What did you do to your car today?

[Aus73Mach1]

Put in a new radiator expansion tank.

 

[machattack]

Put in a new radiator expansion tank.

View attachment 56232

Hi,

Is that a direct bolt up on the tank? 

 

[Aus73Mach1]

Tank came ready to mount. Powder coated black. Has various options for the inlet, outlet and sight tube. Just drilled 2 holes in the side of the headlight frame to bolt it up and connect the hoses. No change to ac lines or anything else and fitted perfectly. I used an elbow against the radiator frame to fit the hose from the radiator filler just to keep it neat but with a longer hose it can go on a bottom outlet next to the sight tube or in the drain plug hole underneath. $AU37.00 inc delivery. Looks a lot better and was cheaper than the plastic one I originally installed. Can take a few more pics if that helps.

 

[Mike King]

Where did you buy it from? I am looking at one for my car and yours looks like a very neat install.

 

[Fabrice]

Does this one really allow the return of the coolant once cooling down vacuum occurs?
If yes, which cap do you have on the rad? 

that's the one right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114472908346

 

[Aus73Mach1]

Mike, ebay.

Fabrice,

Yes it does.

1- Hose from the radiator cap filler goes below the tank fluid level via the elbow I fitted in lieu of the straight fitting. Outlet on top is overflow/vent. It fitted neatly back through the hole where AC hoses go through.

  

2- The radiator cap must have the vacuum release on it (round chrome disk in the center) Water is pushed out through the normal rubber gasket in the radiator cap as the engine heats up. When cooling down the chrome valve allows water from the tank to return to the radiator under vacuum.



I spaced the tank from the headlight bracket with a couple of nuts to give better clearance. Two 5/16th bolts were plenty to hold the tank in place.



That's the ebay one (or similar) I used.

Well worth it and looks neat and easy to check water level.

 

[Mike King]

Cheers for that.

 

[droptop73]

I used the same tank only polished aluminum. It seems to be a very nice piece. 

Based on the discussion above I'm going to change the way I have it connected though. 

 

[Kilgon]

Got started prepping for the install of my Holley Snipper.  Started with checking the headers for leaks.  Found a small one on each side so I pulled the hearers loose and have order new gaskets.  I hate my Hooker long tube headers but will have to live with them for now. I also got the old fuel line off and am getting ready to run both supply and return.  I also am ready to pull the fuel tank so I can swap out fuel pumps. 

#2 leaking - going to use some Permatex Ultra Copper sealant with the new gasket.



New steel line. The old line appeared to be in fair shape.

 

[tony-muscle]

Got started prepping for the install of my Holley Snipper.  Started with checking the headers for leaks.  Found a small one on each side so I pulled the hearers loose and have order new gaskets.  I hate my Hooker long tube headers but will have to live with them for now. I also got the old fuel line off and am getting ready to run both supply and return.  I also am ready to pull the fuel tank so I can swap out fuel pumps. 

How did you check for header leaks?

 

[Kilgon]

How did you check for header leaks?

I know some guys won't agree with doing this but I use a small shop vac to pressurize the exhaust.  I hook the hose to the exhaust side of the shop vac and then put the hose in the cars exhaust.  I loosely plug the exhaust with a couple of rags.

I then take a small spray bottle and mix a little dish soap with water.   Spray around the headers and then turn the vac on.  Wala! - bubbles!  

Before doing this make sure you clean the vac and hose out good so you don't blow anything into the exhaust and possibly the cylinders.   I also soak everything down first before turning the vac on.  

I use a small 1 gallon vac that works great for doing this. 

 

[machattack]

And Wala a genius is born! Nice trick.......Im going for it.  You must of reversed the vac to blow? 

 

[vintageman]

Installed my new ebrake cable, what a pain that was. I was beginning to think my passenger side cable (the long one) was too short. I needed about 2-3 inches to make it reach. After pulling on the drivers side cable, I got a little slack to come out, then I pulled the drivers side out of the bracket on the rail mount where both cables meet, joined the two cables at the mount that holds the end ball retainers and then just began pulling on the cable rearward until it ended up slipping into the mounted bracket.  Cable is nice and tight now with no slack. This will get tested for proper operation when I get it on the road hopefully soon. New cable installation took about an hour to remove the old and install the new one. 

Tom

 

[Bentworker]

Tried a different tire size up front on the car.  275/40/17.  I think it is going to work out,  but I need to take it for a drive.

 

[RC92234]

Today was "clean up on aisle 73":  While waiting on parts to arrive (dash LEDs) I dug into the extra wires under the dash the PO from before left behind.

One went to a non-op power antenna.  The dead power antenna is still in place and given the extra wiring, I think it was PO-installed, not dealer. It was powered off the fuse panel accessory terminal, which went to a switch mounted low on the side of the center stack.  From there was about 20' of wadded/bundled up wire *and then* it led to the power antenna itself.  That's cleaned up.

The other was powered off the same accessory terminal that led to a switch inside the console box, but that had one wire going into the engine compartment that just dead-ended.  No idea what it might have once been hooked up to, but at least now that stray wire is out from under the hood.  That's all cleaned up.

Then I reassembled my new dash pad with the newly cleaned and painted metal piece that stretches the width of the car and goes from pad to base of windshield.  Here I gotta give a shout-out to Ohio Mustang: I had ordered new dash pad mounting hardware in anticipation of this project a year or so ago, then in the interim, forgot about it.  When I did disassemble the dash, I thought I'd set aside all the hardware but when it came time to reassemble the pad -- much later than expected, I wasn't sure if the parts I found were the entire bunch I'd removed earlier and in trying to muddle through all that, came across the hardware pack from Ohio Mustang. Problem solved:  all new hardware for reinstalling the dash pad. 

I often don't record, organize or photograph some parts and pieces if I expect I'm going to be reinstalling them pronto.  My memory is usually good for a few days (lol)  This project highlights my folly -- sometimes things out of your control happen and you can't get back to what you were doing and details get forgotten. Photograph *everything*... it's not like you're going to run out of film, right?

 

[tony-muscle]

I know some guys won't agree with doing this but I use a small shop vac to pressurize the exhaust.  I hook the hose to the exhaust side of the shop vac and then put the hose in the cars exhaust.  I loosely plug the exhaust with a couple of rags.

I then take a small spray bottle and mix a little dish soap with water.   Spray around the headers and then turn the vac on.  Wala! - bubbles!  

Before doing this make sure you clean the vac and hose out good so you don't blow anything into the exhaust and possibly the cylinders.   I also soak everything down first before turning the vac on.  

I use a small 1 gallon vac that works great for doing this. 

Nice trick. The only drawback I can see is the possibility of blowing some chunks of carbon or lose stuff back into the cylinder.

 

[Kilgon]

Nice trick. The only drawback I can see is the possibility of blowing some chunks of carbon or lose stuff back into the cylinder.

Yeah unfortunately that's the chance you take.  That's also the reason I use the small shop vac, it doesn't blow as hard as a 5 gallon one does.  The idea is to build pressure with low velocity.  I've done this about a dozen times now over the years and haven't had any issues so far - knock on wood.  I start the car and rev the engine up some to blow anything out.  I then let it cool down to where I can touch the exhaust before I do it.  

 

[Idaho Chris]

Sad day today as I put the old girl to bed for the winter.  Pumped the tires to 40psi, ran some fuel stabilizer through the fuel system and made sure the battery tender was doing the job.  

I put 1200 miles on her over the past two months since the first start in 30+ years.  I am certainly looking forward to waking her in the Spring. 

Sleep well!

 

[rio1856]

Man!! That's a great looking car Chris!!

 

[droptop73]

That looks like a nice storage location.