Pre & Post Thermal Exchanger swap

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hey mister

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Ok...this is just a radiator and heater core swap post.

Original radiator and heater core was not leaking...yet, but the foam inside the heater bow was coming out ever orfice. I mean, it looked like the poor thing was puking up lung chunks. And just touching them in efforts to pick them up only led to more dissppointment and a greater sense of urgency to get it addressed.
A trip to Summit Racing got me a deal on a 3" core rad with dual rows. Kit included dual fans and shroud. The heater core was order out of a catalog. I also ordered a bypass valve.
So pulled the fan and huge black plastic shroud.
Holy smokes does that open up the bay! Wow! I could hide people in there...lol
A couple clamps, tranny lines, and a few bolts later and the rad was on the scrap heap. The new rad was only 1 inch short left to right, everything else was perfect so getting it in was no big deal. The fans and shroud had been married on the livingroom floor earlier. And, No, I did not use those plastic zippy straps to hold it all together. I did not like the idea of molesting rad fins to put it together. There are plenty of places to drill and bolt it together.
I drove it for a few days to make sure all was good.
Then the heater core was pulled. The heater box was cleaned up and new foam was cemented to the damper doors. That too was not at all difficult, just a bit time consuming.
After the heater was back in all the heater hose was replaced. Oh, I almost forgot... The dash selector was also replaced because someone broke the speed selector some time back.
After running it for a few days, I decided to make a couple hose saddles because both heater hoses were rubbing against the alternator bracket and the bypass valve was just dangling in mid air and that just won't do.
Sorry, I don't have many "teardown" pics. Mostly finish shots. Again the Ziebart undercoating makes it tough to stay clean enuf to take pics.
 

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fofiddyfo

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Looks great, and yeah it’s cavernous in there now!
 

hey mister

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Looks great, and yeah it’s cavernous in there now!
I can rrmember in 1978 or 79. An uncle bought a new car. I want to say a big LTD or similiar. He popped the hood and all ya seen was a breather in an ocean of hoses. Holy spaghetti Batman! You could toss a dime anywhere in there and it would never fall thru...even with the engine running. I had never seen anything like it. My dad was laughing so hard. I was just overwhelmed. You couldn't find the beginning or end of any one hose and if ya stared at them long enough, they appeared to be crawling to nowhere. And there wasn't enuf spare room to hide a clean dip stick rag. Insane!
 

Grit dog

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You’re doing some great work! Enjoy following your posts and creativity.
 

hey mister

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North Coast
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Marty
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1978
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C10
Engine Size
350
You’re doing some great work! Enjoy following your posts and creativity.
Thank you, sir.
My goal for posting the projects is to inspire others. The kudos are nice but not really the goal.
 

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