I swapped in the intact grille that's been stored in the trunk nearly forever. (I got it at the same time as the manny-tranny parts car, though it was not _from_ that car. $50, IIRC.) The egg-crate plastic is not as new as what was there, nor is the metal as shiny, but the metal is not bent and it has the star and trim pieces. Someday if I get ambitious maybe I'll swap the plastic between the two. I also replaced the dead low-side horn with the U-Pull horn. Then I reinstalled the right-side headlight, the intact one. I decided not to mess with the car's cooling system at this time.
I had to buzz down to the neighbor's to help move some furniture, and it was hot out, I used the car's AC on the way. As the car's cooling system wasn't hot the vent temperatures dropped quickly to about 57oF, lower than yesterday. On the way back it never made it down past about 65oF, but the car was up to temperature. This indicates to me that there is a fair amount of heater core flow. I also had to make a Goodwill run, but this time it was outgoing rather than incoming: makes for a nice change. I loaded the car up to the gunwales, and dashed off to town, windows closed and AC on, fan at one notch off of maximum. Most of the trip was in third gear, and the outdoor thermometer hovered around 100oF. The engine temperature stabilized at about 110oC, and the vent temperatures eventually stabilized at about 60oF. On the way home when ambient had dropped to about 96oF and road speeds were at their maximum (45 MPH or so) the vent temperatures actually dropped to about 55oF. Tolerable, but nothing to write home about. -- Jim
