A/C condenser and compressor are out of the car. One of the hoses had a bad spot and will need replacing before ac will function. But hey when I need icy cold air I'll drive the BMW. At this point the extra dead weight sits in my carriage house, not in the car. Originally I went through the old fans, but then installed a pair of haydens in place of the stock fans. When I installed the aluminum radiator I decided to replace the Hayens fans in a pusher conf. to this puller conf. that I thought would be more efficient. The car will serve both road and track.
So far so good... I am trying out a Hayden 3647 adjustable thermostat control for the fans, and have ruffed in the wiring to the temp test location.
Well the control unit works just like it should... turns the fans on and off at the temp that you set. Cool!
I ended up wrapping the leads of the original temp wire, then doubled it back out of the way with tie wraps. That way at some point if one wanted to revert it to stock, one could.
Great install! love the pics, and the ***** liked the radiator as well! I have anumber of friends that have the ron davis radiators and cant say enough about them so I think if you guys went this route its well worth the money and just like Dave said youll have to mod it anyway so get one cheap that you have to do some slight mds to and youll be golden! johnny
I really appreciate the time and effort involved with taking, downloading and then sending all the fantastic photos. Thank you. And a thank you from the countless people who will gain knowledge from your effort.
Ok, now on to coolant... What have you had the best luck with? straight distilled water, water/antifreeze water/water wetter
Been using distilled water/antifreeze 50-50 with a anti-rust additive added on top of the antifreeze. The shop that repainted and tanked my radiator strongly recommended this additive as they use them on commercial trucks, great for alum.blocks and heads they said. I don't have the brand on the top of my head, but it was a 16oz plastic bottle. Also Dave, I noticed the rust off of the frame is now gone Did you blast the frame and then paint or what procedure did you use? I blasted mine then POR-15 the heck out of it, before taking it to the body shop for my repaint. TIA.
Yep, blasted, primed, paint, undercoating in areas. I wish the rest of the frame looked as good as the front end does now. Oh well, all in good time.
Dave, thanks. I always enjoy reading and seeing your pics. Noticed rust on my GT4 was alot more on the passenger side (same side as the battery) on the lower frame portion, the A-arms and minor rust on the inside of the body just forward the front wheels. The usual rust around the 2 fans and the fans themselves, but that is history now after 2 haydens, blasting and POR-15'g then painting over the 15 with undercoating. I know what you mean about the rest of the car. Mine only needs some minor blasting here and there mostly at the middle of the car. I am guessing here because I haven't removed the aluminum panel yet, the rear frame on mine was only rusted right beneath the exhaust area, very minor.
It is still in the paint booth as I type this. Still being blocked prior to painting which should occur this week, finished off with 5 coats of clear.
Sahweeet! Yours was not as bad as mine was. Lucky for you. I POR-15'd the battery tray after using the metalprep spray they sell, then applied the POR on the tray and the thing so far is tough as nails. Time will tell. Your chassis rust is very minimal especially where your front A-arms mount. Mine were covered with surface rust, nothing deep, but worthy of immediate attention. My front a-arms looked pitiful, took me forever to blast them and my air compressor died on me half way thru the job. I probably woreout my compressor while doing the rears prior to the fronts. I did not do the brake shields nor the tierods or front wheel bearings, they looked and felt OK for now. I wished I took pics of them. My paint job is a bit more involved as well as you can tell from my avatar, my baby will now be Rosso Corsa with all new body and window rubber, new felt and whatever you can think of. I also had to blast underneath where the nose badge area is, that was not looking too good as well as blasting all of the grills then powder coating them. New tan leather interior, carpet is still immaculate. Should be another month I would guess before I post the after pics. I already did the entire suspension rebuild with new springs and shocks, all new fuel/vapor lines, water hoses, new AC compressor, evaporator also. I haven't replaced the two front to back AC lines. I wouldn't want to know how much they cost for hoses that long anyway. They appear to be still good. Most of my rust was in the rear trunk area, rear wheel well area. I think all 308's rust there as a given regardless of the model.
