The Radiator
I
initially installed a standard sized 2 row aluminum radiator in the Comet. It worked well as long as the Comet was
moving but when it was at idle for an extended period of time, the temperature
would slowly creep upwards. I needed to
fix this problem before I got the AC system charged up.
Here
is the old radiator next to the new one.
The new radiator is from Champion Radiators for a 68 Cougar and is 24”
wide versus the 19” of the stock sized radiator
I
had to open up the radiator support by 3” on each side and mounted a couple
brackets that my AC condenser and radiator would bolt up to…
Here’s
the AC condenser mounted…
…and
here is the transmission cooler mounted…same place as before I changed the radiator…
This
was the highest I could mount the new radiator….I only had a half inch of
clearance to the hood….
With
the radiator mounted, I only had 3” of clearance to the water pump…
The
nipple for the overfill tank pointed the other direction so I had to move my
tank…
Here
are the two 12” electric fans that I was hoping to do the cooling at idle that
I wanted…
Since
the two motors were offset, I had plenty of clearance in the middle…
…and
all done….While the temps are cool today, I ran the Comet at idle for 40
minutesd with the hood closed and the temp was stable the entire time….the
final test will be this summer but in the mean time, I’ll go ahead the get the
AC charged up…
…OBTW…as
the car was idling, the heater core in the Classic Air unit under the dash was
leaking antifreeze!!! Just a few drips….but
still!!! F$%#@^&*^%$!!!!
Oh well…I’ll tackle that another
day!!!
