I got a little window of time this afternoon between the blizzard and Finn’s nap to pick up a pair of metal shears. While she was down, I hurried to the basement and trimmed one side of the steel I’d bought, then laid it flat on the edge of my workbench. I bought a length of predrilled strap in order to make a hard edge to bend on. The object was adding a bend at the top 1/2″.
Once I’d bent the top to my satisfaction (I don’t have a metal brake, but a block of wood and a hammer work pretty well) I measured and drilled a pair of holes for the top mounting bolts. I’ve got a spare radiator that I dragged into the basement for test fitting:
Next, I drilled a series of holes to make a long adjustable vertical channel for the shroud and set that in place to test out the height. It turns out there’s a total of 3″ of lift on this truck based on the shroud mounting.
Then I assembled the whole thing to see how it all fit together. I used hex bolts with two flat washers on each side, as well as a lock washer to hold the entire thing in place. Outside on the Scout, it turned out that I was about a quarter-inch two low, so the top of the fanblades were hitting the fiberglas. I brought it back inside, extended the channels upwards, filed everything down, and did another test fit: perfect.
The steel extended down below the open area of the shroud, so I measured an area and cut out a section to allow for maximum airflow.
And once I’d tested it out on the Scout, I pulled everything back off so that I can prime and paint the steel this evening. Tomorrow, hopefully, I can get the bottom mounts made quickly and have the entire thing put back together. Then I’ve got to see if she’ll start. It sure would be nice to have her back on the road.
Evil Mr. Clean says:
Doh, you’re stronger than you think. Nothing like a broken bolt to ruin your day. I have a set of easy outs around here somewhere if you need to borrow them. Where did you buy the sheet metal? Nice job with the improvised brake.