In my continuing effort to get everything back together and the "learning experiences" I've had, I decided to measure the required length of the hose between the radiator and the block. The hose I purchased for this is clearly too long.

But in doing so, I took note of a "misalignment". Nothing is in place permanently, but in the photo below, there are a couple bolts holding the head in place on the block, and the radiator is sitting on the studs that it's attached to. I don't think there's really any wiggle room on either of these. So is this normal? Or do I need to shimmy and shake the radiator around - if that's even possible.

Charlie,

In my experience, you get them as close as possible (that picture doesn't look bad - I'd be happy with it) and the hose will conform to any slight offset.

I suppose you could take the fitting on the head side off and have a machine shop take an angle cut on it to move the outlet over a bit.

There's a reason why the connecting hoses are rubber - this is it.

Don't do any hose cutting till you have the radiator bolted down and the hood rod in place and fitted to the hood. After you have all the parts fitted, then cut the hose to length, remove the outlet from head slide on the hose and clamps, reattach the outlet and tighten the clamps. Yes the part will have a little offset.

By the way, the bolt holding the outlet on the drivers side, it's way too long, you will not be able to put that head bolt in.

Have you checked that the front motor mount is in the center of the cross-member?

Raise the left side

Does your hood align well with the radiator mounted as it is? I would shim the radiator mount on one side or the other to bring the radiator inlet on-center. You might even find that your hood fit is better that way... or maybe not.

Mine was like that when I put it together in 1994 and it's been like that ever since. I thought something was wrong but it's been fine. I've had it apart several times and it's still like that.

It's been a long time since I've had the hood on. But I was never that happy with the fit. Seemed out of alignment just a bit but enough to bother me.

I'm going to check on some shims. When I took the radiator off originally, I found a pair of leather pieces beneath each side. Same thickness so I think these were more like a pad.

The other thing I learned was that my hood rod was completely stripped and not doing anything. I bought a new hood rod, filled in the female end on the radiator with JB Weld, drilled and tapped and it seems like it's going to be ok. If vibration and bumps break it free again, then it might be drill / tap / helicoil.

I would go with Mark Strange's suggestion as "strange" as it sounds will be the best fit. Shiming the radiator may cause problems with hood alignment.

I've seen worse

OH Oh I didn't see it earlier but your real problem is going to be that round black thing with the wires coming out of it....lol

Charlie - those leather pads are not shims. They are part of the mounting kit for your radiator.

I'm ignoring the "black thing with wires" at the moment. It worked before so I'm 50/50 that it will work again. I've also got a lot to learn about spark settings. I've got that print out that has all the various recommended throttle / spark settings for driving conditions. Once I get things together and start driving again, I'll focus on the nut behind the wheel.