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70_Fastback: RAT ROD - 193x Ford / 1942 GMC Truck

"TheDude" said:
Wow! I just caught up with your project and it is amazing! You have god-like skills that we mere mortals can only pray for.
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yep, it makes me sick when I look at that truck and then go out in my garage and look at the crap I'm doing. I am pretty sure this is just a prototype he is building for me though, before he builds the real one.
 
"tarafied1" said:
.... I am pretty sure this is just a prototype he is building for me though, before he builds the real one.
Click to expand...


:sarc ...... :confu


LoL. I almost forgot about that Craig...
 
Made good progress on the front end this weekend.

Received my new Griffin radiator late friday afternoon; I mocked it all up to see what I would have to do to get it mounted. I knew the grill shell needed to be heavily modified.

Here it is in stock form:
26-170411202649-7954910.jpeg


It it too long as it hits on the axle and conflicts with the tie rod as well. Not to mention it sits too high above the top of the radiator.

Conflicts:
26-170411202651-7955110.jpeg


I decided to section the grill 5". Line work of section to be removed. The lower, remaining portion slides up (kinda):
26-170411202654-79561221.jpeg


Shortened, Welded and blended in - hides pretty well:
26-170411202700-79572152.jpeg


You can barely tell where it was sectioned:
26-170411202705-7958915.jpeg


Finished bottom section:
26-170411202711-7959433.jpeg



------------------------


Next was correcting the top angle of the grill shell point. I wanted the shell to slope back some, but that though the top point of the grill way off.

I started by removing a 1-1/2" section pie from the shell:

26-170411202713-7960554.jpeg


26-170411202715-79612146.jpeg


Tilted downward now:
26-170411202717-79622318.jpeg


Welded & blended. Point forward now:
26-170411202720-79631934.jpeg


Grill shell finished:
26-170411202723-79641161.jpeg
 
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Once the shell was modified I had to figure out how to mount the radiator so I could then mount the shell.

Radiator just floating in space:
26-170411202725-7965651.jpeg


Figured I would make a cradel to sit the radiator in to hold the weight of the system. Cut out these 2 brackets:
26-170411202728-79662092.jpeg


Which was the start for this:
26-170411202733-79671350.jpeg


Used a piece of an old floormat for the isolater between the radiator & bracket:
26-170411202738-7968852.jpeg


Securely held in the cradle:
26-170411202741-79691396.jpeg


26-170411202745-79701041.jpeg


I jumped ahead a bit. But I had to next figure out some side gussets to support the radiator from moving. The square bracket in the radiator rails is not finished yet. It will get a dogear on it to tie to the grill shell to help steady the shell from shaking:
26-170411202747-797144.jpeg


Another view:
26-170411202750-79722180.jpeg


With the shell mocked in place, showing how the two pieces flow:
26-170411202752-7973449.jpeg


The radiator is very rigid with this setup - I am happy with it:
26-170411202755-7974703.jpeg


Radiator mounted with mocked up shell location:
26-170411202646-7951505.jpeg



And to compare the difference in the shell again...

Before:
26-170411202649-7954910.jpeg


After:
26-170411202646-7951505.jpeg
 
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Nice work! I may have missed it, but are you doing a remote filler neck since the one on the radiator is covered by the grill shell?
 
Thanks guys!

"buening" said:
Nice work! I may have missed it, but are you doing a remote filler neck since the one on the radiator is covered by the grill shell?
Click to expand...

And good eye Lil' J! I am going to cut a new circular access hole in the top of the shell to get to the fill cap. I'm just waiting until I get the shell mounted rigid to determine the exact hole location.
 
Thanks! Are you actually wanting the hole in the top of the shell? If not you can use a remote filler in the upper hose. Or if you use a closed system with an overflow tank, you can fill it via overflow tank. I think it'd look a bit better, merely my opinion though.
 
I thought about an in-line filler, but the radiator inlet is higher than the top outlet on the block. So the better option would be to fill it through the overflow.
 
Believe it or not, but that is the type of hood ornament that I am using. I have it drawn up in CAD here. I will ship of a DXF and have it laser cut.

I am not finding any online to purchase.
 
There might be some active duty guys around this site that might be able to scrounge a real life one............
 
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