I painted the radiator shell, and now it’s ready to be installed. It was sort of a pain: I had to mix primer and two different colors, just a half ounce of each, which is as much work as mixing a quart.
I also visited Hershey this year. I picked up a new repro right fender, and a very good original right fender. Hopefully I will make some progress on them over the next several months, and get them painted by next summer.
I decided to replace the radiator fan before installing the radiator shell. I haven’t touched the fan since I got the car, and it is non-original and rusty. It also has four blades, which makes it impossible to remove the fan or water pump without first removing the radiator. At Hershey I got a nice old two-bladed replacement-style fan (the kind that has a single stamping for both blades, riveted to a hub). I bead-blasted and painted it, took off the radiator, and removed the old fan. But for some reason the new fan’s mounting hole was a bit too small, and the fan would not fit properly on the water pump shaft. So on Monday I’ll order one of the aluminum reproduction two-bladed fans, which are supposed to be original-looking and trouble-free.