilge fan with three speed controller mounted where the old intake diverter paddle valve was.
Radiator BURP tank installed. No room anywhere else. Cut a 2.25 inch hole in lower/bumper apron, trimmed out the hood latch bracket, drilled a couple of holes.......and there yaar ! And yes, there is room to get the cap off.
Austin Rebuilders ROCK ! They fabbed all the A/C hoses and connections from my drawings and everything fit fine. Initial vacuum has held for over two weeks. SS lines are transmission cooler lines. Finally found the chrome drier mount. - Had the suction line service port put in the line rather than the fitting, as I have a little concern for hood clearance.
Brake light switch bracket fabricated from a piece of scrap.Took those insulation spikes out 'cause I kept poking myself on them. Dang things are sharp..
Had bought the throttle cable bracket some time ago, then last week, bought the Transmission TV cable bracket. Well, they would not work together, so I cut off the bottom of the throttle cable bracket and welded it onto the bottom of the TV bracket. - Then sandblasted and painted black after this pic.....worked out fine, I think, except that the TV cable plastic snaps don't want to fit the hole in the bracket. It's always something..........grrrr Well, I trimmed off about 1/16 inch from the tabs on the TV cable snaps, as the bracket is quite thick.. then it snapped into place just like it is supposed to.
Dash knobs and switches all worked out: Upper Row-Start button, Headlight switch, A/C-Heat main fan (three speed), Defrost potentiometer for proportional valve to adjust air flow between normal cooling/heating outlets to windshield outlets, Heater coil valve potentiometer, A/C Coil temperature thermostat adjuster (cuts out the compressor when coil temperature gets to set point - freeze protector), Bottom Row: Exhaust cutout valve switch (ugly), Torque converter lockup switch (for gears 2,3,4 lockup or "deny" lockup or "automatic-lockup 4th gear only", Radiator cooling fan override switch, Fresh air fan switch, Windshield wiper switch. And they all work perfectly ! Knobs are from Ron Francis wiring. Expensive, but nice.
Things are taking shape! BUT there is an UPDATE !: I decided I didn't like the speakers on the floor, so I threw away my wonderful fabricated fiberglass enclosures and got some mounting "enclosures" from a guy in Cleburne Texas who sells a nice looking angle speaker mount.. See "Sound system Gallery".... Both speaker boxes are fabricated, wired, and sound Great!. Wires for dash pulled up and tied off behind the dash, switches all installed and working. Orange wire is for third brake light, but I probably will not have one, so it's a spare - will cap off. Next the 1951 trunk hinges will be installed (hidden - not on the outside as the stock is). See the Trunk Hinges Gallery.
Gas tank modification.... big hammer...
Fuel line connector, looped over the disk brake to "blue" fitting.
Got the rear wheels and whitewalls all cleaned up and painted.
I really wanted to get hubcaps just like the original car had back in the 50's/60's, but we had 14" wheels, and the Plymouth hubcaps that had the little black indented squares around the perimeter don't seem to be available in 15". So I had to "settle" for these, with no trim around the edges.
Dakota Digital Cruise Control box/interface. Next to the box is the transmission connector/transmitter to tell the "brains" the speed of the car. Tubing and blue wire in the upper part of the picture is the windshield washer tube, the "warm air feed" from the heater to the hood mounted tachometer to keep the glass from fogging up in cold weather and the tachometer signal wire, all of which have not been hooked up yet. See the next picture for the problems created upon installation of the transmitter.
When I tried to install the transmitter for the Dakota Digital cruise control, it simply would NOT go... The emergency brake handle/mount was exactly in the way. You can see the hole in that "flap" where the handbrake mounts. AND the +3" or so caused the speedometer cable to seriously interfere with the floor. No choice but to move the hand brake back a couple of inches, cut the floor out, and fab up a cover piece.
VIDEO ! This is just a test of lights and functionality of the Pontiac/GTO/""The Judge" style hood mounted tachometer. There is some masking tape around the edges, so the face is partially obscured at the top. The faceplate is actually a new duplicate of the Pontiac, but with no "Pontiac" lettering along the bottom.
Just got these Hella (made in Germany) Halogen Vision Plus with 60/55 watt lamps - European beam technology but DOT approved. Cleaned out the dirt dauber nests, scrubbed down the buckets, polished the small hold down bracket, new socket assembly and new stainless ring and gaskets. The glass front isn't as curved as "stock" lamps, but that's ok. They aren't "flat".
