1969 body mounts

[Bill Stephens]

When I changed the rotted-out radiator support on my 1969 350, I saw someone had cut a gouge out of the fan shroud. I got a new shroud, seals, etc., but now that I've put it all back together, I see why the old shroud was cut up. The lower radiator hose is constricted by the shroud. On closer examination, it seems that the shroud sits lower than it should when everything is bolted up.

I don't know whether the car was in an accident, but clearly someone has messed around up front and done a slip-shod job (cut up fan shroud, mis-matched bolt sizes, tears in the fiberglass underneath that are pop-riveted back together, etc). It looks as if someone encountered this problem earlier, and fixed it by hacking up the fan shroud to accommodate the radiator hose. My question is whether this is something that can be corrected by putting shims in the body supports, or is there some other problem that needs to be corrected? I'm not sure whether the hose is constricted enough to affect the cooling, but I don't really want to drive it that way. Thanks for your help.

[Jim T.]

Re: 1969 body mounts

I assume you have factory air conditioning and a brass/copper radiator. The fan shroud on my 70 air conditioned 350 cannot be removed by just unbolting the fan shroud. It is a two piece fan shroud that has a easily removed piece that is positioned over the front crossmember. If your fan shroud is like this it is very possible that someone did not have the patience/knowledge to remove the shroud most likely to remove the radiator. Your new fan shroud is really very easy to install using the following method. You do not have to remove the hood. Place a floor jack under the passenger side lower control arm and raise the car enough to remove the tire, and remove the tire. With the car raised you have relieved all the pressure on the upper control arm. Remove the two nuts that retain the alignment shims and the upper control arm to frame. Don't mix up the shims tape together for each position and mark respective location removed. The control arm is very easily pushed into the wheel well. Does not have to be done, but I knock out the bolt closest to the engine protecting the threaded end. The bolt has a special shoulder that retains the bolt in the frame mount that keeps it from turning when installed correctly. With the control arm out of the way the new fan shroud can be installed. Once you do this you will find that it really not that much involved to remove/install the big shroud. Have done it a few times since my 70 was new to service the radiator. Do not try removing the drivers side control arm to remove the shroud, it will not work.