Starving Artist? Not Me

 

"Artists starve

Craftsmen make a living"

Billy Jay Espich

I'm in the process of mounting the radiator. Since it came with mounting flanges welded on, all I need to do is drill a couple of holes through them and the frame rails. I'll weld nuts inside the frame rails so all I'll need to do is just thread four bolts in and the bottom of the radiator will be fastened securely. There are a couple of tabs welded on at the top to bolt support rods to. I'm planning on making those out of 1/2" aluminum rod that will have a 1/8" slot that will slip over the tabs and a 1/4" bolt to fasten them. I might thin the middle of the rods down to 3/8" or I might get some tube and just make the end pieces out of the 1/2" solid and weld or pin them together. 

It looks like I need to move the engine back a bit to give me a better shot at making the connections on the radiator hoses. As it is there's not enough room to get a hose to make the necessary right angle bend. If I move the engine back two inches or so, that should help a bunch. I've got 5-1/2" of clearance to the firewall right now, so that's not an issue. Also, it won't hurt to move a little of the weight rearward so it won't be quite so nose heavy. I might have to get a longer spacer for the front of the water pump to move the fan forward, but that's easy enough done. Might need to make a shroud later on as well.

I made a leg to bolt to the bottom of the engine yesterday to support the rear. With that bolted on I can remove the head for the engine stand and the pipe jack that's supporting the rear of the engine now. With the engine stand head out of the way I can fit the tabs for the top radiator support rods to the cab frame and then make the firewall. Someday I should get my remote oil filter kit. The delivery date has been pushed back three times now. I'm assuming it's due to the cooties, so I won't bitch. They have other kits available and there are other vendors I could get a kit from but it's not holding up the build. They're saying about a month now.

That quote up top? I was moving some stuff around out in the shop and it was written on a scrap of paper I found. I'm not much of a patron of the arts but that's mostly due to me squandering my money on car and motorcycle projects. But if I was contemplating going to college to get an art degree or an apprenticeship, I'd definitely take the route towards becoming a craftsman.

Wear your mask, wash your hands and stay home as much as possible. Our governor has just extended mandatory masks for another month. With the numbers climbing again, it's going to be an interesting holiday season. Maybe the Easter bunny will bring us a cure.