The VW bug’s radiator and condenser is now in place. There are a few more items to complete before I can start tearing everything down to paint the frame such as the shifter and parking brake assemblies.

The A/C condenser will be held to the VW bug radiator with 3 small tab brackets. This is the first filling so I will remove them and drill them out. Once drilled and mounted I will remove them and clean them up.

Now that I have determined where and how to mount the top of the radiator/condenser assembly, I have constructed 2 brackets to hold it all in place. I bent the 2 brackets and then clamped them in place and drilled them out. after I mounted them I marked the excess and then removed them to clean them up. I will still need to make the brackets to hold the condenser to the radiator.

Now that I have the bottom of the VW bug’s radiator and condenser assembly bolted to the body/frame, I need to support the top of the unit. I am constructing a couple of brackets made from 2″ wide flat steel strapping. I built a poster-board template to fit and then cut the steel.

With the condenser mounted to the VW bug radiator, I can now mount the assembly into the front of the car. There are 6 screws holding the condenser to the radiator with the 3/4″ aluminum channel in between. I will now need to make a few more brackets to hold everything in place.

With the VW bug radiator mount figured out, I need to finish up the front end steel work. I have bolted the front angle piece on with all the bolts and have also attached the angle to the frame. Once I remove the VW bug body again I will finish welding the mount tabs on.

I can now mount the radiator into the front nose of the VW bug. I left a small amount of the original sheet-metal in place along the lower edge of the front compartment. I am using this small strip to mount the bottom of the radiator to the chassis. 6 10-24 screws will hold it in place. So far all of the clearances look good.

Before I mount the radiator into the front of the VW bug nose area, I am going to mount the AC condensor to the radiator. I spaced the two units out by 3/4″ to allow for good air flow through both. I used a 1/2″ x 3/4″ aluminum extrusion to accomplish this. Next up mount the units into the car.

In order to get the radiator to fit into the VW bug front end, I will need to remove a bit more of the original sheetmetal. Removal of this sheetmetal will require that I add additional bracing to strengthen the front of the body. Once this bracing is in I can remove the required steel and fit the radiator.

I have finally received the radiator. This is a replacement radiator for a pontiac fiero V6. The size is perfect for my application. It appears that I will have to remove just a bit more of the VW bug’s front sheet-metal to get it to fit nicely.