"Radiator Side Seals" question

[Dakota Boy]

( These would be the rubber pieces that run along both sides of the radiator on the squarebird.)

I ordered some from Birds Nest because mine are very dry and brittle. When they arrived, they were 13" long, but the originals on my car are 14 3/4" in length.

I sent an email to Birds Nest, and they said that nobody else has mentioned this oddity, so I am posting it here to see what other owners might have on their cars..... 13" or 14 3/4" ?

If we find that 14 3/4" is the correct size, I will reply back to the company with our findings.

Thanks

[partsetal]

I've been aware of this for some time now, and have reverted to cleaning up the old ones. Somewhere someone cuts these from a long roll and I'm sure if they could be located, there would be two lengths.
Carl

[DKheld]

Just measured mine - as far as I know they should be the original ones on the car my Dad bought new.

Both are 13 inches (and a bit dried out but still fine).

The parts book (I never can follow it) shows it should be p/n 8349 but the only Tbird listing (S) is for a 64. Funny - some other Ford car radiator seals are listed as "R.H. - tire carcass"

Eric

(you can just see the top edge of the one on the drivers side in this old pic from when I was adding A/C)

[Dakota Boy]

I'm going to suggest they cut these at 15" length and just charge an extra dollar or two.

[simplyconnected]

Some years ago I was in a Home Depot garden section and I happened upon some rolled Pond Liner. This stuff looks identical to inner tube material but it comes in 12-ft widths (you buy as many feet as you need).

This stuff is perfect for, and it is what I used on my electric fan, mounted on the FRONT of the rad. (Yeah Ray, it's the one you sent me from your bone yard.) The electric fan has a plastic shroud so I screwed rubber strips to the inside lip, all the way around using short trim screws. It works nicely with no leaks.

You guys with shrouds behind the rad can screw it to the outside of the shroud as air draws into the fan.

I cut my strips wide enough so that the rubber edge cannot vibrate on the cores. Instead, the rubber sits flat on the rad.

These Ford fans are two speed and reversible. I always use relays on my electric fan motors and I fuse them. To make them reverse, simply power the ground wire with +12, and use relay contacts between the Hi and Lo wires and ground.

Why reverse? Because I didn't have enough room between the rad and water pump. So, I pulled the rad back towards the pump ~1-1/2" with spacers and mounted the fan in front. Now the fan motor pushes cool air which is much more dense and the electric motor never gets warm. This was a good modification. - Dave

[Guest]

EPDM rubber (ethylene propylene diene monomer (M-class) rubber)?
Richard D. Hord