Topic: 68 San Jose GT 390 Lower Radiator Support Brackets

[bullitt68]

Looking for some guidance and confirmation regarding these Lower Radiator Support Brackets.

First question: Were the bolts painted with the brackets or installed after paint? ASM indicates "S" finish, so no finish on the bolts, which would lead me to believe the bolts painted with brackets, but just want to double check.



Second Question: Were the brackets installed on the chasis before or after paint?



Third Question:

Do these look like original brackets and do they look bent, or is this how they should look?






Question Four:

Which bolt head pattern is correct. I am going to assume the fasteners that are on the right, that were on the car. The ones on the left are from the AMK Concourse Correct kit.



Question Five:

Is this a correct Radiator Petcock for my manual trans



Just a note regarding the rubber insulators. This product does not fit and cannot be used.






These insulators fit correctly



Thanks

[ruppstang]

Yes, they appear to be bent. I have had no issues with the SD lower insulators. It maybe because your brackets are bent.

[Coralsnake]

Brackets installed after body was painted. Bolts are not painted

[Bob Gaines]

Just for clarification the brackets are typically semi gloss black and the bolts unpainted.

[Bob Gaines]

Once mounted I trust your intuition will guide you on what is bent and what is not.

[J_Speegle]

Just picking a few from todays long list

Question Five:

Is this a correct Radiator Petcock for my manual trans

Peacock for all (auto and manual) radiators are the same

Just a note regarding the rubber insulators. This product does not fit and cannot be used.

If you can find better insulators for the bottom brackets or nice originals you could always cut and remove a section of the insulator along the bottom (as one end would likely not show) and use a little adhesive to attach the two sections to the bracket. Don't use enough adhesive so that it shows when done


But it appears that you found a better replacement and by posting hopefully saved someone else from purchase the poorly made or labeled  ones

[J_Speegle]

Maybe these will help

From the same late San Jose car like yours

[bullitt68]

Brackets installed after body was painted. Bolts are not painted

Great thanks appreciate it

[bullitt68]

Just for clarification the brackets are typically semi gloss black and the bolts unpainted.

Thanks Bob

[bullitt68]

Just picking a few from todays long list
 


Peacock for all (auto and manual) radiators are the same




If you can find better insulators for the bottom brackets or nice originals you could always cut and remove a section of the insulator along the bottom (as one end would likely not show) and use a little adhesive to attach the two sections to the bracket. Don't use enough adhesive so that it shows when done


But it appears that you found a better replacement and by posting hopefully saved someone else from purchase the poorly made or labeled  ones

Thanks Jeff. Further to the rad question, does that mean that manual trans rads have plugs for the cooler lines or are there no holes/fittings on the 4 speed trans rad?

[bullitt68]

Yes, they appear to be bent. I have had no issues with the SD lower insulators. It maybe because your brackets are bent.

Don't think so. The rubber insulators are larger than the brackets, unless my brackets are replacements. But these are way off compared to the other part number that fits perfectly

[ruppstang]

Don't think so. The rubber insulators are larger than the brackets, unless my brackets are replacements. But these are way off compared to the other part number that fits perfectly

I wonder if they were packaged incorrectly. Compare them to the upper insulators you have.

[bullitt68]

I wonder if they were packaged incorrectly. Compare them to the upper insulators you have.

Upper insulators are completely different looking, but fit great. There are several different parts numbers, upper and lower etc. Perhaps they were miss labeled, but I am also not sure what the correct ones should look like as I have not seen a photo of originals to compare

[bullitt68]

Thanks for all the great suggestions and photos. After much banging, bending and shaping I think I am getting pretty close to a good fit. Will do the final tweaks and then clean the up and paint them. FYI for some reason not only were they completely bent like a pretzel, but they were also welded on. I didn't notice this before the chassis was painted, neither did my painter unfortunately. But I am glad that I did, so I can correct it. However I need to do some small paint touch ups from where I removed the welds. So needless to say the brackets also need to have the welds removed and cleaned up.

I was not aware how bent the brackets were, but they were so bent I could barely get a wrench in to remove the bolts. Here is one I was working on compared to the bent one on the left.







Drivers side starting to fit much better



Passenger side only took about 5 minutes to reshape after figuring it out on the drivers side



I will once again test fit the rad with the rubber insulators etc before I clan the up and paint them. Hopefully the weld areas will touch up ok. attaching the paint will be a bit of an issue, but fortunately it is not a very visible area.

[ruppstang]

I know that you said you got new hardware from AMK but the bolts I have seen do not have the large washer. Like the ones in Jeff's pictures. Maybe it is a plant thing.