Trans Cooler Mount thoughts

[tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera)]

OK, I said I was going to send this yesterday... ;-)

Goal: mount a trans cooler / p/s cooler / AC stuff without zip-tying it to
the radiator.  Why?  Some folks report leakeage problems.. plus, if you ever
need to take your radiator out (like I do) the cooler comes with it... bad
design.

Looking at the radiator mounts in a Scout II, it's essentially two C
channels with the back of the "C" facing each other.

The Radiator's side tanks, when mounted, stick out a little bit towards the
grille *past* the C-supports.  

The goal is to get some steel strap running across the front of the radiator
so that A/T coolers, p/s coolers, air conditioning condensors, etc can be
mounted to the chassis and not the radiator.

A few thoughts...

First, no matter what manner is used to mount the straps, "stand-offs" will
be required on the "C" mounts.  A small piece of 1/4" plate would probably
suffice.

If it's easily accessible (grille removed), place some 1" steel strap across
the front of the radiator supports, put the "plate" behind the strap on the
supports, and drill through and bolt.  

Or, use already available holes... I spotted two very small holes in either
support on my '77.

*OR*, don't cut or drill... but rather *sandwich*.

Put the strap across the front.  Use the plate steel to "stand off" the
strap in front of the radiator.  Extend the strap past the edges of the
radiator supports.  Then use another, larger, piece of strap steel *behind*
the C-channel support.  Drill the ends of the cross-wise strap and the
vertical "backing" piece, and bolt at all 4 corners, sandwiching the
C-support between the backing and the front straps.

A better description.

Some (guessing on the figures) 12" x 3" wide 1/8" thick strap is stood
vertically on either side of the radiator, *behind* (or inside of) the C
supports.

Some 1" wide by 24" long 1/8" strap is put horizontally across the front of
the radiator.  This would extend past the C supports an inch.  Weld or
secure the 1/4" plate "chunks" to the strap to act as stand-offs from the C-
supports to bring the strap forward of the radiator tanks.

Then bolt the 1" strap (in front of the radiator) to the 3" strap (behind or
inside of the C-support) to sandwich the C-support between the two.

You'd end up making a big square.  Horizontal pieces in front of the
radiator, vertical pieces on the side of the radiator, just behind the
forward most side of the "C" supports.

In any manner, drill a few holes in the 1" horizontal strap to allow
zip-tieing or some other mounting mechanism of the cooler to the straps.

There.  Fixed, rigid mount that is NOT attached to the radiator.

-Tom