I can't wait for the work day to be over! We're taking the '55 Chevy wagon up old US25 from Lexington, KY to Burlington, KY this evening and staying the night. Then, we'll drive backroads to the Anderson Ferry across the Ohio River where we'll meet up with the rest of our group tomorrow morning for the official start of the antique car tour to Metamora, IN. I'm looking forward to seeing the old canal, the Whitewater Valley RR and the old historic buildings in Metamora. Plus, it will be nice to let the '55 get out and stretch her legs a little!
Just got back from a great trip. The fan and shroud modifications and the rear spring rebuild I did on the car earlier this week worked great. We had absolutely perfect weather. We got to ride the steam train and the canal boat in Metamora, IN and then drove down to Madison, IN for a great dinner before driving US 421 home to Lexington, KY. The old Finch Oil tee pee along US25 just south of Williamsburg, KY. Waiting for the Anderson Ferry so we can cross the Ohio River. On the Anderson Ferry.
Earlier in the week, I had fabricated a fan shroud and rebuilt the rear springs so it drove really great! It's turning into a really nice tour car for our antique car activities. It's really a sweet wagon and gets a lot of smiles and thumbs up when we're driving it.
I remember the original fan shrouds. They were kind of whimpy, and rusted out over time. Any pics? Sounds like a good time was had.
Howdy Norm! The previous owner removed the 235 6 cylinder and transmission and installed a 350 and a Borg-Warner T5 5-speed in it. It has the long water pump and the radiator is still mounted in the 6 cylinder position on the front of the radiator cross brace. After I brought it home, I added a Vintage Auto Air AC kit to it and replaced the 3-tube radiator with a 4-tube. It would do pretty well but would tend to run hotter than I liked in hot weather peaking at about 235 degrees. It had a 6 blade 17" flex fan with an ABS fan shroud on it. I removed the 17" fan and replaced it with a 19" 7 blade stock fan and thermal clutch. I took the ABS fan shroud and cut it to fit the larger fan which meant removing the top and bottom parts of the ring around the fan. I fabricated a larger radius bracket to connect the two halves out of 1 1/4" galvanized flat steel and pop riveted the new top and bottom brackets to the ABS and then fabricated some sheet metal to seal the opening at the bottom of the bracket. It now cools great.
That sounds like a slick workaround. The older chevies looked like they had all the air they could ever want, but it wasn't properly directed to do the cooling. Good stuff.
