Radiator Core Support Mod
As most early G van owners know, the core support is not removable on pre-seventy something models. If you want to swap out or rehab the existing motor, it would have to come out the bottom or side. I don't have a lift and wanted to be able to access to the front anyway, so I decided to replace the spot welds with fasteners. My core support can now be removed and replaced in a few minutes.
First, the grill and bumpers were removed.
Purchased a spot weld removal tool from Harbor Freight - GREAT TOOL
Marked the spot welds with a sharpie and then hit them with a center punch. Drilled out the welds but left a nub on the outermost spot welds for aligning the support. You can see in the pic that the tool cuts around the weld and you can stop before penetrating the second panel.
The welds were then drilled all the way out, except for the nubs.
Good times, the support can now be removed (there's a bolt at the bottom of the "T"). Some welds had to be separated with a chisel and the holes were rough so the panels were straightened out and the holes deburred at this point. Note: The welds at the ends (into the fenders) were drilled out before the other spot welds to help with alignment.
Notice that the radiator is leaking, the tool skipped out of a hole and barely touched it. Oh well, it's a great excuse to upgrade to aluminum with electric fans.
Time to reassemble, happened to have GM body fasteners from a previous K5 project. Also, the affected surfaces were hit with primer before reassembly.
Here is the area where the first holes that were drilled. There were two spot welds and they separated easily with a few hits with the chisel, no need for the spot weld tool. Space was limited, so only one fastener was used on each side.
Everything is looking good except the bolts stick out too much. They will be reversed with the nuts on the other side.
Opening the radiator would be a problem if the bolts were left this way and note that the spot welds are NOT lined up. The holes are kinda floating around but it isn't noticeable looking down and they will be hidden by the grill.
Finished product, it might have better alignment than the factory.
Now it's time to find a motor to swap!