haha! Decided to putz around on e-bay for a couple minutes . . . Scored a really nice original 1966 barracuda 22" metal shroud, with repop mounting brackets for $50 buy it now! Guy had a few days left on the auction with zero bids, at $35 but i didn't want to chance loosing it over $15.
Also picked up a small plastic overflow bottle today from auto-zone. Going to hit up mancini's tomorrow, one of the perks of living in detroit, you can shop at mancini's racing in person ;) going to get a 180* high flow t-stat and the correct rad hose / heater core hose clamps. Will spend a couple hours tomorrow going through all that and see if the new t-stat and overflow / recovery bottle help my situation. Then whenever that shroud comes in the mail i'll toss that in for good measure too. There's enough space between the radiator and the grill upfront on the pass side that i can squeeze my overflow bottle there without any problems, i'll just have to remove that right side grill to get it in. Then i'll rout the overflow tube through the hole the headlight harness runs, its the best idea i can see for being stealthy.
Fyi, from all the original factory photos i've seen, the 273 commando came stock with a fixed four blade fan, just like what's in my car. At least from what i can tell, that's what's original for a non a/c 273 4bbl.
I'm just excited about finding that shroud everyone keeps saying is so hard to find, good deal!
