June 25, 2023

Jeepster Roller, Part 14

We're getting close to the end. I'm thinking that the next one (#15) will be the end of the "Jeepster Roller" series.

Radiator Upper Support continued

I received the Chevy radiator isolators, and they looked good.

The corners of the fan shroud were notched for isolator clearance.

I started laying out the brackets and shock hoop cross brace to support the upper radiators, but ran into a couple of problems. First, my tube bender is in Dallas, so I couldn't securely position the cross brace.

Second, the cross brace flanges that I was going to use were too large near the radiator cap. So I ordered a pair of much cooler tube couplers that are very low-profile - they are basically no larger in diameter than the tube. They should be here next week.

I'm calling this part of the project done for now. I'll pick it up again later.

Distraction #1 - Mark Harlow

This was a fun distraction - I'm just including it to be humorous. Mark came by with a machining project. He needed a single spline removed for his extended travel slip joint to fit into the driveshaft socket. After a rocky start, we got the spline removed:

The red arrow shows the spline that was removed. And Mark is cleaning up the end transition with a carbide burr in a die grinder:

Distraction #2...Driveway Pictures

I rolled it out on the driveway to clean out the garage, and also to get some pictures, of course!

Good view of the modified rear wheel well:

Unmodified rear wheel well - I have to use an old, smaller wheel tire because the new larger one won't fit.

Distraction #3 - Garage Lights

This was by far the longest distraction - mostly because of my stupidity.

Why lights? Why now?

Hot Summer...recently, I've been working in the garage with the door closed. It stays pretty comfortable in there - I'll open the door to the house to let some cool air in and run a couple of fans. Unfortunately, leaving the door closed cuts down on a ton of natural light.
The LED fixture in the center of the garage went bad, and needed to be replaced. It flickered constantly - just like a light in a bad horror movie!
After I installed the Jeepster hood, it was also blocking a ton of light. The engine bay was too dark.
The Fab Bench is also in that corner, and better light was needed.

Attempt #1

No picture, but I attempted to mount the light directly underneath the overhead storage rack. This worked well, but the garage door hit the light - DOH!

Attempt #2

I decided to make a bracket to raise the lights to the sides of the overhead rack. I found some old aluminum brackets in my metal pile that would work well. I just had to bend them up. Instead of bending, they just fractured - DOH!

Attempt #3

Instead of making one 90 degree bend in a single spot, I made 3 bends 1/4" apart (at 30 degrees each) for a more gentle bend. This worked pretty well.

The 2nd bend wouldn't fit in the brake, so I had to use my vise and a hammer. I bent a bracket the wrong way - DOH!.

Attempt #4

No picture, but I finally got two brackets made and installed them onto the overhead racks. But I installed the brackets upside down, so they actually lowered the lights into the garage door even more - DOH! (This was an easy fix, as they are just held on with tie wraps.)

Success:

Delayed success is still success:

Future Plans

I'm going to hang a pair of lights off of the overhead rack on the other side of the garage. Unfortunately, I'll have to make all four brackets from scratch because I messed up so many pieces earlier.