Cooling - Part 2

So today I pulled the front bumper and BBS plastic over-spoiler off the car so I could have a better look at locating the fan. I got my hands on a commodore A/C fan however the critical dimensions on these fans are the same as those on the falcon fan - the blade pitch and weight of the motor are not as impressive however so despite the virtue of their "ease of attachment" - being that they are designed to bolt through the radiator - I will be opting to use the falcon unit anyway.

I also fitted up the radiator supply hose. The hose I've used is originally intended for an XH ute and only needed approx 2" removed from each end - perfect! Note however that I'm constantly running into clearance issues with the dual headlight front!

This section just below the bracket that the bottom of the headlight buckets locate against needs clearancing as the radiator (with front bumper mounted to car) sits hard back against this spot normally.

The headlight bucket also needs modification; here I've marked the approximate problem area with a chalk marker. Note the rather agricultural tin snip attack to the left of image which resulted when trying to remove the radiator with the front bumper fitted to the car.

And here it is suitably modified. A quick test fit shows it should now clear ok. Note that the bracket is in the vice "upside-down" so the area I've actually reduced is the bottom. The strange part is how over-engineered these brackets are! Despite the huge amount removed, they do not flex at all by hand!

I've got a dilemma when it comes to the remainder of the radiator support panel - more on that later - here you can see I've cut the panel for clearance on the top bleed hose from the radiator to reservoir - this will at least work to get this going temporarily. 

You can also see a shot where I've clearanced the bottom bracket.

Here's the top bleed hose located to test the clearance. This means I only need to get a T piece, run the bleed hose from the thermostat housing, and work out the most difficult of all the hoses - the bottom hose.

I've undergone a bit of a rethink at this point however - I'm not happy with the current radiator support as it doesn't provide enough support for the brake booster, and with the light supports removed the whole assembly flexes far too much. Add to this that the fan will be mounted with very little "wiggle room" and you have a recipe for disaster.

I think the best plan at this point is to remove the whole radiator support including the existing end sections I've retained, and to fabricate a frame that runs across the front, picking up the mounts for the headlight assembly per the factory support, as well as running behind the radiator (above the engine belt assembly) and integrating the radiator mount points also, allowing the whole unit to be removed easier, to better support the brakes and headlights, and to better support the entire front end assembly.

I'm open to suggestions too.