Still working - cooling system, gas tanks and more!

Despite my lack of posting,  I have been working through the issues since I pulled Retro's radiator.    You can see in the first picture that the water pump inlet hose was run through the power steering pump belt.  This seems like a bad idea  ( I think a P.O. may have replaced the water pump with the only one they could find  - perhaps  pre-internet,  who knows? ).   I don't like the idea of having to drain the cooling system if the power steering belt breaks.  I found a pump which the inlet is straight,  not bent forward so that the hose could be routed around the steering pump.   The pump I got did not have a pulley on it, so I took the new pump and the old pump to the local community college and one of the instructors there used a hydraulic press to put the old pulley on the new pump.

I realized that I could mount a couple of pieces of angle iron on the radiator frame to replace the bar running across the front of the radiator from one side of the body to the other.  This will allow me to swing the radiator.  The function of the bar was to brace the grille in front of the radiator, so being attached to the solid (I hope) swing radiator frame will be good for that purpose.  There is a picture of the refurbished radiator, but not the frame and support bar - next post for that.

I removed the plumbing wrapped around the front of the engine - one side was for the rear heater,  the other for the front one.  It looks like it grew over the years - there were multiple valves in the same line in some cases, I am cleaning all that up and will have two valves in each circuit - one for hot water feed and one for cool water return, so I can isolate a loop in case of a problem.   The rear heater feed will split off to run the engine heat circuit of the water heater.   I have marked all the original hoses and am going to replace all the rubber hose with fresh new high-quality hose.

I read some advice to put an engine fan and shroud back on and I took that to heart.   I found and bought the "High fan mount"  that attaches to the plate on top of the water pump,  but was not able to find a modern fan clutch and fan that would fit ( I had several phone calls with flex-a-lite and hayden ) the only fan I could find was an original equipment steel fan.  I decided to re-engineer the electric fan cooling system and am settling on 4  12 inch fans  for the 24 X 26  radiator.   I will build a frame and shroud for these fans,  along with two multi-speed controllers.   I am also going to replace the original ?55A?  alternator with a high-output self-regulating  200A model.  This will provide plenty of current to run the fans.

Another issue that I worried about was the condition of the inside of the gas tanks.  I built some blocks to put under the wheels,  and also jacked up the frame and placed jack-stands.   The suspension is about half-loaded, and if a jackstand fails,  the tires are nearly 4 inches off the ground.   This height gave me room to slide the gas tanks out from under the coach.  I only had to grind one of the nuts off - most of them came pretty easily.   I got the tanks out today and pressure washed the outside,  I will be taking them to San Leandro  Radiator  ( the folks who restored my radiator )  to be refurbished - sand-blasted inside and then coated with kreem.    I also discovered the broken wire for the front-tank fuel gauge sender,  so I am hopeful to get that working.

I expect the fuel tanks,  alternator, new transmission cooler hoses (needed for the swingification of the radiator) / heater lines and coolant hoses to take me into the June timeframe, based on daddy couldya timesinks and the accumulation rate of expendable dollars.  I will post more then.