1973 Rebuild

[Matthew Abate]

Did some stuff…

Chopped up and rebuilt my compressor bracket to move it up and toward the block…

 

I rehabilitated my transmission gussets and made them work on this 720 transmission. The gussets needed relief to accommodate the rear left corner of aluminum oil pan and the bolts. You can see where I carved that out in the process shot below where they are hanging on wires. I tapped the bell housing for m8-1.25 manifold studs and finished it off with flange nuts.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Matthew Abate

[Patcon]

Nice clean work!

Compressor looks really good

[Matthew Abate]

Thank you!

I just wish I hadn’t forgotten to paint the starter plate.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Matthew Abate

[Matthew Abate]

“…he never drives it. He just rubs it with a diaper.”

After several days of painting, sanding, and polishing, the radiator and fan are in. The fan shroud is the fiberglass one from MSA, the fan is a seven-blade OEM, and the clutch is the original that came with the car (after much polishing and some matte high-temp clear coat).

The fan shroud comes untrimmed, so there were a few days of cleaning up the fit.

The paint is rattle can engine paint, just with several sanded coats and some heavy layers of clear sanded to 5000 then polished out. It’s held on with SS cap heads, but I’ve insulated it with rubber spacers on both sides of the fiberglass to prevent delaminating or cracking.

The radiator is the 3-core 110 copper/brass radiator from @csf_radiators. Zero adjustments were needed. It just dropped right in.

I think this really went a long way toward making this ZX engine look like it’s supposed to be in this car.

I’m pretty happy with this arrangement. The only thing I’m concerned about is that the fan shroud flexes and will probably rattle against the radiator. I’m considering putting some weatherstripping foam around the perimeter of the shroud if I can find some with a high enough temperature rating.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Matthew Abate

[Patcon]

I wouldn't think temp rating would be a huge problem .  Max temp is probably 225°F or so. After that it's overheated anyway

[dutchzcarguy]

IF you use weatherstripping, make sure you have the non open structure.  So it does not take in water, you can check that with dipping it into water. (And then squeeze it)

I would use some small pieces of rubber that you glue on the important corners. that way you have no chance for rust between the weatherstripping!

Edited October 31, 2023 by dutchzcarguy

[SteveJ]

17 minutes ago, dutchzcarguy said:

IF you use weatherstripping, make sure you have the non open structure.  So it does not take in water, you can check that with dipping it into water. (And then squeeze it)

I would use some small pieces of rubber that you glue on the important corners. that way you have no chance for rust between the weatherstripping!

If you didn't understand what @dutchzcarguy was describing, it is closed cell foam.

[Matthew Abate]

McMaster-Carr has high-temp closed cell adhesive foam in a variety of sizes, so I’m sure I can find something.

I will run a strip across the top and bottom because it’s clapping against the radiator toward the center where it’s most flexible. Right now the plan is to adhere it to the shroud and not the radiator.

Should be an easy fix.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Matthew Abate

[dutchzcarguy]

21 hours ago, Matthew Abate said:

I will run a strip across the top and bottom

I would do the bottom partialy.  and make a little hole in the middle to let water out (in the cover) otherwise it will stay wet. Sometimes we want to do something too good/well.  

[Matthew Abate]

Does anyone know where to find the five rubber parts that are adhered to each door window? I just did a search on Google, MSA, and ZCD and found nothing.

[Patcon]

I was going to reuse mine...

[Matthew Abate]

These windows are scratched so I will probably end up replacing them. The ones I’ve seen for sale done have the black pieces in them. The circles are probably solvable but the rectangle curves away from the glass like it does something so I want to make sure that gets done correctly.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Matthew Abate