The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster
I also got the coolant catch can in place. It's an RCI brand I got at SK Speed here on Long Island. Frankly, it looks sort of crappy when you take it out of the box. The fittings are epoxied in and the whole thing looks genuinely rough. I had the kid who helped me out look through a few of them and pick the best one. Its much better than the one it replaced though.
The one thing I don't like about the RCI can it is that I can't see how much coolant is actually in there. Seems like a lot of the aftermarket ones are like this, whatever the brand or material they're made out of. On most cars, the catch cans are opaque so you can see the coolant inside. There's also usually a fill line for reference when you're adding coolant to the system but not so on this one since it's black. I'll put some in there when I re-fill the system.
The Griffin radiator I got has the overflow spout on the left instead of on the right where it originally was on the old radiator. To mount the new catch can, I made a bracket out of aluminum channel and used existing holes in the radiator support to fasten it down.
The new radiator also required the hoses to be shorted since its much closer to the engine than the original one so that's done. I did try to use some late model spring clamps I had for a cleaner look but it ended up being easier to re-use the worm clamps. I'm not a huge fan of worm clamps - they look cheap to me. Regardless, I cleaned up the old hose clamps (I'm weird like that) and put 'em back on.
I have to say I'm getting a little tired of making these little custom brackets for everything. Good or bad, I am sort of particular about how I want them to look and function which ends up taking a lot of time and effort for very little return. I suppose that's the definition of labor of love.
Anyway, the catch can is mounted up. No new holes were drilled in the mounting of this puke can.
So here is the gunked up old one. Not so much, right?
The gray things were used as spacers. I have no idea what they are from or for.
Here's the RCI catch can in place.
And the mounting bracket.
More to come.
I also got the coolant catch can in place. It's an RCI brand I got at SK Speed here on Long Island. Frankly, it looks sort of crappy when you take it out of the box. The fittings are epoxied in and the whole thing looks genuinely rough. I had the kid who helped me out look through a few of them and pick the best one. Its much better than the one it replaced though.
The one thing I don't like about the RCI can it is that I can't see how much coolant is actually in there. Seems like a lot of the aftermarket ones are like this, whatever the brand or material they're made out of. On most cars, the catch cans are opaque so you can see the coolant inside. There's also usually a fill line for reference when you're adding coolant to the system but not so on this one since it's black. I'll put some in there when I re-fill the system.
The Griffin radiator I got has the overflow spout on the left instead of on the right where it originally was on the old radiator. To mount the new catch can, I made a bracket out of aluminum channel and used existing holes in the radiator support to fasten it down.
The new radiator also required the hoses to be shorted since its much closer to the engine than the original one so that's done. I did try to use some late model spring clamps I had for a cleaner look but it ended up being easier to re-use the worm clamps. I'm not a huge fan of worm clamps - they look cheap to me. Regardless, I cleaned up the old hose clamps (I'm weird like that) and put 'em back on.
I have to say I'm getting a little tired of making these little custom brackets for everything. Good or bad, I am sort of particular about how I want them to look and function which ends up taking a lot of time and effort for very little return. I suppose that's the definition of labor of love.
Anyway, the catch can is mounted up. No new holes were drilled in the mounting of this puke can.
So here is the gunked up old one. Not so much, right?
The gray things were used as spacers. I have no idea what they are from or for.
Here's the RCI catch can in place.
And the mounting bracket.
More to come.
