3.0L engine swap

[DMC5180]

Did you call Josh B for his recommendation, since it’s his parts?


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[BABIS]

1-3-1.jpg

I wonder if the #4 - 24 - 27 seals are meant to be installed between the radiator and the condenser or the radiator and the radiator duct (I guess the second one)

[Farrar]

Did you call Josh B for his recommendation, since itÂ’s his parts?

No. It's not his condenser. I just bought the radiator, fans, and fan shroud combo from him. Helpfully, the aluminum radiator does not have studs sticking out at the bottom but instead uses bolts installed from underneath. This may come in handy: if I need to add washers above the lower brackets to move the radiator up, I won't have to worry about running out of stud since I can just buy longer bolts.

I wonder if the #4 - 24 - 27 seals are meant to be installed between the radiator and the condenser or the radiator and the radiator duct (I guess the second one)

Great minds think alike! Out of curiosity this morning I pulled out my parts manual and found the illustration. The workshop manual in its procedures for removal/replacement of the radiator & condenser mention nothing about a seal or where it's located. But there they are in the parts manual, with their own part numbers and everything.

So I think I have to issue a correction. The illustration makes it look like the seals are installed *forward* of the radiator. That would mean that they go between the radiator and the condenser. I'll have to go to the hardware store and find some foam rubber and cut it to fit. If it's squishy enough, it will be held in by tension alone so I won't have to worry about any adhesive.

[Farrar]

Somehow, Josh at DPI found out that I was curious about the radiator-condenser gap, so he shot me an e-mail. It was very kind of him to do so, considering how busy I know he must be. He said 7/16" gap is just fine. Thanks, Josh!

In other news, I found in my stockpile of parts some rubber gasket material which, although it has an adhesive back, should work just fine for that gap.

Tomorrow after work I'll head to AutoZone and pick up some orifice tubes and (with luck) an orifice removal-replacement tool. I will spray penetrating oil on any rusty fasteners I see and let them soak overnight. By Saturday morning I should be good to go, and with luck I can knock out most of this project over the weekend.

Side note: How much do you want to bet that I ground away too much material from that radiator duct when I was trying to get it to fit around my incorrectly-mounted radiator? I might need to put a rubber seal around the sides of the duct, too! LOL

[Farrar]

Here's another mystery.

In the instructions for replacing the radiator, the workshop manual says:

"Ensure foam strip is fitted to underside of body, to about top of radiator assembly."

No foam strip is in the diagram, and no such part is mentioned in the parts list. And, naturally, no such thing is installed on my car.

What to do?

[Lwanmtr]

Pretend?

[Farrar]

Pretend?

LOL ... Might as well. Something tells me that foam strip (if there ever was one) is integral to the functioning of the cooling system.

[Lwanmtr]

Probably just something to cushion things from vibration a little.

[Farrar]

Taking an air conditioning & water break. Snapped a couple of photos of progress so far. To anyone planning to remove the radiator/condenser/fans I highly recommend removing the sway bar first. Once it's out of the way there's room to just drop the whole assembly straight down.

sway bar out 1.jpg


sway bar out 2.jpg

[Lwanmtr]

You get even more access if you lift the body off the frame