1955 Ranch Wagon Cruiser

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Looks good DJ. Wiring is one thing you just turn up the tunes, dig in and zone out while working on it. I was neatening up the harness on the 92 LQ4 swap and my wife came down to tell me it was 9:30 p.m. and I missed dinner....Lol

Looks great. [P
 
Thanks Dozer.

Yeah JFG that's how it works. I actually enjoy the process (as long as everything works).

I meant to say before that I replaced the corrugated split loom on the engine harness with braided split loom. It fits and bends a lot easier, looks much better and it's quiet.

I don't think anyone will ever mistake this for a Ford even though it has a Chevy motor - I had to remove the starter to plug in the crank sensor (see doesn't it sound like a Ford problem?). With the headers blocking access from the top; the inner fender and frame the bottom there was just no way.
(If you're not up on the LS motors, the crank sensor lives behind the starter and is accessed from above.)
 
Very nice work. I have had an increased interest in wagons for a couple of years and just last month bought a 1956 2 door Ranch Wagon.
 
I'd guess the rust is about the same. The original engine was stuck and has already been pulled out. A friend of mine has a 1990 f150, 302 aod, and has been trying to get me to use it and keep the fuel injection but undecided so far.
 
These are when I picked it up, haven't had time to look it over great but it's home.

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mitchs66 said:
These are when I picked it up, haven't had time to look it over great but it's home.

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Looks like it has the same rust issues mine had. Yours has all the windows and they're closed, so maybe not as much floor damage.

I got the rockers and lower quarter panels from these guys. They were spot on, no complaints with the shape or detail. http://emsautomotive.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=18_67

Cool that you have the side windows. Hope the grille is inside.
 
Still wiring. Just have a few more circuits to button up. Not much interesting to take pics of.

Been dragging wires over the paint and leaning on the fenders, so I feel good about the decision to do the wiring before the cut and buff. Plus I think the paint has shrunk all it's going to.
 
surge tank

Part of the wiring included the heater control valve, which led to the heater hoses, which brought up the realization that I still don't have a coolant surge tank.

I have been looking for a coolant surge tank that wasn't plastic. There are aluminum ones, but they just didn't seem to fit where I want it to go and they are $$$. So I came up with this.

I had some 4" id x 1/4" wall aluminum pipe. I split it down the middle on the mill. The sides are 1/4" plate, band sawed and milled to a uniform width.
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I'm not that good with welding aluminum, so I welded the inside and outside. Good thing I welded the outlet hose barb from the inside, because there wasn't room under the barb for the torch.

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The barb
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I spent a while grinding and sanding. I had to make a saddle adapter to fit the filler neck to the curved surface. Here's the tank with the welding wizard who, quite honestly, isn't all that much help.

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1/4" pipe threads for a sight glass went in the end. It got a little marked up while getting those holes in and welding on the filler neck.
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Next I need to make brackets to hold it in place.
 
I always wanted a sight glass on my tank, but couldn't find quite what I was looking for. Do you have one picked out, or are you gonna make one? I figured I'd have to find the parts and make one eventually.
 
Old Iron said:
That made a nice overflow tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thanks, I'm happy with how it came out. But, just for the record it isn't an overflow tank. The LS motors use an expansion (surge) tank as well as an overflow tank. I think most builders leave them out, but my buddy that was a test engineer at the GM proving grounds told me the engine would run a lot cooler with a surge tank. The explanation I read is that they separate the air from the coolant and provide some extra capacity.

8literbeater said:
I always wanted a sight glass on my tank, but couldn't find quite what I was looking for. Do you have one picked out, or are you gonna make one? I figured I'd have to find the parts and make one eventually.
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I'm making it - two 1/4 pipe elbows with barbs on the other end and clear tubing between them. I saw that on an aftermarket tank. I should have some pics tomorrow.
 
Here's an image I put on my desktop a while ago. I put a Y in the return line of the heater hose with one leg dead ending in the surge tank.

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Looks to me like the surge tank is just to supply extra capacity so they can run a smaller radiator. I don't really see any other use for it than that, but I could be wrong, I was one time before. :D
 
Most factory LS applications only ran the expansion tank with no overflow. The overflow is redundant. The expansion tank only gets filled about 2/3 full and has a 15 psi cap on it. If it expands enough to push past the cap then there is a problem IE: mechanical or it's over full.
 
jfg455 said:
Most factory LS applications only ran the expansion tank with no overflow. The overflow is redundant. The expansion tank only gets filled about 2/3 full and has a 15 psi cap on it. If it expands enough to push past the cap then there is a problem IE: mechanical or it's over full.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. I was planning on an overflow tank. The only available location is on the driver's side of the radiator, which would mean a long hose to try to hide. I'll rethink that. Thanks for the info, JFG.

My proving grounds buddy just did the test data, he doesn't know exactly why it works, but they recorded 20 degree temperature drops with the expansion tank.
 
Welding on the mounting brackets gave me a lot of grief -1/4" aluminum is a little much for my 200 amp TIG. I preheated with a torch and eventually got there. I found a mounting pad on the inner fender that I used and added a hole for the rear bracket (didn't get a pic of that).

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Had to check for hood clearance.

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