Swirl pot is complete:
This involved welding shut the holes that were original to the spare pot I had. The only take away I had from this, was this: Use a good welder for any welding you need to do. Although it did not ruin the swirl pot, I could have easily had a major loss if something had gone slightly wrong with the crappy welder I was stuck using. Once I was done with the welds (which were poor at best) I 'spackled' over top of them with some epoxy. I'm told that this epoxy is specially designed for ultra deep water performance, so I am not too worried about a little pressure from the coolant system.
Radiator is reinstalled:
I am especially proud of this feat. When removing the radiator, I broke off both bolts that hold the bottom in place. I was afraid that by trying to weld them back into place, I would blow through the radiator walls, and need to purchase a new one... Not a purchase I would be looking forward to. I decided to use a type of epoxy made by Loc-Tite that is supposed to replace welding. Whether I did not prepare the metal correctly, or I didn't mix it correctly, it didn't hold. As I was putting the radiator back into place, the epoxy broke off clean from the radiator. So, I attempted something that I had never tried before. I brazed the bolts back on. For the first time brazing, they came out beautiful. A little crooked, but awesome.
Coolant system is nearly complete:
With the completion of the above two tasks, the only thing I needed to do is complete the plumbing. I cut the pipes that run the length of the car, just below the heater hose plumbing. I don't plan on driving the car when I would need heat, so this made everything much easier. Of course, since I had plugged the holes in the swirl pot, I needed to eliminate the heater from the plumbing system anyway. While I was running the hoses, I found I needed a sharper bend than the hose would allow. I started the search for some stainless bends. They came in at about $30. When I was staring at the car, I realized that I had a perfect fit for the application. When preparing the coolant system, I cut off a piece of pipe with a nice bend in it. The only problem was that it had a little return hose line inlet on it. No problem, a little brazing, and it was perfect!
The engine is re-wired:
I only need to check that all of the sensors are reading correctly when the car is running. I am a little concerned about the VR sensor, and the O2 sensor. Nothing a little more re-wiring won't cure.
