March 7, 2010 - In order to fit the radiator, I had to remove some structure from the nose.
Of course.
I'd already cut the frame horns in half to fit the engine. There was a box that joined the remaining bits in half that was fairly nicely built with big lightening holes. However, these holes were too tempting for someone who had to tow this car at some point, so the box was rather torn up. Since I'd cut into it to fit the radiator, I decided to remove it completely. This had a fairly dramatic effect on the structural integrity of this part of the nose!
I still need these frame horns, however. That's where the bumper mounts. And I needed a way to mount the radiator as well. Now that I had all the parts in hand, I was able to figure out how to build a frame extension for the nose. First, a piece of 2x3 tube to replace that box. I'll extend that further to the sides and tie it into the suspension uprights then drop some steel down under the radiator to support it.
I'm pretty happy with this. It was one of the unanswered questions of the build, and it's good to have it figured out.
The two jackstands closest to the camera are the ones that were supporting the radiator, so you get an idea of how it sits relative to the frame.
tags: structure |
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