1959 Chevy Kingswood project

Most often a 7-blade fan is used with AC. On most setups from the factory the center line of the fan looking down is even with the edge of the shroud.(Fan Half in and half out)
My 1955 Chevy has dual electric fans in a shroud as bought at a junk yard. I may be wrong but believe we took it off a Ford Taurus. Another good one we had used was a two speed T-bird large electric fan that pretty much filled a GM cross flow radiator. When using an automatic thermostatic control there is nothing to watch or worry about. Mine are rarely even on.
Still on some cars like my 41 GM powered Ford it did run hotter on the highway with an electric fan. It all depends on the egnine compartment and the air flow.
Cooling is the number one problem with an older car with later engine.
Personally I like a large mechanical clutch fan. But the auto 2-speed electric within a plastic shroud is working fine here in Florida.

 

needed more power

 

You watched Tim the tool man too much on Home improvement!

 

Didn't Tim the Tool man drop a weight on a Nomad? I think Jill owned it.

 

I remember that episode. Tragic!

 

Yes I remember it well. Sadly that was a 2-door handyman wagon because they are not as rare as a 55 Nomad.
We were camping right across the highway from the Atlantic Ocean near St Augustine and watching it at the lodge. Secretly I cried a little. Told my wife I got salt water in my eyes.

 

I'm really liking this build. Sleeper wagon... Rumble Rumble Rumble from the dual exhaust when you pick up the girls from school. Insulate the floor so exhaust noise doesn't echo around inside and bother you while driving. It's simply too cool a car to be bothered by such things.
WAY cooler than the minivans the other moms are driving.

 

dual tailpipes with super turbo mufflers and the thing will be nice and quiet with no exhaust drone on the highway. one thing i hope you keep in mind is no matter what you do this is still a 1959 chevy. it will have a ton of wind noise on the highway ,doesn't matter even with new weatherstripping there is still places where the air leaks in. not as comfy as a new car but i will tell you this drive your wagon on a sunday and watch the variety of people from grandma's to lowrider's to muscle car people everyone will usually say something, take out a brand new car anything you want a vette, camaro, mustang ,ferrari etc and the wagon will still start more conversations and get more attention

 

Lisa,
I found this reference:

http://www.oldride.com/library/1959_chevrolet_kingswood.html

Because I was curious if you've confirmed that it'll fit in your garage?
The wheelbase is even longer than my '46.

Also curious, with Dave's total understanding and mastery of all things technical what is his level of involvement in this project? Is he as enthused as you (and me) and has he had a lot to say about choosing components?
Also since daughter #1 is coming of age to drive has she shown any interest in this wagon or the Falcon or are the modern transports more her style?

 

All good questions waiting for answers. We get nosey and personal here!
Having all of the work done is well and good. But Dave needs to get his hands dirty.

59wagon----actually got to meet him and help him and steve saleen at the 24 hrs of daytona and a few other east coast tracks
I'd rather met Jill and Mr Wilson!

 

Dave is an extremely smart guy with many talents. Impressively so. If he had the time to dedicate to this build he'd do an outstanding job. I'm just curious if he's helping make decisions regarding components/build work or if Lisa is going full solo because (presumably) she'll be the one driving it.

 

Phoebe is quite interested in the Kingswood, as well as the Falcon. Neither car would be as safe a choice as the Pathfinder, however. We are quickly running out of room at our house for covered car storage, so it would be good for her to drive one of the cars we already own. Yes, the Kingswood should fit in the garage - barely. I measured once and it seems we had a few inches to spare. Probably need to measure again just to be sure. We do have a carport for two cars, but I really would not want to have the Kingswood sitting out, even under a carport.

Dave has been closely involved in all of the decision-making on this project. He generally defers to the experts on their recommendations, though. We trust the mechanic and body guy implicitly, and they've done a great job of presenting us the pros and cons of various options we've had to make decisions on.

That OldRide reference is good stuff. Thanks. Another place is the GM Heritage Center website. It has scans of hundreds of pages of documents for the 1959 Chevrolet - every spec, measurement, and anything else you could think of is contained therein. I've printed out a copy for reference.

 

And I must add... input from you guys has been extremely valuable, as well! Our mechanic has the link and has been reading along.