Josephine, a "Moparistic" -55 sedan

[Champion V8]

So I went out & the gales has turned into short little storms!
As I went around throwing a stick for Carmenzita cuz she needs to run the wind suddenly slowed down so I opend the barndoor that would be botherd the least of the winds, then I got me a waterlever & checked that the rad sits higher than the top of engine water & it does even if not much.
So I welded its bolted on side mounts to the car. Next step is to clean up what's left from the old mounts & see if I can make something better of the front, the way it's fitted & such.

One other reason why I wanted the rad higher is that the low hose comes out to low near the "U" the original rad sat in. & another thing to consider is that sedans have a way shorter engine bay than the sportier modells so I don't have much space to play with.
So here's what it looks like now:

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[Mike Van Veghten]

You did it correctly. It's always best to have the top tank above the highest part of the engine coolant passages to help eliminate the water bubbles.

Looks good.
I hadn't noticed your red carburetor before !

Mike

[Champion V8]

I painted the carb red long time ago when I was gonna have the car to pass inspection (first in Holland & then in Sweden) to make it look less wild as it was a 6 cyl car from factory & I like it so it stays.

After fika( ) (pronounced feeka in english, is a swedish term for having a coffee break) I went out & mounted the rad & put the lock piece on to see & it sure require some more plating:

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Then started to look into what fans to use & now I can use the two I had before with the big rad, they fit exactly between the fenders! So then I had to make some kinda bar across for them to lean on & that sure took time as I'm starting to run out of material but I found some pieces from earlier builds. I sure have to take a better photo of that, it's contains 7 pieces.
Then it was way to cold so I went inside, here's a pic of the stuff that'll go in tomorrow:

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[r1lark]

After fika( ) (pronounced feeka in english, is a swedish term for having a coffee break) I went out & mounted the rad & put the lock piece on to see & it sure require some more plating

I'm taking a fika and reading this!

[Champion V8]

I've run into a problem; the fans is in the way for the lock arm but for the rest it's coming along descent enough but r e a l slow... Got rad fitted in sitting in the "cradle" I made, the hoses shortend & the electric done too.
Pix; the front view & from right & top showing the gap I'll have to build a "box" for:

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[Champion V8]

So it's been a wee bit to cold the last 3-4 days but I didn't expect this!
(now I suspect loads of people are gonna blame it on the global warming but I remember late march -76 when me & my pal walked around in spring sunshine +17celsius in T-shirts & then in the evening it slowly turned cold & we went to a party & when we left there was snow all over & -5 celsius!)
So "when I woke up this morning"...
(gotta paint the gates in a color)

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[Champion V8]

After work I thought I might as well start Josephine to see how she behaves & so I did.
I let her run for a while but thought it took a bit to long for her to get warm... Long after the choke was closed she still felt cold so I went to open the radiator cap cuz it all felt cold but the water sprayed out with such high pressure that I closed it again & looked at the temp gauge but nothing so far, she had ben running for quite some time then. Suddenly the temp started raise & did it rather fast too! The thermostat should open at circa +85 celsius but the needle went up to +110 c before I shut off the engine; at +100 c it boils.
(the metric system is rather easy: at +100 water boils & at 0 it freezes)
I have a leak at the top hose, easy fix, but I'm not sure I will bother with that as I'm extremely mad now & just wanna sell the car cheap!!!
I'll put out ads & hope someone buys it so I can buy Nils's or get the Chrysler going instead but in the meantime I'll remove the heater hoses & such to see if it makes any difference.
What a crap day!

[r1lark]

It might have had an air bubble in it somewhere. When filling a cooling system, I always undo a heater hose to help bleed the air out. Hold the heater hose up higher than the radiator while filling. Then reconnect the heater hose, and run the engine for a while, shut it down, let it cool, and top off the radiator.

This always works for me, but I'm sure others have their own methods.

[Champion V8]

Yes I know that trick Paul, at the beginning when I had the bigger rad i had problem with it overheating every time I started it from cold after driving a bit, then I topped it up & i was fine until next drive, then it was the same all over again. Then I raised that radiator enough to not have the problem & it was fine.
Now with the "new" rad I've just raised the rad up so it's the highest water level. I'm gonna remove the heater hoses & see what happens then.

[Champion V8]

I re-routed & replaced some of the heater pipes (yes; I use pipes as much as possible & only really short hoses) + looked over it really well, re-did some hoses too & now it works without any problem. I suspect there was frozen pure water somewhere that blocked it.
Now I'm on to building a "box" between the lock piece & top of the radiator. I've also been having a real hard time getting the hood to lock & today I was at it again & suddenly I understand it; someone had managed to bend the piece that holds the spring bit on the hood upwards so it almost didn't reach down enough even thou I screwed it as low down as I could, so I took some BIG pliers & Bended it back down & now that also works!

I did put out ads (I was really angry then!) & wrote that the only trade I'm interested in are model A Ford sedan, 60-62 Valiant wagon or another Studebaker & I got an answer about "a -56 4 door Champion newly painted & done engine + a container full of parts" & thou I think the -56 sedan grille is a bit boring & dashboard is way ugly I still asked in it ran good enough to be driven to me... (that's a looong way)
The response was that it's in pieces...

[Jessie J.]

Its been a long journey to here, with many challenges encountered and overcame. Personally, I hope you decide to continue on to achievement of your goal. Or at least obtain another Stude. I admit to being a bit selfish, but I have so enjoyed your ongoing Scandanavian saga.

[Champion V8]

I've also been thinking (a lot!) about that Jessie, life can be tricky... But anyway how it comes out I'll not trade for a car I can't drive; if I manage to make it non drivable when I already own it (like the Chrysler at the moment) it's another thing, but I'm done buying non drivable cars since many years now.

[Champion V8]

Thought I had to go shopping groceries so I just made the "box" for the air in front / on top part of the rad & screwed the license plate on but then Sonja said she already done shopping so I guess I just keep on working on Josephine's front, got to make it better / more clever in some ways...
Here she's now at the moment:

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[Mike Van Veghten]

Wow...what did I miss ? The lower valance is gone !?

Those two, tiny little fans gonna keep things cool ? What car / truck are they off of ?
I attached two smaller, separate, fans to the radiator of my "driver" wagon. One high, one low, each corner. I like the big blades of your fans, should move a LOT of air.

Mike

[Champion V8]

As I wrote I just put the license plate on cuz I thought I had to go shopping.
The fans comes from a Subaru H6 & I had them on before with the big radiator, should cool this -67 Mustang rad too I hope & think...
Hare's a pic of the quick made "box" put together real fast & ugly yesterday:

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I didn't really like the construction I made earlier holding the lock piece to the lower balk that was there before this, so now when I have to make most stuff new I went for another solution so I made a template & while I looked for a piece to cut from I stumbled on a middle piece from a Volvo Amazon grille I've saved cuz "you never know when it'll be needed" & yep; NOW it was needed!
(those grilles looks a bit like 55-56 Chrysler 300 / Imperial grilles)
& here's the (red) Volvo piece, welded at the bottom & screwed at the top:

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