It'll be coming up on a year since I picked up an Afco H/E from Justin at VMP, as well as his larger capacity "OE look" reservoir. Now that I have the new version of the supplied wiring harness, I'm a bit more motivated to get on with the install.
I'll try to take a more detailed look than usual, as well as a few sidebar items that I'd like to address. As with most anything I add to my '09, if it isn't plated, painted, or coated, I make sure that it has some type of protection. Fresh aluminum starts to oxidize quickly so I wanted to make sure that I had something placed onto the core tubes where they enter the end "tanks" if you will. I figured while I was at it that I'd give the entire assembly a quick clear coating as well. That meant the fans would come off.
There are four stainless allen head machine screws that need to be backed out (per fan).
Almost every one was loose. Upon reassembly, I'll add a dab of blue Loctite to each. Having nothing in the way, I also got the opportunity to give the H/E a more thorough inspection. I wanted to be sure that there weren't any defective welds or cracks. While there didn't appear to be any, I'd give the gentleman that did the work a "B" on the grade scale. The Tig welds looked good enough for production and function but they weren't the absolute best aesthetically. To some that matters a great deal, as it shows a much steadier hand, albeit a bit more time consuming. Anyhow, I coated the core, end tanks, paying specific attention to where the bends were (bracketry) as well as the heat affected zone at any fusion point. That's where oxidation starts the quickest.
I had an opportunity to do something here that I had seen done before. I've noticed that Van's assemblies are branded with either "C&R" or "SHELBY" in paint across the core face, a nice touch. Except mine is an Afco and I have no desire to advertise anything with the greedy Old Man's name on it. If I did, I'd be painting Bernie Madoff onto the core face instead. So in keeping with my SVT theme (note to Ford - HINT) I found an SVT logo on the web that I planned to use as a template.
I played around with the sizing in Photoshop and then printed off a few copies in various sizes. I quickly found that a simple 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper wasn't good enough. I taped two together to emulate a legal size and ran it through my trusty wireless printer. It worked.
A few minutes of work with a utility knife and a fresh blade...
I centered the letters laterally but kept the horizontal centerline of the letters a hair lower than the horizontal centerline of the H/E. I figured that when you stand a few feet away it might be easier to see from the angle of one's eyes than if I were to place the template higher (thus requiring it to be captured from a lower angle or further away). We'll see if I was thinking right.
I held any part of the template that curled up down with a piece of tie wire.
I think it came out fairly well. I hit it from different angles to cover each side of the cooling fins. I finished up by coating everything with clear.
Voila!
I'll get to the meat of the install as soon as I can.
:sleeping:
I'll try to take a more detailed look than usual, as well as a few sidebar items that I'd like to address. As with most anything I add to my '09, if it isn't plated, painted, or coated, I make sure that it has some type of protection. Fresh aluminum starts to oxidize quickly so I wanted to make sure that I had something placed onto the core tubes where they enter the end "tanks" if you will. I figured while I was at it that I'd give the entire assembly a quick clear coating as well. That meant the fans would come off.
There are four stainless allen head machine screws that need to be backed out (per fan).
Almost every one was loose. Upon reassembly, I'll add a dab of blue Loctite to each. Having nothing in the way, I also got the opportunity to give the H/E a more thorough inspection. I wanted to be sure that there weren't any defective welds or cracks. While there didn't appear to be any, I'd give the gentleman that did the work a "B" on the grade scale. The Tig welds looked good enough for production and function but they weren't the absolute best aesthetically. To some that matters a great deal, as it shows a much steadier hand, albeit a bit more time consuming. Anyhow, I coated the core, end tanks, paying specific attention to where the bends were (bracketry) as well as the heat affected zone at any fusion point. That's where oxidation starts the quickest.
I had an opportunity to do something here that I had seen done before. I've noticed that Van's assemblies are branded with either "C&R" or "SHELBY" in paint across the core face, a nice touch. Except mine is an Afco and I have no desire to advertise anything with the greedy Old Man's name on it. If I did, I'd be painting Bernie Madoff onto the core face instead. So in keeping with my SVT theme (note to Ford - HINT) I found an SVT logo on the web that I planned to use as a template.
I played around with the sizing in Photoshop and then printed off a few copies in various sizes. I quickly found that a simple 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper wasn't good enough. I taped two together to emulate a legal size and ran it through my trusty wireless printer. It worked.
A few minutes of work with a utility knife and a fresh blade...
I centered the letters laterally but kept the horizontal centerline of the letters a hair lower than the horizontal centerline of the H/E. I figured that when you stand a few feet away it might be easier to see from the angle of one's eyes than if I were to place the template higher (thus requiring it to be captured from a lower angle or further away). We'll see if I was thinking right.
I held any part of the template that curled up down with a piece of tie wire.
I think it came out fairly well. I hit it from different angles to cover each side of the cooling fins. I finished up by coating everything with clear.
Voila!
I'll get to the meat of the install as soon as I can.
:sleeping:
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