65 Dart Wagon Conversion to a Sedan Delivery
I was doing some mock-ups of my auxiliary transmission cooler and power steering cooler before my wife and I left on a 17 day excursion to Europe. With time running short, I never did post any commentary or pics. Now that I’m back I figured It was time to bring my progress up-to-date.
i decided to add an auxiliary transmission cooler in addition to the cooler in the radiator. I decided in a Tru Cool model LPD4711 model that used a 3/8 inverted flair fitting. I can use 3/8 tube (same SIZE as the stock 42RH coolant lines) with the male fitting to screw in directly ti the cooler. I don’t particularly care for the barb and hose clamp style, so i chose this model. It’s a stacked plate design measuring 8 & 1/4 by 11 by 3.4 in thick. I wanted it to look like it was a factory installation, i fabricated a bracket that used a factory hole in the upper core support on the left side (I did need to add the lower mounting hole at the bottom) and a smaller bracket that shared its mounting hole with the upper horn bolt. It’s all very sturdy and looks factory. Satisfied with the fit and appearance, it got painted black so it would blend in behind the grill
In 65 the Power steering box and pump used 5/8 in hydraulic hose. A Mopar friend offered me a power steering cooler out of a Dodge big car. These were finned and U-shaped. First thing was to clean the cooler and brackets and de rust everything in a tub of Evaporust, then give everything a coat of black pain to help it blend in behind the grill.
The U shaped bracket has 2 mounting holes which match perfectly with the bolts securing the AC condenser. With the brackets assembled to the cooler and mounted in place it looks like a factory installation.
I started bending the transmission cooler lines. After drilling a pair of holes in the lower core support, the top line will go to the transmission temperature sensor block which is mounted on the side of the frame rail. I forgot to get a picture of that.. the bottom line will go to the left side port of the radiator cooler.
And the transmission temperature sensor block I forgot to add a picture of. It’s mounted on the shde of the driver’s side frame rail just before and velow tge batter tray
Here is a better idea of how it’ll look - pic take during mock up. I will be working on the power steering hoses the bext couple of days