I figured jus like any red blooded hotrodder when you’re burnt out on one hotrod it’s always best to buy another… a friend of mine built this car and all though it isn’t my usual flathead powered 40s era hotrod it is a wild late 50s 60s inspired drag car. Jus a little sbc and a 4 speed move it but boy is she fun. I plan on paint and body over the winter but more big picture is a 6-71 blower I’ve recently acquired I think it’s found a home I’m headed over to a friends to build a fresh small block here this weekend.
Hot damn now THAT is cool! LOVE the radiator in the rear and the clean front end. I would pile plenty of chrome-crap all over the front end....(shocks-axle-spring.headlight assembly) "Chrome up" the radiator/cooling fans and all that stuff back there. No wires showing and thennnnnnnn..........go drive the heck outta it!!! Cool hot rods look like this'un!! 6sally6
Neat-o-daddy-o put a grill on it of some kind or track nose and stick a trunk lid on it punched full of louvres that thing is cool - beans !!!!!
Added some tiny buckets and started grinding where he chopped it down. It’s a fun little car I’ve put probably close to 500 miles on
As a drag car,I love it. Cool drag car ! Great look for drags. But a few things don't add up just yet,rear tires are not good for drags,and rad in rear is too big for drags,and not good enough flow for street =no hot rod rear rad works for street driving*................ Don't do rear rad for the street.!!! Last guy I told not to use a rear rad for a street driver,did it anyway,and both his Dad an he ended up in the hospital from it !!.That is not a joke at all! If it's ever going tobe driven on the street,with head lights ect. make it safe.
I put it was inspired by the drag cars of the late 50s 60s ! And it’s got headlights now I’ve added recently Will post some pics and add a firewall for the rad. But it’s drives fairly cool for what it is like I said close to 500 miles and no real issues. Wait till you see the “safety” feature I’m bolting to the top of my new engine for it all jokes aside when the blower goes on so will my 45 fin Buick drums on the front
@dana barlow out of curiosity what happened? I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t be any worse that it being in the front. Austin does live out in the sticks but it’s seen a solid 500+ miles of highway and in town stop and go in if wager 3 weeks? Hasn’t got warm yet. Granted it hasn’t got a deck lid on it yet but it’ll be sure to get louvers galore. @racer-x has a rear mount radiator in his green street monster as well
I'm old,so have seen rear rad fails more then one time. Out front much less prob's,driver has a windshield/fire wall*except for fools with open floors n fire walls, Front is much better cooling an less fail points. What the facts are; All the crap that can n dose happen up front rads,is X 3 if in rear. So will be worse an much more likely. The one I was talking about above was typical, the 2 hoses n pipe combos running back to rear rad. Even though they were under a cover,it blow every were. Hose under PSI when hot,slide off pipe,bad scalding of both in cockpit. It was a 30A Sedan,low choped chaneled with Hemi 8x2,cool looking. < but for bad rear rad design flaw. {going for drag car look,but street driver! Problems are more then just leaks by rear mount,any cooling is poor,scoops are always too small*,and sucking up from under car=dirt an crap of all types. It takes two lines for more then 1/2 as long as car,making lots more places too fail,and have air/steam pockets in each end,an likely more spots=more bad cooling. Exceptions;; That don't count at all for hot rods! There are dunebuggys with rear rads mounted high up in the air flow for Bahi,those only work,do too high up mounts an rad is high point of all water/so no air/steam pockets< that is NOT how it can be done in a hot rod. There are Indy car with side rads,with big scoops an air flow often over 100+ MPH that dose cooling< not what can happen on the street hot rod. There are cars built by a few factorys with rear rads an rear engine,an those with rear engine n front rad* all of them have cooling prob's { like Pontiac Fiero< these are tiny engines/not hot rod big Power. Most failed designs over time. At the drags,with a drag only car,it can work for 1/4 mile runs,hell many drag cars run with no rad at all. Point being,don't mix up the facts,just to try an justify a cartoon look on the street. Be safe,have fun,don't be foolish. Every time I see a rear rad used in a street diven hot rod,I also see bad engineering,an too often someone that will try to defend it to his death. There more things that can go wrong then I can write. Try too remember,I've designed an built many hot rods/customs,but more then that, more race cars then I can count,an won in oval stock cars,sports cars/SCCA/IMSA.
Well, your narrowing it down to 1: it’s hard to make work and cool. This is cooling. In 100 degree weather just fine. 2: the water in this car is in welded pipes under a steel floor. If your still concerned about a radiator house slipping off I believe joe had these flared at the end where the hose skips over so the pipe slipping out with a clamp on the other side of the pipe is a pretty damn slim chance. do you stop every guy with a flathead ford with metal radiator tubes to warn them of their impending doom?
Dana, i know what your saying, your scared of a car that doesn't fit your mold. I have probably just as many references that have successfully ran a rear mounted radiator on the street. I did my homework when I built this car, its a safe (a bit rowdy) HOT ROD. just cause you cant figure something out doesn't make it impossible. it just means YOU weren't smart enough to figure it out. As for the "danger" of scalding water? the rubber hose in front lead to two galvanized steel tubes that run from front to back, they don't leak. This car has driven hundreds of miles already, and will continue to run many more. If you cant figure that out, YOU are the problem.
BJAI guess you have never worked on a Fiero and seen the issues the cooling systems have . plus using galvanized pipe might not have been the best idea in a cooling system, Maybe Stainless would have been a better material
This car has some humble beginnings, this is the body I drug home from great bend Kansas, on april 17th of 2021.
My good Friend Ben brought me this frame I had previously set up, (long story) I mocked it up with some stuff i had laying around...
If I read this right someone welded on galvanized pipe on top of all the rude comments about quote YOU unquote is not thinking very clear sorry
After I mocked it up I did what any reasonable person does, I ignored it for a month. so for those keeping track, I picked up the body April 17th, and I picked up the frame on June 17th, but I didn't actually start working on it till JULY 17th. during that time I found some wheels.. and I decided it was time to mount the rear radius rods, these are shortened 36 ford, I tacked them on, till I could figure out the correct pinion angle.
Guy, I apologize, I didn't know I wasn't allowed to defend the car I built from dana's insulting post.
As a hot rodder who is also stubborn, when I found that I had the wrong hurst mount, I did the only thing I could do, cut it till it was right!
On the 28th of july we stuck the motor in the frame, and on the 30th, it was time for a body. I started by hacking some nice subrails out of the car. and after some strategic cowl cutting we had a winner!
After we got the body mounted we couldn't stop there! I had to see what it looked like chopped. well, it looks good. I had to drag out some seats and try it on for size...
look away now nare say wellers! This something I had wanted to do for awhile, and once I saw a bare motor up front, I knew it had to happen, so I took a radiator we had laying around and started getting an idea for some mounts. then it was all hands on deck (so both, of my own hands) I wanted to have it done by labor day.
After trying to use some old pedals I broke down and bought a new set of speedway/ ansen style pedals. the newness only lasted a moment, and I was on to figure out how to fit them. I finally said Adios to the dash. then things started falling into place. then it was onto the steering column mount. and since I was using a mechanical clutch linkage I could move the brake master over just far enough to clear the head of the motor.
Around the same time my buddy came over to help, and we fired to motor off for the first time, and I put him to work installing the brakes. I also measured and had a driveshaft made (and balanced) I also at this point decided to weld the floor to the frame. the car is essentially a unibody. but at this point I still needed to pull the body off one more time. This was august 11th. getting down to the wire..
So on August 13th i called on a couple friends to help get the car disassembled. once we had the body off i could flip over the chassis and finish weld everything. And then paint it Black!
The Jalopy Journal
