Vegabee(cooling)

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Vegabee(cooling)

Postby Vegabee » Mon Feb 06, 2012 12:57 pm

Well it's been prob 25 - 30 years since I had a Vega(orange 75 W 327 muncie) and never thought I would work on one again but browsing Craiges one day and ..............Image
So the theme is a street car with strengthened,updated,modded parts.....

So far I have torn the car down quite a bit and have been jumping from point to point,so when I complete one area or system on it,I will post the work done.I think I have finished the cooling system so I,m going to post a lengthy proses on what I did because there has been much toil on how to cool your Vega.
The first thing I did was to trim out the support as much as I could with out weakening it.I have come to the conclusion that it really does not matter on a Vega if the radiator gets inserted into-through the support or sits on the inside of it like factory because the overall dimensions are almost the SAME.Image
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There is an advantage to going into the support and have the radiator flush with the inside of it for engine clearance and also being able to mount an electric fan assembly directly to the support also,so this is the option I chose.Image
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So I trimmed as much could and welded and ground any open seams.When I was done this is the dimension I ended up with:
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More tomorrow.
OK next I made a cardboard rad to verify the fit
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Then got some tools out to square the opening.
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And straighten the top,I used the big Milwaukee saws all to cut the opening,pretty straight but finished it off with square straight edge and grinder.
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Fits well,now for some brackets.Notice the bumper brackets are saved and the box passes by them but I am not using the inner bumper leaf spring assemblies and am making aluminum brackets so I do not know if those spring assemblies will clear.Since the radiator will be flush mounted to the inside of the support,I added a mounting flange at the bottom.On the drivers side there is an existing hole that is used and on the pass side a bracket is added that needs to be formed at an angle to match the support and drilled.
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Last edited by Vegabee on Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:05 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Vegabee

Postby Brian » Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:27 pm

Welcome to the forums. Looks like a great project starting point you got there.
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And the dirty old track was the Telegraph Road.
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Re: Vegabee

Postby Vegabee » Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:11 pm

Thank you Brian,good to be here!
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Re: Vegabee

Postby BadBowtie » Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:00 pm

Looks like a really solid car. Like the rad design, you could also go with a thermostat housing that has a cap on it, not sure if its out there for LS engines but on my 350 it helped me out. What are your plans for the Engine & Trans?
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1975 Vega GT sbc, Microsquirt w/Edelbrock MPFI, M21 4-speed and Ford 9"
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Re: Vegabee

Postby lwstrick » Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:20 pm

I too had a V8 Vega 30 years ago and have been looking on Craigs list. I think I saw this one!
This site has become addictive so feed my habit and keep the photos coming!
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Re: Vegabee

Postby Vegabee » Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:59 pm

Angled bracket:
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Room for drain in front:
[IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/6zc5di.jpg[/IMG
So,I sent my diagram to many radiator builders,and got many different prices and sometimes no reply at all?It seems a good bet for a custom radiator are the shops that build them for circle track,short track-dirt or pavement because the know what cools race engines,what works and what doesn't.So this one came from Saldana Racing and what a beauty it is!
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The only difference from the diagram is the added 1 inch push on for the tank I am using.Originally I wanted the tank where the charcole canister was but not enough room there so it will go up on the pass side firewall area.
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Electric fan is 3.0 taurus,covers the radiator to the tanks nicelyImage.
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In she goes.
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Opening is a good 1/8 in clearance.At the parts store picked up some PVC grommets for mounting.
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Some moon cuts and top grommet hole enlarged for rubber to go through brackets.
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Drilled through bottom support and used carriage bolts.
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Re: Vegabee

Postby Vegabee » Tue Feb 07, 2012 2:26 pm

This radiator uses the one inch aluminum tubes which seems to be becoming the builders standard.If more cooling is needed there is room for a thicker one looks like here.
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Now turning attention to the fan shroud:
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Skil saw and burn on a die grinder to cut plastic.
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Keep sculpting till shes flat.
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On and off many times,a lot of sculpting top and bottom also.Fits on well,now for mounting it.Image
Welded a 90 deg pin on pass side and two tabs on top(not pictured) and am going to use some of those plastic push on plugs like they use to mount body bumper covers ans the sort to hold the top of the shroud to the core support with the welded on brackets.
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Had to improvise a removable mounting pin to be able to remove the fan assembly on the drivers side.Cut a carriage bolt and welded on a nut.
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Holding the ear and removable.
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Re: Vegabee

Postby BadBowtie » Tue Feb 07, 2012 2:40 pm

One of the CLEANEST rad install i've ever seen. made the whole ordeal look easy (mine was a nightmare :lol: ).
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1975 Vega GT sbc, Microsquirt w/Edelbrock MPFI, M21 4-speed and Ford 9"
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Re: Vegabee

Postby Vegabee » Tue Feb 07, 2012 2:47 pm

Radiator is mounted to the core support AND the fan assembly is mounted to the core support,none of this mounting stuff to an aluminum radiator business!And foe other engines just move the inlet-outlets around to suit it's needs.The with into the engine compartment is the mere width of the fan shroud.Now on to the bottle.
97 SHO Taurus
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First covering the air hole in the firewall,going to use a 12 volt electric heater of some sort and set up a good vent system for the summer.This saves weight and NO Vega should ever be driven the the winter.This gives the room needed foe the coolant tank.
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Welded on and brackets on for coolant tank with cap.
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Now seen is the 1 inch inlet and outlets that attach the tank to the radiator.the 16lb cap is 1/4 below the hood and above the radiator and all parts of the cooling system,where it should be.
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Used a combo of pins and brackets to mount it.
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Re: Vegabee

Postby chevy art » Tue Feb 07, 2012 3:01 pm

real nice job. are you able to still fit the grill support brscket in its regular place. also, would the be any room for a tranny cooler on that side. also curious as to how much ropom you will have between the front of water pump (little snout) and the radiator core. that is always a big problem with the v-8 conversion. keep up the good work. ps i cut off the top of my radiator support(75 vega) and made it so it bolts right back on. this is not a strength are on these cars. art
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Re: Vegabee

Postby waybad » Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:24 pm

sweet!!
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Re: Vegabee

Postby jon72vega » Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:02 pm

Nice fab skills!
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Re: Vegabee

Postby cosworth0135 » Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:38 pm

how much will it cost me to get a radiator like that for my car,, minus the 1" push on hose and Timmy
i currently drive a geo metro,insert silly joke here,, but i'll pass you while your getting gas
If you don't have time/money to do it right the first time,how will you have time/money to do it again. Timmy
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Re: Vegabee

Postby Vegabee » Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:46 pm

This radiator was about four and a quarter plus shipping but have gotten estimates as high as six-seven hundred $$.This is as much clearance as possible because the radiator mounts completely flush with the core support and the only width between the water pump and the core support is the fan.In my old car years ago I used a 66 impala radiator that hung down almost even with the lower front air dam with about a 1/2 inch clearance to a short water pump.The front grill bracket does not quite fit but I might work on that this week end and have also to find a spot for the trans cooler.Pete.
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Re: Vegabee

Postby oreokookie » Wed Feb 08, 2012 10:27 pm

NICE DEAl...I like your well thought out mods here, and welding.....one suggestion: I would enlarge the opening for the radiator...why?? Because its too tight and what will happen is that ) in time , that sharp metal edge is going to wear down your aluminim radiator and cause failure...simple: make it larger than 1/8 an inch...or cap it with some rubber stripping...I know I've done this on a rambler once.....plus the thousands of vibrations in the unibody will waste your radiator too...your too talented to have this happen....and hopefully your not short- fused like me, whereby heavy metal tools go sailin thru the garage walls/ windows, ceiling etc
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