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While I was waiting for gaskets, i tackled a bit of fab work today. The Fj40 never had the radiator support rods when I bought it, so I ended up using some zip ties between the top of the radiator and grill to keep it from hitting the fan. It was meant to be a temporary fix, and I found out that the rods are actually quite expensive in the used market. I couldn't care less about the look of the OEM rad supports, so I used some 3/8 round bar and washers to build my own.
I think that they'll work great to support the radiator, and I got some good practice working with the welder.
The next task was to build a fan shroud for the radiator. I know plenty of guys on the forum say that they don't need one, but I figured I would do everything possible to help keep this motor cool. Plus, it's a good protection to make sure I don't hit the fan when working on the running engine.
I used some sheet metal I had in the garage, and cut a piece the size of the radiator. Next, I traced the fan and cut a hole in the middle, and then cut a 2 1/4 inch section to wrap around the hole and serve as the fan housing. I haven't welded much thin steel yet, so it too a little while to get the welder dialed in, but a few extra holes in the steel and some filler welding later, I had a decent shroud mocked up. I've got about 1/2 inch gap between the edges and fan blades all around, and I think it will work pretty well.
I don't have the parts yet to finish the cooling system, so I'll probably work on the rear sill while I've got a mess in the garage from metalworking tomorrow.
